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African American Civil Rights

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In our country’s history, there have been plenty of periods in which we faced tragedy, loss, and destruction. While we always overcome, not all of us do. For some Americans, these tragedies have a far more compelling impact, affecting their chance at survival and success. For black Americans, since the beginning of their time in this country, there have been multiple events that challenged their rights as humans let alone citizens, but their drive and resilience towards freedom and equality to what is rightfully theirs prevails. The civil rights era of the 1950s ,though it did bring many accomplishments for African Americans through their relentlessness to overthrow racial segregation and discrimination, also heightened the tension of those …show more content…

when it came to their rights as citizens and treatment in society compared to whites. Segregation of blacks from whites in public spaces such as schools was protected under the law. In 1954, the supreme court overruled the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision which allowed for segregation of schools often referred to as “separate but equal”, this decision was called Brown vs. Board of education. It ruled that separation of educational facilities was unconstitutional and put black student at a disadvantage socially and educationally. This decision being made was largely due to the young black student’s fierce protest against the injustice. In early 1951, many black virginian students protested against the injustice of the “separate but equal” mentality of the law. They revolted against the poor conditions common amongst black schools and the segregated educational system in general. Though the NAACP attempted to convince the protesters to conceal their protests, the relentlessness of the students showed through and the NAACP eventually joined the fight by challenging the system in a series of five cases. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor stating, "segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law; for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group." However this decision did not suppress the racist ideals of Americans but in fact worsened them. In deep southern states, massive resistance against the new law erupted in protests, riots, and racial violence against the strive for equality. Some public schools even closed their doors rather than integrate and even reacted with

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In the 1950’s through the 1960’s if one was an African-American one would have to walk three to four miles in the scorching heat to go to their all black school. Jim Crow laws were designed to segregate African-Americans and whites. Before, May 17.1954, the court would use the phrase “separate but equal” to justify excluding blacks from white facilities and services. In one Supreme Court case called Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, the Chief Justice and the other eight Associate Justices on the Supreme Court ruled that all U.S. schools had to integrate. Some schools integrated while other schools did not.

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For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and

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427 Words | 2 Pages

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896, 163 US 537) For centuries people of African descent have suffered of inhumane treatment, discrimination, racism, and segregation. Although in the United States, and in other countries, mistreatment and marginalization towards African descendants has stopped, the racism and discriminations has not.

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Brown vs Board of Education was important because it was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The first plaintiff was Oliver Brown, an African-American welder and assistant pastor. The case was brought against the Topeka Board of Education for not allowing his nine year old daughter, Linda, to attend Summer Elementary School, and all white school near their home. In 1954, there were four African-American schools and 18 white schools in Topeka.

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The court decision was a pivotal decision in the field of civil rights. It created a monumental change in the American nation. Furthermore, it broke all the traditional views about segregation by supporting equality among Americans. The bottom line, this landmark case made the previous doctrine ‘separate but equal’ unconstitutional. Additionally, the decision was a great chance for American society to come to terms with its dark past in the field of segregation and slavery.

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115 Words | 1 Pages

Since the late 1950s, when the case for African American rights to receive the same education as their graduates began and ended, or so we thought. Schools today still remain widely segregated throughout the U.S. nation. In 1954 in Topeka, Kansas, the supreme court began to review many cases dealing with segregation in public education. Oliver Brown was one who went against the supreme court for not only his daughter, but for many other African American children to receive equal education in the ray of society. The Brown v. Board of Education case marked the end of racial discrimination in public schools which impacted African Americans to get an equal education in the American society.

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940 Words | 4 Pages

Although the roots of this movement date as far back as the 1900s, the legacy of the African American’s role in World War II sparked the catalyst needed to promote the legislation that eventually led to their equality. “On May 17, 1954, The Supreme Court announced its decision in the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka” (Brinkley 772). This regulation overturned the Supreme Court’s earlier decision in the Plessy V Ferguson case. The separate but equal doctrine was a prime example of domestic policy that did not uphold the government’s constitutional promise to promote the general welfare of society-to include all that fall under the definition of an American citizen. The affliction put on children who had to travel to segregated public schools placed an unequal burden and damage done to those who it pertained to.

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The famous Brown v. Board of Education demonstrates the presence of racial segregation in public schools. Prior to 1957, Central High School, in Little Rock, Arkansas, had never had African American students, despite a 1954 ruling from the Supreme Court stating that racial segregation in public schools in unconstitutional. In September of 1957, nine African American students This sparked angry backlash from a mob of 1000 white protestors. The Supreme Court ruled in the Brown v. Board of Education that Central High School must integrate. (History.com staff)

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Separate But Not Equal - How Brown v. Board of Education Changed America Brown v. Board of Education was a court case to desegregate schools. During this time over one-third of states, mostly in the south, segregated their schools by law. Most people don’t know that the lawsuit actually started off as five, in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. Unfortunately all the lower court cases resulted in defeat (Greenspan 1). The bigger issue was still at hand though, it wasn’t only the schools being segregated, it was everywhere.

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The ruling thus lent high judicial support to racial and ethnic discrimination and led to wider spread of the segregation between Whites and Blacks in the Southern United States. The great oppressive consequence from this was discrimination against African American minority from the socio-political opportunity to share the same facilities with the mainstream Whites, which in most of the cases the separate facilities for African Americans were inferior to those for Whites in actuality. The doctrine of “separate but equal” hence encourages two-tiered pluralism in U.S. as it privileged the non-Hispanic Whites over other racial and ethnic minority

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1236 Words | 5 Pages

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.

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1264 Words | 6 Pages

Ashley Miller HIST 202B Timothy Paynich 3/7/16 HUMAN Rights How much of history would change if African Americans never went through adversity? Between 1877 (End of Reconstruction) and the 1950’s (Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement) African Americans went through immense hardships. They had to fight numerous times in order to gain their rights and even be counted as “human”. During the Harlem Renaissance many African Americans arose and found ways to create and show what they were going through.

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Nine years after the United States Supreme Court ruled separate is not equal many schools were still segregated. Judge Bohanon wanted to end this, so he forced a stop to segregation in Oklahoma City Public Schools through his ruling (1). This shows how government leader like Judge Bohanon would try to stop segregation. With them using the power they had they would start with one small area such as schools and it would get the ball rolling to be able to expand the stop of segregation in other areas. Colleges could no be segregated as of June 6, 1955 because of the ruling by Oklahoma’s Board of Higher Education (8).

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733 Words | 3 Pages

The segregation of schools based on a students skin color was in place until 1954. On May 17th of that year, during the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, it was declared that separate public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. However, before this, the segregation of schools was a common practice throughout the country. In the 1950s there were many differences in the way that black public schools and white public schools were treated with very few similarities. The differences between the black and white schools encouraged racism which made the amount of discrimination against blacks even greater.

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1704 Words | 7 Pages

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), was a landmark case impacting the public school system with making segregation within the school system a violation against the law. It showed how separate but equal no longer made sense in America. Leading up to the groundbreaking court case, the country was divided by segregation. In the south, there were Jim Crow Laws and the white population tried to limit the power the African-American population had within the community. In the north there was a large migration of African Americans looking for a better life in the larger cities.

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