Supreme Court and African American Civil Rights

Supreme Court and African American Civil Rights

1. Supreme Court

   • Late 1800s
     • 1873 - Salughter house Case
       • Undid work of congress. Stated that the rights of citizens should stay under state. This would allow segregation to maintain especially in the South for many more years
     • 1896 - Plessy v. Ferguson
       • Gave the principle of " separate but equal" would allow segregation but had to be of equal standard. Undid the work of congress with the Civil Rights Act 1876
   • 1950s
     • Brown v. Board 1954
     • Browder V. Gayle
       • Segregation on buses unconstitutional 

2. Presidents

   • Late 19th & 20th Century
     • Took little action to change anything
       • Grover Cleveland
         • Stressed importance for equal rights for all
       • Theodore Roosevelt
         • Met with Booker T. Washington
     • More action
       • Woodrow Wilson
         • Dismissed African American advisors
         • Refused to meet with civil rights leaders
       • Herbert Hoover
         • Attempted to appoint racist judge, stopped by Supreme Court
   • 20th Century
     • FDR
       • New Deal 1933
         • Would economically Aid African Americans
       • 1941 - Executive Order
         • Banned racial discrimination in federal jobs
     • Truman
       • Fully desegregated the army
     • Kennedy
       • Began to draft new Civil Rights Act
         • Killed before he could finish it
     • Lyndon B. Johnson
       • Civil Rights Act 1863
         • Voting Rights Act 1864
     • Nixon
     • Reagan
       • Suggested slowing down/stopping a fully equal society
     • Bush
       • Conservatised Supreme Court

3. Congress

   • Late 1800s
     • Emancipation Proclamation 1963
       • Without the formal freeing of the slaves no work could be done on civil rights for the newly freed slaves. Congress allowed the start of the civil rights
       • 13th Amendment 1865
     • 14th (1868) & 15th (1870) Amendements
       • Gave newly freed slaves de jure equality. Techniqually from this point congress had given now African Americans equality. But this was no de facto
     • Civil Rights Act 1875
       • Reaction to formal segregation. Mainly in the South. Stated that public y areas should not be segregated.
   • Civil Rights Act 1957 & 1960
     • Quite weak acts.