BLACK CIVIL RIGHTS

CHALLENGING JIM CROW

1954

Brown v Board of Education

BLACK CIVIL RIGHTS

OBJECTIVES

• This lesson you will learn about:– A way in which blacks were

discriminated against.– A method used by blacks to gain

Civil Rights.– The US system of Government.

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OUTCOMES

• At the end of the lesson you will have:– Recapped yesterday’s work.– Notes about how the US Govt functions.– Notes about school segregation.– Seen an awesome animation!– Notes about why school segregation ended.

– You will be able to:• Explain why the Supreme Court ruled in

favour of Linda Brown.

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TASK: JIM CROW RECAP

• Imagine you are a Black girl from New York who has gone to visit her relations in Mississippi.

• What things would you notice about Southern society that were different from the North?

– Describe three specific things that are different, using details.

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USA Government

• Unlike in NZ, not all parts of the USA have the same laws.

• States can make their own laws about most things – such as gambling.

• The Federal Govt controls certain things like defence and foreign policy.

• The Federal Govt also makes sure the Constitution is being followed.

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Federal Executive State Executive

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TASK: US GOVT

• Turn to and refer to pg 17.

• Answer these questions:

– What are the four main parts of the Federal Govt?

– What is the most important part?– Which part could decide that a state law is

against the Constitution?

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Linda Brown

• Linda Brown was an eight year old girl who lived in Topeka, Kansas.

• Kansas had segregated schools – every day Linda passed a white school on the way to the black school.

• She had to walk across a dangerous railway line.

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NAACP Help

• Linda’s father, Oliver Brown hated that the schools were segregated. He got help from the NAACP.

• Along with 14 other families in Topeka, as part of a nationwide NAACP campaign, Brown took the Topeka Board of Education to court.

• The Kansas court refused his request to desegregate. Brown and the NAACP appealed to the US Supreme Court.

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TASK: School Segregation

• School areas in Kansas could choose whether or not to be segregated.

• Other states in the South had compulsory segregation.

• Turn to pg 19. Complete the three questions on mapping.

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Topeka, Kansas

S. Carolina

Virginia

Delaware

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Separate but Equal

• Jim Crow segregation had always been allowed by the Supreme Court.

• They allowed segregation on the basis of:

“Separate, but Equal”

Do you think separate would be equal?

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SEPARATE BUT EQUAL?

$43.14 per child $98.15 per child

Mississippi School Funding

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THURGOOD and WARREN

Thurgood Marshall was a lawyer for the NAACP. He argued Mr Brown’s case in front of the Supreme Court. He would later become a member of the Supreme Court himself.

Earl Warren was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He ruled that the idea of ‘separate but equal’ was wrong and illegal. Schools would have to desegregate.

"no State shall... deny to any person... the equal protection of the laws."

“To separate them from others of similar age because of their race generates a feeling of

inferiority”

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THE DOLL TEST

• Thurgood Marshall told the court about an experiment as part of his case.

• Hundreds of children, black and white, had been asked to choose between two dolls to play with. One doll was black, one was white. Nearly all choose the white doll.

• They were then asked which doll was the ‘bad doll’. Nearly all pointed to the black doll.

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TASK: The Decision

• Read pg 15.• Answer these questions:

– Why was Linda Brown’s school inferior to the local school?

– Why did the case have to go to the Supreme Court?

– Why did Justice Warren decide in favour of Brown?

!!! These questions might be a bit tricky. Ask me for help if you need it!!!

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TASK: The Reaction

• Turn to Pg 18 – 19.• Read the Five letters to the editor about the

Supreme Court Decision (in the pink box).

• Answer the three questions on pg18 “Magazine study”.

• Pretend it is 1954, just after the Supreme Court decision. Write a letter to the editor stating how you feel about the decision and why.