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Legal Separation Of African Americans In The 1920s

1156 Words5 Pages

Slaves, the Civil War, Ku Klux Klan, Martin Luther King Jr., and the fight for freedom are all apart of America’s history. During the Nineteenth Century, slaves and abolitionist fought for the freedom of slaves. African Americans slowly began gaining the same rights as whites, however they were still viewed differently. Although there will always be some racists, racism in America is largely a thing of the past. The Ku Klux Klan in Alabama during the 1930s were mostly made up of white, middle-class Protestants. The Klan was also made up of some higher up people, the most notable in Alabama being Governor Bibb Graves, U.S. Senator J. Thomas Heflin, and U.S. Senator and Supreme Court justice Hugo Black. The Klaverns, local branches of the KKK, …show more content…

Whites believed African Americans should not share anything with whites. There were special schools, churches, restaurants, etc.. for African Americans. This is how segregation is processed for most people, the legal separation of African Americans and whites. However, some historians believe physical force, economic intimidation, and psychological control through social messages of low worth should be added to that understanding (Novkov 1). The case of Brown v. Board of Education tried to break this concept. Oliver Brown, whose child was denied entry to a white Topeka school, fought to break the ruling of the Plessy v. Ferguson case from 1896. The ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson stated that the separation of schools were constitutional as long as both schools were equal. Brown believed the African American schools in Topeka were not equal to the white schools. He believed his daughter’s rejection was a violation of the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. However, the court ruled the schools to be “substantially” equal enough that the denial was constitutional under the Plessy doctrine. Still Brown insisted that it was unconstitutional and he appealed the case. The Supreme Court reviewed all segregation actions and agreed to reopen the case. With the help of Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel for the plaintiffs, the Court ruled differently this time. They ruled the denial was unconstitutional according to the 14th amendment, which states that everyone deserves equal rights. The case also ruled that all schools needed to be integrated “with all deliberate speed.” Brown had won (McBride

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