The Civil Rights Movement

The many leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, little rock nine, John Brown, Linda Brown, Ruby Bridges, Frederick Douglass, Plessey Scott, JFK, and Malcolm X. All of these men and women had a great influence on the movement’s success in the United States and helped end racial segregation. It all started in 1954 in the Brown vs. Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas. The people who were involved were John Brown and Linda Brown. This happened because of the separate but equal law created 60 years earlier in the Plessey vs. Ferguson case when Plessey lost and created separate but equal laws.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on five cases that challenged elementary- and secondary-school segregation, and in May 1954 issued its landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that stated that racially segregated education was unconstitutional. White Southerners received the Brown decision first with shock and, in some instances, with expressions of goodwill. By 1955, however, white opposition in the South had grown into massive resistance, a strategy to persuade all whites to resist compliance with the desegregation orders. It was believed that if enough people refused to cooperate with the federal court order, it could not be enforced. Tactics included firing school employees who showed willingness to seek integration, closing public schools rather than desegregating, and boycotting all public education that was integrated.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Alabama segregation laws were unconstitutional. During the boycott a young African American Baptist minister, Martin Luther King, Jr. became well known. Throughout the long contest he advised African Americans to avoid violence no matter had badly provoked by whites. Rosa Parks tired of sitting in the back of the bus, and giving up her seat to white men. One weary day she refused to move from the front of the bus, and she became one of history's heroes in the Civil Rights Act movement.

During the early 60’s black Americans wanted their civil rights and were growing impatient with the continuing discrimination. Police still abused their power and government was moving very slowly on

In 1954 the Supreme Court decided that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. As one of the first schools to integrate Central High School because known for the Little Rock Nine, a group of nine selected African American students that changed history and started to change the common thought of African Americans to a positive one. For the purpose of this paper I will discuss the positive effects of Central High School’s integration and the Little Rock Nine. In 1954, the Supreme Court decided that the segregation in public schools would be unconstitutional. About a year later they reiterated the declaration that segregation is unconstitutional and said that they needed to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.” Some school district started to figure out loopholes to get around the desegregation but school officials at Little Rock, AK said that they would agree to desegregate and comply with what the Supreme Court said.

The end to segregation started on May 17, 1954 with the Supreme Court’s ruling in “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that separated public schools for whites and blacks were illegal” (Beals, 1995, p. 12). By May 24, 1955 plans had been made to limit integration to Central High School. These plans, however, would not be carried out until September 1957, two years later. Around this time was when the famous Rosa Parks, on December 1, 1955, “refused to give up her seat to a white man on an Alabama bus. Her willingness to be arrested rather than give in one more time led to the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott” (Beals, 1995, p. 20).

Brown v. Board of Education Brown v. Board of Education (1954) preceded Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), both cases involved laws regarding segregation and equality of blacks. Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court (U.S.S.C.) would come to be over the case. Brown v. Board of Education addressed the segregation of schools in the 1950’s by integrating them this case would come to overrule the prior case of Plessy v. Ferguson which stated that “separate but equal” was acceptable, but Warren would soon change that. Warren was a prominent twentieth century leader of American politics and law.

Since African-Americans had been brought over to the Americas as slaves, there had been a huge rise in racism and segregation. In the 1950s times had become even more difficult for this race of people as racism had hit an all time high. This was not only a problem, but had diminished the rights of blacks to little or none at all. African- Americans felt as if they had the responsibility to fight peacefully and gain the rights they believed they were owed. The thinking of civil disobedience displayed in a great number of these people brought upon the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1954 school segregation, the Supreme Court took great consequences; in Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka. The court set aside permitting cities of more than 15,000 to keep up separate schools for blacks and whites. They ruled that all segregation in public schools is inseparable unequal and all blacks barred from attending public schools with white pupils are denied equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The doctrine was prolonged to state-supported colleges and universities in 1956. The school was the c... ... middle of paper ... ...f organizing work, developing local organizers, and a movement centered on the belief that oppressed people could directly take part in changing the systems that governed their lives.

With work to do in all areas to bring about social change for the Negro—notably the segregated schools of the South the SCLC made this their first shot across the bough--figuratively speaking. In 1954 the Supreme Court issued its decision on the case Brown v. Board of Education. The Court ruled that separate-but-equal segregated schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment and that school desegregation must take place “with all deliberate speed.” This order by the highest court of the United States were not embraced by the White Race or by the burceacy of most state governments. The state bureaucracies swung into full force to intimidate anyone associated with the Civil Rights movement. Black protesters as well as sympathizers to the Civil Rights movement were jailed ... ... middle of paper ... ...tant musical development of the 20th century—has its roots in Black American culture.