Revisiting ‘Separate but equal’

1. Revisiting ‘Separate but equal’ You will need… A copy of each of the three worksheets on the desks at the front of the classroom

2. Jim crow laws http://youtu.be/ij6DWZ-W-KA

3. **Laws that selectively discriminated against African Americans. **Created during the 1800s to enforce the segregation of races in the South. Examples: Segregated restaurants, water fountains, restrooms, swimming pools, schools, etc… African Americans were forbidden from marrying whites. Jim Crow Laws

7. Jim crow laws • Read through Jim Crow Laws • Which do you find the most unjust?

8. **1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that local and state governments could provide schools and public services that were separate but equal. **Problem: separate but NOT equal **The conditions in black schools were grossly unequal. Ex. many black schools did not have heat and were held in shacks. Many black children had to travel several miles away to attend a “black” school when there was a “white” school right in their neighborhood. School Segregation

9. A lawyer with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) led the fight for the desegregation of public schools. **Thurgood Marshall

10. In 1954, the Supreme Court heard the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled that schools could not be “separate but equal.” What does the phrase “separate but equal” mean to you? Why can’t schools be separate (in terms of the races of students that attend them) and equal?

11. Integration Begins

12. Brown v. Board of Education • Father of an eight year old girl charged the board of education of Topeka, Kansas with violating Linda’s rights by denying her admission to an all-white elementary school, just 4 blocks from her house. • The nearest all-black school was 21 blocks away. • Supreme court unanimously struck down segregation in schooling as unconstitutional.

13. 90% of social scientists believed segregation negatively affected the personality and psychology of black students. 83% of researchers claimed white students suffered from forced segregation as well because they felt guilty, hardened and confused. Arguments for Desegregation

14. **Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas – gained worldwide attention when thousands of local citizens resisted the integration of nine black students in 1957. She braved the walk alone through a hostile, jeering crowd on a failed attempt to enroll in school. Students and adults were yelling “lynch her, lynch her!” “Get a rope and drag her over to this tree.” Little Rock Nine

18. **After all of that, Elizabeth is turned away from entering school by a national guardsman… the National Guard would later be forced to escort Elizabeth to school.

20. Oprah’s little rock nine • http://youtu.be/SAsh_PDr1cc

21. “High Court Bans School Segregation; 9-to-0 Decision Grants Time to Comply” a. Why do you think, in the words of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court ruled that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”? b. What aspects of life did this historic decision affect? What aspects did it not affect? c. What is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment? How does this amendment relate to segregation in schools? d. What is guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment? How does this amendment relate to segregation in schools? e. What was the Dred Scott decision, and why does it relate to Brown v. Board of Education? f. What sides were presented in Brown v. Board of Education, and how was each supported? g. What was Plessy v. Ferguson, and why does it relate to Brown v. Board of Education? h. What were the expected outcomes of Brown v. Board of Education? i. What is due process of law, and why is this an important concept in this case?

22. Choose one topic from the list below • Montgomery bus boycott • Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Congress of Racial Equality • Little Rock (1957) • murder of Emmett Till • Southern Christian Leadership Conference • sit-ins • Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee • Freedom Riders • Mississippi riot of 1962 • March on Washington • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Medgar Evers • Black Panthers • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People • Mississippi Summer Project • March on Selma • Poor People’s Campaign • de facto segregation.

23. And answer the following questions… –Who were the main people involved? –If an event, what happened? –If a piece of legislation, what did this legislation do to further the Civil Rights Movement? –If an organization, what did they do to further the Civil Rights Movement? –Why is this event, legislation or organization significant to the quest for equal rights between blacks and whites in the United States at this time? –How does this event, legislation or organization relate to the notion of the inability to be “separate and equal”?

24. In your notebook… Reflect on your previous class discussion and individual research about Brown v. Board of Education and about the Civil Rights Movement. In what ways do you think race relations in the United States have changed since then? Are there elements of race relations that you feel have remained the same or have changed very little, and if so, what are they?

25. discussion –In what ways do you think race relations in the United States have changed since the Civil Rights Movement? –Are there elements of race relations that you feel have remained the same or have changed very little since the Civil Rights Movement, and if so, what are they? –What significant events, legislation and organizations lead up to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, and how did they impact race relations in the 1940’s and 1950’s? –What significant events, legislation and organizations followed the Brown v. Board of Education decision, and how did they impact race relations in the 1950’s and 1960’s? –What do you think we can “learn” from the struggle for civil rights in the United States?

26. Resegregation is emerging in schools, study finds a. How and why are schools, according to the recent Harvard study, becoming more segregated? b. To what do Gary Orfield and John T. Yun attribute the trend towards “resegregating” schools? c. How does Chester E. Finn, Jr. respond to Orfield and Yun’s views about this trend? d. What other issues in American education are brought up in this article, and how important do you feel these issues are? e. What do the statistics provided by the Federal Government’s National Center for Education Statistics illustrate? f. Why, if segregation was such a hot topic during the Civil Rights Movement (particularly in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education decision), is it not such a focus now?

27. Sdohs demographics • http://www.greatschools.org/arizona/phoenix/2904-Sandra-Day-OConnor-High-School/?tab=demographics

28. Ticket out the door You will write a proposal to your local school board or the Arizona Department of Education that addresses the current segregation issue. In the proposal, you should direct statements based answering the following issues: –Why emphasis should or should not be refocused on segregation in schools –Your own observations about segregation in his or her community, state or country –At least two suggestions for addressing the segregation issue in an appropriate and effective way on the local, state or national level.