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Segregation in the North
Roberts v. City of Boston
Benjamin Roberts led a legal battle to enroll his 5-year-old daughter, Sarah, in a local school for whites. The Massachusetts Supreme Court ultimately decided that separate schools was not a violation of Sarah's rights. This case was cited over and over in support of separate-but-equal legislation in the south after the civil war. -
13th Amendment
Recruitment Handbill
Slavery is abolished. Handbills created to recruit black men to fight in the civil war promised "new hope for a good education and a productive way of life." -
14th Amendment
Defined citizenship and allows for equal protection for all under the law. -
15th Amendment
Provided black men the ability to vote. -
Jim Crow Laws
Separate but Equal
Jim Crow laws came into play in the south after reconstruction ended in 1876 as a way for white southerners to delegate black people as second class citizens. Laws were passed to keep black men from voting, owning property and keep blacks and whites separate under the concept of "separate but equal" among other things. -
The Tape Family's Fight for Equality
The Tape Family
The Tape Family, fought when their daughter was denied entrance to the Spring Valley School in San Francisco, CA. The Supreme Court ruled that in California, the law required that public education be "open to all". This victory was later overturned when the California legislature quickly passed a law to create separate schools for "Mongolians". -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court upheld Jim Crow Laws by deciding that 'separate but equal' was constitutional. -
The fight for equality
The fight for equality
Jim Crow laws are still in affect and stronger than ever. Minority communities work to strengthen community schools and continue the fight for equality in schools. -
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Jackie Bott
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NAACP Founded
NAACP
Founded, "To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination." -
Schools for Asian, Latin and Native American Children
Segregation for non-white cultures
Children who were Asian, Native American or Latin would typically form their own schools. If there were not enough students to create an entire school, children of other ethnicities would attend black schools. -
Rosenwald School in South Carolina
Established to meet the enormous desire for education among African Americans, northern charities helped black communities start thousands of new schools in the South. One of the largest programs was the Julius Rosenwald Fund, established in 1914. -
Political Protests on a Larger Scale
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Lyndon B. Johnson Teaches a class of Latino Children
President Johnson's Class
As president, Johnson would sign the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)
First American admitted to the Florida Bar, Educator, co-composer of what later became known as the Negro National Anthem, poet, novelist, secretary of the NAACP, and much more. -
Roberto Alvarez vs. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District
"...the earliest court cases concerning school desegregation occurred in...California in the 1930s. In these cases Mexican immigrants...were the targeted groups of segregation by school officials. A case of particular importance, which has begun to take its place in the social history of civil rights, occurred in San Diego County during the 1930s, in the then rural community of Lemon Grove. This case: Roberto Alvarez vs. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove School District." -
1938 Missouri ex. rel. Gaines v. Canada
Lloyd Lionel Gaines was the plaintiff in Gaines v. Canada (1938), one of the most important court cases in the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1930s. After being denied admission to the University of Missouri School of Law because he was African American, and refusing the university's offer to pay for him to attend another neighboring state's law school, he filed suit. -
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1940 - 1959 Kristin Denton
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Equal Pay for Black and White Teachers
On this date, a federal appeals court held that Black teachers in Norfolk, Virginia must be paid an amount equal to White teachers. This was upheld on the basis of the 14th amendment. The case was brought by Aline Black, a teacher at Booker T. Washington HS. -
Brown vs. Board of Ed. of Topeka, Kansas
American History - the Smithsonian InstituteThis landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court found that separate but equal schools were NOT equal and ordered desegregation. -
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1960-1979 Julie
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Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson on July 2nd. This law prohibits employers to "fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." Resources -
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Desegregation of Schools
The 1964-65 school year marked the beginning of the forced desegregation of schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed for the Federal Government to withhold funds from schools who did not comply, and thus the struggle to integrate began.
Davis, Kennith C. (2010) NCSS -
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) - Brought equality for students from various economic groups
Ruppel - Increased federalization of education including head start, free lunches & special education students. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 opened the doors to many African Americans as it put laws into place prohibiting discrimination of housing. This led to many blacks moving into the cities, but was quickly met by the "great white flight" as whites headed out of the cities and into the suburbs. This "hypersegregation" would last for decades. Jabbar, Kareem Abdul (2009) On The Shoulders of Giants -
Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver 9 De Facto Segregation / Bussing
Ruppel - It was decided that many schools were segregated within Denver Public School District because of the zoning for schools among the various neighborhoods. It was decided by the Supreme Court that students should be bussed to various schools to fully integrate schools.
Alexander & Alexander, American Public School Law, 2010 p.1017 -
Plyler v. Doe - Undocumented Children of Alien Parents cannot be Denied a Public Education
Ruppel - It was decided that any "person" under the jurisdiction of the state are entitled to any and all rights of the constituion. There is no stipulation about the need to be legally registered, therefore, all students regardless of their legal status or that of their parents should be guaranteed the same rights as any citizen. -
The U.S. Supreme Court rules against school district: Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1
Seattle school district No. 1 sought to register students based on race so as to eliminate any more than 50% of any high school being made up of African-American students. The U.S. Supreme court ruled against this practice eventhough to principle of the matter was to maintain diversity amongst the school population. -
US Schools are More Segregated Today than in the 1950s....
According to a new Civil Rights report published at the University of California, Los Angeles, schools in the US are 44 percent non-white, and minorities are rapidly emerging as the majority of public school students in the US. Latinos and blacks, the two largest minority groups, attend schools more segregated today than during the civil rights movement forty years ago. -
JFK Speech Still Relevant Today
The issue today, though segregation has been made illegal, is more about housing and how it impacts the schools therein. According to Andrew Rotherham who co-founded Bellweather Education Partners, this issue is just as relevant today as it was in the 1960's and can be seen in the following quote, "What's driving segregation now is housing patterns, and that's much more difficult to solve. It's also not necessarily a problem you can solve with education." In this, the fight goes on.....
