The Struggle for Equality: 1954-1968
After Reconstruction ended (1877), Southern states passed Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation:
Supreme Court ruled that segregation was constitutional as long as facilities were "separate but equal." This decision legalized Jim Crow for nearly 60 years.
African Americans never accepted segregation. Organizations like the NAACP (founded 1909) fought discrimination through courts, newspapers, and peaceful protest. But change was slow until the 1950s.
The NAACP challenged school segregation. They represented Linda Brown, a Black girl forced to walk miles to a Black school when a white school was nearby.
In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court declared:
Impact: Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and sparked the modern Civil Rights Movement.
Nine Black students tried to attend previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus used National Guard to block them.
President Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect the students and enforce desegregation. This showed that the federal government would support civil rights.
NAACP lawyer who argued Brown v. Board. Won 29 of 32 Supreme Court cases. First African American Supreme Court Justice (1967-1991).
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a seamstress and NAACP member, refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. She was arrested.
This wasn't the first time someone had resisted bus segregation, but Parks was a respected community member, making her the perfect person to rally around.
Montgomery's Black community, led by 26-year-old minister Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., organized a bus boycott:
In November 1956, Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. Montgomery buses were desegregated. The boycott showed that:
King believed in nonviolent resistance inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's success in India:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Four Black college students sat at a "whites only" lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina. They were refused service but stayed until closing time.
The sit-in movement spread:
Integrated groups of activists rode buses through the South to test desegregation of interstate travel (which was supposed to be legal).
Result: Interstate Commerce Commission enforced desegregation of bus terminals.
Founded 1960 by young activists. Organized sit-ins, Freedom Rides, voter registration. Members included John Lewis (later Congressman), Diane Nash, Bob Moses.
Birmingham, Alabama was one of the most segregated cities in America. Dr. King called it "the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States."
Civil rights activists organized protests:
When adult protesters were jailed, thousands of children (some as young as 6) marched. Police arrested over 1,000 children.
Impact: Images of children being attacked shocked the nation and the world. President Kennedy proposed major civil rights legislation.
While jailed, King wrote a powerful letter defending nonviolent resistance and criticizing white moderates who preferred "order" to justice.
Over 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the largest civil rights demonstration in American history.
Dr. King delivered his most famous speech:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
"Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Impact: Built public support for civil rights legislation.
Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson:
• Banned discrimination in public places (restaurants, hotels, theaters)
• Banned employment discrimination
• Authorized federal government to enforce desegregation
• Created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• Banned literacy tests and other tactics used to prevent Black people from voting
• Authorized federal oversight of voter registration in discriminatory areas
• Dramatically increased Black voter registration
• Banned discrimination in housing sales and rentals
In Selma, Alabama, only 2% of eligible Black voters were registered due to intimidation and unfair tests.
600 marchers attempted to walk from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state troopers attacked with clubs and tear gas.
TV cameras captured the violence. Americans were horrified.
Two weeks later, protected by federal troops, 25,000 people completed the march. President Johnson pushed the Voting Rights Act through Congress.
Each tragedy strengthened resolve for change. Their deaths helped build support for civil rights legislation.
Advocated Black nationalism and self-defense rather than nonviolence. Famous phrase: "By any means necessary." Assassinated 1965.
Emphasized racial pride, economic power, and self-defense. Stokely Carmichael popularized "Black Power" slogan. Black Panthers formed to protect communities.
Frustration over poverty and police brutality led to riots in major cities (Watts 1965, Detroit 1967). Highlighted that civil rights laws didn't solve economic inequality.