The Supreme Court and African American Civil Rights
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 31-05-17 15:34
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- The Supreme Court (SC) and African American (AA) Civil Rights
- Court as barrier
- United States v. Harris
- 1883
- SP ruled Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional
- Held private discrimination did not fall under federal discrimination
- Wilkins v. Mississippi
- 1898
- Court declared discriminatory voter registration laws were not unconstitutional
- No specific mention of race in voting qualifications
- Technically true, although it is obvious intention of court was to disenfranchise AAs
- Plessy v. Ferguson
- 1896
- Whole development of discrimination encouraged by decision
- Ruled 'Separation' did not imply any inferior treatment of people of different race or colour
- Idea of 'separate but equal' enshrined in legal ruling
- In practice, facilities, public and private - AA schools always of lower quality
- United States v. Harris
- Plessy v. Ferguson
- 1890
- Louisiana passed a Jim Crow law segregating railway transport
- 1892
- Homer Plessy, AA, challenged law and travelled in whites-only railway carriage
- Punished in New Orleans court by Judge Ferguson
- Appealed to US SC
- Ruled 7 to 1 Louisiana was not going against constitution by segregation
- Established legal basis for segregation laws
- 1890
- Court as a promoter of civil rights
- Gradual change in legal rulings from position held between 1890 and 1944 marked a change in attitudes of civil rights
- Smith v. Allwright
- 1944
- Led to ruling it was unconstitutional for black voters to be excluded from party primary voting
- More radical decision in 1954 was Brown v. Topeka Board of Education ruling segregation was illegal
- Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
- Group of parents with help of National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- Sued Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas
- For not providing appropriate education
- Sued Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas
- Leader, Oliver Brown, said daughter Linda had to walk a mile to segregated school when white school much nearer
- District Court ruled against them, quoting Plessy v. Ferguson
- NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, took case to SC
- Ruled in favour of Brown in May 1954
- Ended legal basis for segregation by unanimous court decision
- Ruled in favour of Brown in May 1954
- Most significant federal intervention in civil rights since Congressional Reconstruction
- Like Congressional Reconstruction, led to violence and protests in South
- Brown v. Topeka required federal use of federal armed forces to enforce and it greatly encouraged political participation by AAs and political organisation
- Boynton v. Virginia in 1960 confirmed that segregation on interstate (between different states) bus transportation was unconstitutional, giving rise to Freedom Rides
- The court maintained momentum of change in Alexander v. Holmes County in 1969, insisting on more rapid desegregation of schools
- Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenberg Board of Education in 1971 approved plans for enforced desegregation by busing children from white suburbs into inner-city areas with more black children
- Griggs v. Duke Power Company
- 1971
- Court protected AAs from implicit discrimination by firms who insisted on high school diploma qualifications for jobs which did not really need them.
- Many AAs did not have these qualifications but were capable of doing work so were losing higher paid jobs to white workers
- High points of court's importance came in 1896, in giving legal backing to segregation, and in 1956, in giving backing to integration
- Court as barrier
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