Chapter 9.1 Quiz

Explain the background of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case.

Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African-American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for blacks.

Explain the ruling of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case.

The Court ruled on the concept of 'separate but equal' and set back civil rights in the United States for decades to come.

Identify the ruling in Brown vs. Board and Brown v Board II.

Brown vs Board: The local elementary school in Topeka denied Linda Brown admittance because she was black. Supreme Court unanimously overruled the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson, holding for the first time that de jure segregation in the public schools violated the principle of equal protection under the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Brown vs Board II: Brown II (1955) One year after the original Brown v. Board of Education decision, Southern states requested an exemption from the desegregation task which was brought to the Supreme Court as Brown II. Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the decision for this case as well.

Identify examples of various Jim Crow laws

Examples of Jim Crow Laws. "It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other at any game of pool or billiards." This selection is an example of a Jim Crow law that was effective in the state of Alabama from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

Explain the impact of Jim Crow laws on African Americans Lives

Jim Crow Laws were strongly enforced and the laws made it difficult for African- Americans to live. African-Americans wanted better lives and felt that they should travel to the North to get them. This traveling sometimes brought danger and risk to them. The reason for this is because most Caucasian settlers didn't feel the African-Americans deserved a better life, so if they got the chance they might lynch an African-American if they felt they were doing something wrong. Also African-Americans could be stopped at any time and forced to answer questions as to why they were at a specific place at a specific time. There were even certain towns that warned African-Americans to not let the sun go down on them, basically threatening them that something could happen to them after it got dark. Many people decided to take the risk anyway and though some were hurt along the way, many made it to their destination and finally felt safe.

Define Jim Crow laws

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Identify the ruling in Sweatt vs. Painter and Mclauren v Ok St Board of Regents.

Sweatt vs. Painter: Heman Marion Sweatt was not allowed to the School of Law of the University of Texas because the Texas State Constitution banned integrated education. Supreme Court ruled the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the petitioner is admitted to the University of Texas Law School. Made clear that the separate but equal standard was unattainable—at least in state‐supported higher education. A newly created state law school for African‐Americans in Texas was in no objective way equal to the University of Texas Law School. Ok St Board of Regents: George McLaurin was denied admission to the University of Oklahoma to pursue a Doctor of Education degree even though he already had a Masters Degree in Education. After the University admitted him because he sued, they made him stay in separate facilities when he ate and studied. The Supreme Court ruled the different treatment of students in public institutions of higher learning solely on the basis of race violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.

Explain the background of the Little Rock Nine.

The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students' entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school.

Explain the background of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil-rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was arrested and fined for refusing to yield her bus seat to a white man. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system, and one of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a prominent leader of the American civil rights movement.