Civil Rights in the 1940s-1950s (College Board AP® US History)
Study Guide
Timeline:
1946 ‒ Executive branch’s Committee on Civil Rights was created
1948 ‒ President Truman ordered an end to racial discrimination in the federal government
1954 ‒ The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education overturns Plessy v. Ferguson and makes segregation illegal
December 1955‒1956 ‒ Montgomery Bus Boycott
January 1957 ‒ The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is passed
January 1957 ‒ Southern Christian Leadership Conference is formed
September 1957 ‒ President Eisenhower orders federal troops to protect the Little Rock Nine
1960 ‒ Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is formed
Summary
The first 15 years of the post-war Civil Rights Movement were focused on two things:
desegregation
voting rights for Black Americans
Although the Fourteenth Amendment and Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed Black people full citizenship and the right to vote, numerous Jim Crow laws passed after Reconstruction chipped away at those rights in the South. In many places, Black people were treated like they did not have any rights at all.
The Civil Rights Movement was led by average citizens. Their grassroots protests, boycotts, and sit-ins spurred government officials into action. Each of the three branches of the federal government supported the Civil Rights Movement in the 1940s and 1950s, be it through legislation, executive orders, the formation of committees, or landmark Supreme Court case rulings.
Grassroots Actions
The post-World War II Civil Rights Movement began with the actions of Black Americans seeking to secure the rights guaranteed to them following the Civil War
Despite Reconstruction-era laws and constitutional amendments, Black and White people remained segregated by law in the South
In many southern states, Black people also had to pay poll taxes or take literacy tests before they were allowed to vote
The Supreme Court’s “separate but equal” decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was a target for many civil rights activists
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) spent decades working through the court system to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson
Grassroots civil rights organizations
Many resistance efforts were made by people who were not politicians or lawyers
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was started in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat for a White passenger
The year-long boycott by Black residents hurt local businesses and catapulted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to prominence as a leader of the movement
In 1957, King organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was a group of Black religious leaders who supported the civil rights movement
In 1960, students in Greensboro, North Carolina, adopted King’s policy of nonviolence and started the sit-in movement after being refused service at a department store lunch counter
Protests like this led to the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which promoted voting rights and ending segregation
These groups and their activities put pressure on leaders and lawmakers to change the discriminatory laws and culture of the United States
Federal Government Contributions
All three branches of the federal government contributed to desegregation and racial equality efforts of the 1940s and 1950s
The Executive branch
In 1946, President Harry Truman oversaw the creation of the Committee on Civil Rights
It recommended desegregating the army, abolishing poll taxes, and creating federal protections from lynching
In 1948, Truman ordered the end of racial discrimination in the federal government
Executive Order 9981 officially banned segregation in the armed forces
Desegregation wasn’t enforced until 1950, during the Korean War
The Little Rock Nine
In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower activated federal troops to protect nine Black students in Little Rock, Arkansas
They were known as the Little Rock Nine
They had been barred from attending a formerly all-White high school by the state’s governor, Orval Faubus
The governor’s actions violated the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education
Eisenhower didn’t personally support desegregation, but he knew it was the executive branch’s role to enforce the nation’s laws and high court rulings
The legislative branch
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957
It was the first civil rights law since Reconstruction
It established the Civil Rights Commission, which had the authority to investigate discrimination and make recommendations about how to correct it
It also created the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department
This gave the Justice Department new powers to protect Black citizens’ voting rights
The judicial branch
In 1954, the Supreme Court heard Brown v. Board of Education, which challenged the ruling in the 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson
The court determined that segregation by race in public schools was unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed “equal protection of the laws” to all citizens
This ruling overturned Plessy v. Ferguson
In 1896, the Supreme Court said that separate facilities were fine as long as they were equal
In 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that “separate facilities are inherently unequal”
Examiner Tips and Tricks
It can be difficult to remember the outcomes of all the different Supreme Court cases over the years. That’s where memory devices like rhymes and other phrases come in handy.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was a landmark case in the Civil Rights Movement. Always think of it as being paired with Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Remember, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown overturned its ruling in Plessy. You can remember that with this rhyme: Plessy was messy but Brown took the crown. “Took the crown” is an idiom that means won.
Both Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education are about racial segregation, specifically whether separate facilities are equal in nature. Plessy’s ruling said yes; Brown’s ruling said no. You can remember that distinction with this phrase: Mrs. Brown reminded Mrs. Plessy that separate is never equal. You’ll have an easier time remembering this if you visualize each character. For example, the one representing Mrs. Brown could be much younger than the one representing Mrs. Plessy since there were so many years between the two rulings.
Worked Example
Which of the following is the best example of a branch of government fulfilling its constitutional role?
The Supreme Court overturning its previous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson when it became clear that public opinion had changed about segregating Americans by race
President Eisenhower activating federal troops to protect Black students at a formerly all-white Arkansas high school following the Brown v. Board of Education decision
Congress’s passing, and President Truman’s signing of, Executive Order 9981, which made it illegal to segregate members of the armed forces based on race
The executive branch’s creation of the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department, which made recommendations about protecting voting rights
Answer:
B) President Eisenhower activated federal troops to protect Black students at a formerly all-white Arkansas high school following the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The president is part of the executive branch, and one of the executive branch’s roles as outlined in the Constitution is to enforce the laws created by Congress and the judicial rulings made by federal courts. President Eisenhower sent federal troops into Little Rock to enforce the desegregation order made in conjunction with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling.
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