America:NAACP’s Legal Action & The Shift To Direct Action Flashcards
What does NAACP stand for?
The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
When was the NAACP set up and what was its aim?
-1909
-to campaign for political,economic and social equality rights
-it was bi-racial so whites could be a part of it
What did the NAACP target?
Court decisions concerning segregation and racism as a way to bring about equality
E.g Scottsboro boys, Alabama in the 1930s
Name 2 cases the NAACP pursued that were successful and they year they were in
Morgan V Virginia 1946
Brown V Board of Education of Topeka 1954
What event led to the case of Morgan V Virginia?
-Spring 1946, Irene Morgan, a black woman, boarded a bus from Virginia to go to Baltimore in Maryland
-she was ordered to sit at the back of the bus as required by the Virginia state law, but objected by saying it didnt apply because it was an interstate bus
-she was arrested and fined 10 dollars
How was the NAACP involved in Morgan V Virginia
Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP took on the case and argued it was illegal for a state to require segregation
The Supreme Court agreed
What was the Supreme Court Judgement in the Morgan V Virginia case?
They ruled that since states could not pass laws that extended into other states, they could not prevent passengers on buses going in and out the state
It made sense to have only one rule covering interstate travel
Therefore there could be no individual state requirements for the seating of passengers
What did the court not rule unconstitutional in the Morgan V Virginia Case?
That segregated transport within states was unconstitutional
Did the ruling of the Morgan V Virginia case have an impact?
It didnt have an immediate one, bus companies in the south still segregated passengers both within state and on interstate bus journeys
Who brought up the case of Brown V board and why?
Parents who argued that forcing schoolchildren to attend segregated facilities was unfair
Why was Brown V Board deemed a landmark decision
- it declare state laws establishing seperate public facilities for black and white students was unconstitutional
- it overturned Plessy V Ferguson
- it was a unanimous decision in the Warren court
When did the Warren Court make a unanimous decision about Brown V Board?
17th May 1954
What did Thurgood Marshall go on to do after Brown V Board?
To be the first black member of the Supreme Court
Give 3 reasons why Brown V Board was significant
-schools in the south had to be desegregated
- mixed classes could theoretically reduce racial tensions as people mix
- the judgement 9-0 sent a clear message racism was unacceptable & that the black Americans had the support of the Supreme Court and NAACP
How much impact did Brown V Board really have?
-schools still remained segregated in the south; the case brought de jure change rather than de facto change
-many white parents ensured their children still went to ‘white schools’, no one could force them to send their kids to schools in black areas
