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A History of Segregation and Discrimination
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The Reconstruction
Slavery was abolished and rights given to freed slaves through the ratification of theThirtheenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The federal government chooses to leave the subject of segregation in schools up to the individual states. -
Freedman's Bureau Created
Freedman's Bureau initiated to help the newly freed slaves learn to read, find jobs and begin new lives. The U.S. agency faced massive opposition and bigotry as shown in this newspaper article. The Bureau contributed to much higher education levels in the black community but did not do much to racially integrate public school systems. -
13th Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery in the United States. -
14th Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship and basic civil rights to all those born on American soil, including freed slaves. Also granted alledged criminals due process of the law. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld racial segregation stating the infamous "seperate but equal" line. While the case applied directly to segregation in locomotives, it indirectly upheld segregation in most other public forums as well. -
Formation of NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded with the goals of better educational, social and political opportunites for African Americans. Sought to end discrimination and segregation in the U.S. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Famous Supreme Court case that declared that the "seperate but equal" laws were unconstitutional. Led to what is known as the Massive Resistance. The Supreme Court argued that "Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law" -
Brown II
A collection of legal cases brought to the Supreme Court by southern states wishing to be exempt from forced integration. Decreed that all public schools must integrate "with all deliberate speed." -
Little Rock Crisis
Crisis that developed in Little Rock, Arkansas when 9 black students enrolled at a historically white High School. A mass of white students, parents and community members showed up on the first day of school to keep the new black students from entering. The crisis escalated until President Esisenhower had to call in the National Guard to maintain peace and get the black students to school safely
