14 The Civil Rights Movement Key Terms EO 9981 Brown vs Board of Ed 1954 CRA of 1964 and VRA of 1965 Emmett Till Black Panthers I Desegregation 1 EO 9981 African Americans have fought in Military since Revolutionary War also the last time until after WWII blacks and whites fought side by side These units that were exclusively AA were also the ones that got the shit military jobs burying bodies digging ditches building roads In the US military we see how AA are treated in the rest of the US society This was particularly the case in WWII AA did their part in fighting in WWII but did it segregated this starts to change in July of 1948 The president Harry Truman issues an executive order EO 9981 This order abolishes discrimination in the US military in all branches discrimination based on race gender ethnicity and religion The key one at this point in time is race Officers could be court marshalled for using specific language The national result of this is that these segregated units are going to start merging and desegregating First American institution to officially desegregate and force this policy Blacks and whites will now be fighting side by side As president Truman is the commander and chief so he can make these calls In 1947 Truman received a report that we might need to address some civil rights problems because the rest of the world is watching what we are doing This is potentially influential to Truman Is not shocking that after he receives this report he decides to desegregate One order and the entire military structure begins this process To accomplish desegregation it is going to take either president congress Supreme Court The federal government cares about this now for us to look better When federal government decides it wasn t to get involved shit gets done 2 Brown vs Board of Ed 1954 Find first real success with issue of public schools with case of Linda Brown Linda Brown is a girl that lives in Topeka Kansas in early 1950s Goes to school in a segregated school district The school that is closest is the white school so her parents petition and sue for the board of education not letting her go to the closer school Brown Linda Brown Board of Education Topeka School District The NAACP helps Brown family find a great lawyer Thurgood Marshall is a very good lawyer after this becomes Supreme Court justice He wants to prove the fundamental argument is bad Wants to say separate but equal is bad and wrong equal He wants to show what black schools actually look like by photographs statistics and studies Some of these kids don t have desks books and the student to faculty ration is outrageous They get the out of date books don t have pencil paper or supplies These are all disadvantages that are pretty clear One of the other things Marshall shows is the Doll Test This test brought white and black children at age of 5 6 One at a time they would sit down and have to pick if the white doll of black doll was the prettiest what was the best doll and obviously the white kids pick the white doll The AA kids also pick the white doll They are taught already by age of 5 6 white is better Marshall puts that all out there for Supreme Court justice and its unanimous 9 0 in favor of the Brown family They are in favor of getting rid of segregation IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS One this is a huge victory but does not cover all segregation 3 Little Rock Nine After Brown vs Board of Ed the process of desegregation is left up to the single school board By far the most extreme case of school desegregation The Little Rock board of education in Arkansas dragged its feet had to be taken to court several times before they even started this process had to shut down all their schools or do it The board decided to desegregate one school Central High main white high school Central High had about 2 000 students white when this happened Black schools had to apply to go to this school which was worth it because they had better teachers supplies etc This was going to be a huge leap for AA families Little Rock School District gets about 500 800 applications from AA students and they only accept nine Says these AA are the only ones good enough and this is be desegregation Obviously potential problems The 1957 governor in Little Rock is up for reelection The white families on little Rock are getting really loud and vocal about not wanting this to happen these nine students are nine too many The governor is listening because he wants their votes Governor brings in the National Guard On the first day of school in fall of 1957 the governor of Arkansas orders them to surround Central High School and NOT allow these black kids to go inside The guys with guns are keeping black kids OUT of school The whole town goes to the school 8 of the 9 get the phone call from NCAAP to not go to school The one that doesn t get the phone call does not have a phone Elizabeth Edford is trying to go to school When the white students come the guards let them right through but when she tries to go in she is pointed in the other direction Very quickly Elizabeth gets surrounded and called pretty awful things Say things like lynch her in their angriest voices What saves her life is the media with cameras not just still cameras TV cameras She is also surrounded by media asked how she is feeling and all she wants to do is not cry Very quickly she realizes she has to go home Has to wait for next bus to go home As she waits for the bus she is still surrounded A white woman comes and tries to get people to leave her alone and this woman stays with her until bus comes and gets on the bus with her These 9 kids cannot get into the school This is all in violation of Supreme Court order The president Dwight D Eisenhower sees this situation and realizes unless he does something this is not going to go well He orders a military unit 101 airborne Makes National Guard step aside and protects these 9 students as they go to school He does this to send a message We are not sending them to Korea Vietnam to these other places but rather Arkansas where their value is the highest This message is for Americans but in the big picture also for the world Telling the world desegregation is important to us 9 students get into the school but these 9 AA students are with 2 000 white students The one hundred and first airborne is stationed outside and in class room and hall ways to make sure these kids are safe but cannot put them in the bathroom Some bad things …