Kayla Daniels March 3rd, 2011 In America segregation in schools used to be the normal way of life to the whites but for blacks it was unfair and they wanted dramatic change. In the year of 1962 in the city of New Rochelle, the superintendent and the New Rochelle Board of Education faced a class action by eleven African American students; stating that they were gerrymandering the elementary schools in the district in order to make a school with only black students "Lincoln Elementary". Prior to the civil rights movement many African Americans never stood up for their rights until now. Racism plays a key role for the outcome of why these schools no longer exist. Without protests, riots and many other strong
Therefore, Linda's father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal of the school denied the request. Outraged, Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for help. The NAACP was eager to assist the Browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. With some other black parents joining Brown, in 1951, the NAACP requested a ruling that would forbid the segregation of Topeka's public schools. The Case At the trial, the NAACP’s main argument was that segregated schools sent the message to black children that they were inferior to whites;
The MIA(Montgomery Improvement Association) was formed with Martin Luther King as president. Leaflets were passed around the black community urging them to stop using the bus services. The effect was immense, with countless buses in Montgomery empty. An MIA meeting of 7000 was held in Holt Street Baptist Church, where it was decided that the boycott would continue. At that meeting Martin Luther King gave an inspiring speech that spread the boycott further among blacks.
Southern blacks simply stopped using the bus system to show that they weren't going to be treated unfairly, by the community, government and bus system. Every week the black community would gather and have a meeting about the protest, the leader of these gatherings would emerge to be Martin L. King who took charge of the boycott with the influential backing of the church. After over a year of boycotting the busses they went to the Supreme Court to prove that it was not legal to segregate blacks from whites on public transportation. Eventually, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to separate people based on their race. When the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the blacks, they knew it was going to change their way of life.
In the following year Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. This law banned discrimination in school, public places, jobs and many other fields. African Americans received the right to vote in 1967. In 1957, the Supreme Court ordered the Governor of Arkansas, to let nine black students attend a white-only school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Because of lack of communication Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine students, she was forced to march up the street alone with people shouting insults.
They protested, marched, wrote letters to Congress, wrote letters to the President, etc. On May 17, 1954, The US Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This decision declared that separate but equal educational facilities were unconstitutional. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015) A form of legislation to alleviate race within prejudicial boundaries was the Voting Rights Act of 1965; this law prohibits racial discrimination in voting. This year commemorates 50 years since the infamous march in Selma, Alabama.
The boycott bought 85% of the black community in Montgomery together and led to the establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) by King which continued to campaign for desegregation. The campaign continued with full vigour until the Supreme Court case of Browder vs. Gayle which occurred during the same time outlawed segregation on buses in Montgomery. This demonstrates the importance of peaceful protest, as without this campaign occurring in the first place it would not have led to the court case that bought about change; so there is evidence to suggest peaceful protests played a vital role in encouraging others to bring about change.
Many groups have struggled for change and equality from the 1940s to the 1960s. African Americans were one of the many groups to have struggled for change and equality. The march on Washington was one of the several battles against racial discrimination to have taken place during these times. Prior to World War II, 75 percent of defense contractors refused to hire African Americans, and another 15 percent employed them only in menial jobs. In response to such discrimination, A. Philip Randolph, president and founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, planned a march on Washington where he called on African Americans to come to capital on July 1, 1941.
This decision was a life changing experience for equality and is still continuing to this day. According to the fourteenth amendment , Segregation of white and black children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws Amendment . (http://www.nationalcenter.org/brown) Brown 3 The Supreme Court case Brown versus the Board of Education aimed to end unconstitutional discrimination against black people in the United States. (McDonald, 2009) . During the trial, psychologist Kenneth B. Clark argued that the segregation of black children faced many self esteem issues and hindered there ability to learn due to the racial issues that they were faced with.
Rosa Parks “To Kill a Mockingbird” is an important book that encapsulated the struggle of a group of people who were unwillingly put on a ship decades earlier, who were discriminated against by something as simple and uncontrollable as the color of their skin. This book highlights the real life situation of people like Rosa Parks who longed for human rights, something that may seem inconsequential. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a racially segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks wasn’t an unusual case, many other African Americans were arrested for disobeying the segregation laws before, but after her fearless action, she was much more of an advocacy for every day African Americans