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Section 1
Postwar Changes Strengthen Protests -African Americans have always fought for equality -Really took hold after WWII -Racism = hatred = evil -Hitler’s hatred of Jews
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)-Challenged school segregation -Black girl had to go to school across town -Could not go to all-white school a short walk from home -“Separate but equal is inherently unequal” -Start of desegregation of public schools -Many states started desegregating quickly -Southern states rebelled -Supreme Court allows other federal courts to desegregate schools using any means
Montgomery Bus Boycott-December 1, 1953àRosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus and move to the back of the bus -Arrested and convicted of violating segregation laws -50,000 African Americans boycotted bus system -Martin Luther King, Jr. was chosen to lead the protest -Racists tried to intimidate protesters -Bombed houses, beat up blacks -KKK came into spotlight again -Urged people not to use violence -In November 1956àSupreme Court declared segregation laws unconstitutional
Little Rock-Little Rock school board announced it would desegregate -Governor Orval Faubus comes out against it (1957) -Running for re-election -Appeals to some voters -Orders National Guard to surround high school -“To protect it” (no real danger) -Does not let black students into school for “fear of violence” -“Little Rock Nine” -Nickname of 1st black students -Eisenhower sends in 1,000 federal troops to force desegregation (Sept. 1957) -Very tense -Students let in |