Civil Rights background

1. Civil Rights Background

2. Dred Scott (1857)
• Slaves are property
-protected by 5th Amendment
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• Homer Plessy challenged Louisiana law
which segregated railroad cars
• Supreme Court ruling
-states can segregate in public facilities
-establishes “separate but equal”

3. Jim Crow Laws
• named after a minstrel performer
•State laws
-regulate behavior based on race
-legalizes/codifies segregation

5. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• Linda Brown (& NAACP) challenge Topeka schools
-white schools were well maintained
-black schools – shacks, no heat, one teacher
-lived close to a “white only” school
• Supreme Court ruling
-overturns Plessy ruling
- outlaws segregation
-“separate is inherently unequal”
- anytime you separate someone solely on race
creates psychological damage

6. Segregation in the US

7. Black Migration
• African Amer leave South (‘45-’60)
-1940 = 77% live in South
-1960 = 50% live in South
• Most lost agricultural jobs in South
-mechanization
-Boll Weevil
• Look for factory jobs in North
-North=urban
-South=rural
• Racism exists in South and North