IV Brown v Board In 1954 Linda Brown

IV. Brown v. Board • In 1954 Linda Brown, requested the right to attend an all white local school, rather than attend an all black school far away. • Brown v Board of Education (1954) Supreme court ruled that the plessy v. ferguson precedent of “separate but equal” was unconstitutional. • This decision is one of the most significant and controversial in American history. • It set the stage for Court ordered desegregation of schools in the South.

The Ku Klux Klan • After Brown v Board there was a significant revival of the KKK. • The KKK began as a social club for young men after the Civil War, but it eventually evolved into a vigilante organization that terrorized African Americans in the South

A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch carpetbaggers, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, 1868.

V. Little Rock 9 • Historically education had been a state matter. • When the Federal (National) government attempted force desegregation many states resisted. The most famous of these was in Arkansas. • Little Rock 9: 9 students who volunteered to desegregate high school in Little Rock, AK. • The governor of Arkansas called out the Arkansas National Guard to block their path. • President Eisenhower sent troops to enforce the courts decision. The troops accompanied the students to school every day for the entire year.

Little Rock Nine