Section 1: Direct action for civil rights in 1940s and 1950s

Question 1

Who are the NAACP?

Answer 1

• The National Group for the Advacnement of Coloured People
• founded in 1909 by a multi-racial group of campaigners
• headed by W.E. B DuBois
• They went to court because they believed the american legal system could be used to end segregation
• the ‘New deal court’ President roosevelt appointed liberal judges to the supreme court so that it became more sympathetic to civil rights
• The American constitution protects the rights of individuals through the separation of powers therefore american citizens can take federal and state government to court when the government has infringed their constitutional rights
• believed improving education of African Americans was a prerequisite to improving the lives of African Americans (good jobs, secure income)

Strategy:

• challenge ‘Jim Crow’ laws by appealing to the Fourteenth ammendment and Fifteenth amendment
• they provided funds and experienced lawyers to support court cases of individual black citizens
• 50s they targeted education because it was easy to show that while children were educated separately their education was unequal which highlighted that segregated education was illegal in terms of Plessy V. Ferguson

Question 2

How far did the action of the NAACP help the campaign for civil rights?

Answer 2

• they had not perfected their methods, the late 1950s saw a new dawn for the black civil rights movement
• gained support from northen middle class balck, southern black school teachers and white social reformers
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Question 3

What evidence is there to suggest that the court cases by the NAACP helped the campign for civil rights?

Answer 3

Court Cases:

1. Smith V. Allwright 1944: Lonnie E Smith challenged Texan all-white primary elections because Texas was a democratic stronghold so whoever won the primary elections won congressional election. The NAACP took his case to Supreme Court which outlawed white primaries.
2. Morgan V. Virginia 1946: Irene Morgan challenged segregation on interstate bus services because she was fined $100 for refusing to give up her seat. The NAACP took her case to Supreme Court with the backing of Thurgood Marshall which outlawed segregation on interstae buses in 1946
3. Sweatt V. Painter 1950: NAACP challenged segregated Texan education system because Heman Sweatt was refused admission to the University of Texas Law school. The courts in Texas ordered the creation of a black texan law school. The NAACP rejected this ruling becuase the black school was inferiour (etc.) The NAACP took this case to Supreme Court which ordered the University of Texas to accept Sweatt, he registered 19 september 1950
4. Brown V. Board 1954: Oliver Brown challenged the rights of younger students at Kansas state court becuase his daughter Linda Brown had to attend an all-black school when she would be better served attending the local white school nearby. The NAACP took the case to Supreme Court after three years of legal battles it outlawed segregation in American schools ruling Plessy V Feguson’s ‘separate but equal’ was a contradiction in terms
5. Browder V. Gayle 1956: Aurelia Browder appealed against her conviction for refusing to give up her seat to a white person. The NAACP took the case to Supreme Court which outlawed segregation of buses 20 December 1956

Question 4

What evidence is there to suggest that non-violent reisistance by the NAACP helped the campaign for civil rights?

Answer 4

lack of de facto change from court cases led to organisation of popular campaigns to test the implementation of supreme court rulings and challenge segregation at a grassroots level

1. 1947 NAACP picketed New Orleans four biggest department stores because they refused to let black customers try on hats
2. 1951 picketed local black school becuase they planned to close in the cotton harvest so the black children could work in the fields
3. 1953 NAACP boycotted a newly built school in Lafayette becuase their facilities were obviously inferiour to those at the local white school
4. 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott: 1 december 1955 Rosa Parks, member of NAACP, arrested for refusing to give her seat up to a white man on a bus in Alabama. The NAACP launched a legal case and a campaign of direct action targeting local bus companies.

Question 5

How far did the Brown case 1954 help the campaign for civil rights?

Answer 5

• symbolic
• first time NAACP struck at the heart of segregation
• Supreme court under Earl Warren had clearly signalled it was sympathetic of the civil rights cause
• failed to bring wholesale desegregation of the southern education system
• 1957 750/6300 southern school districts had desegregated
• 3% of black students in the south were educated in mixed schools
• 1968 58% of southern black school children remained in segregated schools
• suggesting de jure change was of little use without a clear time frame
• significantly it stimulated massive opposition
• signalled president eisenhower’s unwillingness to use his presidential power to help civil rights, no intention of getting involved

Question 6

Explain the Supreme Court’s Decision in the Brown V. Board case

Answer 6

1. they argued segregation had a negative effect on black children- based on evidence from sociologists that segregated schooling undermined the self-esteem of black children and therefore seperate schools are inherently unequal directly contradicting the plessy v. ferguson decision of 1896
2. Growth of the black middle-class who were more assertive more understanding of America’s legal system and more likely to challenge racial inequality so the Courts felt pressure to rule in their favour
3. they believed the southern states lacked the economic resources to improve black schools because for over 60 years the southern states had failed to provide equal education so the only solution was integration
4. they believed a racist education system didnt reflect the ideals america fought for in the cold war (freedom and justice)
5. Chief Judge Frederick Moore Vinson dies in 1953 and was replaced by Earl Warren who was more sympathetic to civil rights issues and persuaded court members

Question 7

Describe the Brown II case 1955

Answer 7

In the first year the de jure change produced lttle de facto change. The NAACP asked the Supreme Court to establish a timetable for desegregating southern schools. The Supreme Court produced the Brown II ruling stating that desegregation of education should occur ‘with all deliberate speed’. The NAACP thought it was too vague to force change. Southern racists thought it was a further attack on segregation.

Question 8

What evidence is there to suggest there was a positive or negative reaction to the Brown Case?

Answer 8

1. black response

• African americans believed that the brown case was the beginning of the end of segregation
• black campaigners believed that the supreme court would be back legal challenges to segregation in other areas american life
• increase in local activism by groups such as the NAACP and CORE who organised new voter registration campaigns and local protests against different aspects of segregation

2. white backlash

• organised quickly and effectively to oppose court rulings
• a series of initiatives by southern racist which aimed to undermine the ruling
• White citizens’ councils by white middle-class demand segregation continue in school, raised money to privatise white state schools to allow them to avoid desegregation
• the councils campaigned for the election of local politicians who were strongly opposed to desegregation
• 1956 250,000 people had joined white citizen councils
• revival of the kkk- emmett till

3.sustained attack on the naacp

• alabama officially outlawed the NAACP and all its activities
• Louisiana police persecution of the NAACP led to the closure of 48/50 branches

4.

• Harry F Byrd called on white southerners to put up massive resistance to desegregation ‘by all lawful means’
• 1956 he led 101 southern congressmen who signed the southern manifesto (fifth of congressmen signed the manifesto)
• manifesto argues that the court ruling in the brown case was unconstitutional, continuation of seperate but equal

5. president eisenhower

• refused to comment on the case
• privately criticised the ruling
• argued a legal change would not change the hearts and mind of southern racists
• de jure chane could not produce de facto change
• brown ruling was counter productive because it whipped up tremendous opposition to black civil rights
• privately admitted the decision to appoint earl warren fedral judge was ‘the biggest damned mistake i ever made’
• change would happen over time, it was not the presidents job to dictate change