1950's Civil Rights Movement
The organizers of the boycott met in the basement of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which Pastor Martin Luther King Jr. had offered for that purpose. The group named itself the Montgomery Improvement Association, or MIA, and elected Martin Luther King Jr. its president. The group drafted three demands for the bus company: that seating be available on a strictly first-come, first-served basis; that drivers conduct themselves with greater civility to black passengers; and that black drivers be hired for predominantly black routes. There was no call to integrate seating. To secure these demands, no African Americans would ride the buses on Monday, 5 December. Nearly 20,000 blacks supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott actions, and because blacks constituted the majority of the bus system's customers, many buses drove around empty. The boycott lasted a year, and changed the character of both King's life and the city of Montgomery. King became the target of numerous telephoned threats and a few actual acts of violence. His house was bombed; he was arrested under false pretenses; he was sued for various reasons; he became very well known. Though only twenty-six, he showed great promise as a leader, and he encouraged his followers that though they might be the victims of violence, black protesters should engage in no acts of violence themselves; they should "turn the other cheek." This set the tone for all of King's subsequent campaigns. In 1957, King and other church groups helped to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which became the leading group of non-violent protests during the 1960s. They organized marches and sit-ins to protest un-equal treatments of African Americans.
The boycott quickly began to hurt the businesses of city store owners, not to mention that of the bus company itself, which was losing 65% of its income. But instead of considering the demands of the MIA, whites attempted to end the boycott by other means, both unofficially, though a series of bombings of churches and private homes, and officially, through the courts. The boycott ended on 21 December 1956, over a year after Parks had refused to relinquish her seat, when the Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal to have the kind of bus segregation enforced in Montgomery. King and the other boycott leaders joined to ride on the first desegregated bus. Violence continued in the wake of the boycott: but however tenuous the victory was at the local level, it marked a national success for King and for the cause of African Americans as a whole.
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The Little Rock Nine: were the nine African American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas. On May 24, 1955, the Little Rock School Board adopted a plan for gradual integration, known as the Blossom Plan (also known as the Little Rock Phase Program). The plan called for desegregation to begin in the fall of 1957 at Central and filter down to the lower grades over the next six years. On September 4, 1957, the Nine attempted to enter Central High School but were turned away by the Arkansas National Guard troops called out by Arkansas Governor Faubus. When Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine arrived at the campus she was confronted by an angry mob of segregationist protesters and her and the others returned home.
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The Nine remained at home for more than two weeks, trying to keep up with their schoolwork as best they could. When the federal court ordered Gov. Faubus to stop interfering with the court’s order to integrate, Faubus removed the guardsmen from in front of the school. On September 23, the Nine entered the school for the first time. The crowd outside chanted, “Two, four, six, eight . . . We ain’t gonna integrate” and chased and beat black reporters who were there covering the events. The Little Rock police, fearful that they could not control the mob in front of the school, removed the Nine later that morning. They once again returned home and waited for further information on when they would be able to attend school.
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Mendez v. Westminster:
While Brown v. Board of Education is a widely known landmark Supreme Court case, few can trace its origins to the case of nine-year-old Sylvia Mendez in Mendez v. Westminster. Sylvia’s case, which was decided in the federal courts in California, preceded Brown by about eight years. Thurgood Marshall represented Sylvia Mendez and Linda Brown. Marshall used some of the same arguments from Mendez to win Brown v. Board of Education.
While Brown v. Board of Education is a widely known landmark Supreme Court case, few can trace its origins to the case of nine-year-old Sylvia Mendez in Mendez v. Westminster. Sylvia’s case, which was decided in the federal courts in California, preceded Brown by about eight years. Thurgood Marshall represented Sylvia Mendez and Linda Brown. Marshall used some of the same arguments from Mendez to win Brown v. Board of Education.
Mexican Americans, then legally and socially considered to be "white", were not normally subject to legal segregation in California, and in general, they always went to schools with other white children. Starting in the 1940s, a few scattered districts began to establish separate language-based "Mexican Schools", arguing that Mexican children had special needs because they were Spanish-speakers. Some began forcing all Mexican children into "Mexican Schools" even though that was not the norm and not legally sanctioned by the state of California.
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