Racial Integration Progress

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The source provides a detailed account of segregation's legal framework. In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled Black people were not and could never be U.S. citizens. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, but the Supreme Court overturned it in 1883 in the Civil Rights Cases. The court upheld segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) as long as "separate but equal" facilities were provided, a requirement rarely met. This doctrine was overturned for public schools in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Subsequent landmark cases like Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964) helped end Jim Crow laws. De jure segregation was mandated by law in slave codes, Black Codes, and Jim Crow laws, primarily in the Southern United States. De facto segregation, existing without legal sanction, continues today due to contemporary behavior and the historical legacy of de jure segregation.

In Their Own Story

The source describes the antebellum era: schools were segregated, and educational opportunities for Black people were restricted, with violent opposition from the public. In 1832, Prudence Crandall admitted an African American girl to her all-white Canterbury Female Boarding School in Canterbury, Connecticut, sparking public backlash. She converted the school for only African American girls but was jailed for violating a Black Law. In 1835, an anti-abolitionist mob attacked and destroyed Noyes Academy, an integrated school in Canaan, New Hampshire. In the 1849 case Roberts v. City of Boston, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled segregated schools were allowed under the state constitution. After the Civil War, California passed a law prohibiting "Negroes, Mongolians and Indians" from attending public schools. In 1867, Portland, Oregon prevented a Black student from attending public elementary schools and established a separate segregated school when sued; Portland's public schools integrated in 1872.

Reader's Guide

The source covers the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras. Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and ratified the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, granting African Americans the right to vote. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 forbade racial segregation in accommodations. When Republicans came to power in Southern states after 1867, they created the first system of taxpayer-funded public schools. Almost all new public schools were segregated, apart from a few in New Orleans. After Republicans lost power in the mid-1870s, Southern Democrats retained public schools but sharply cut funding. The legitimacy of segregation laws was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), sustaining a Louisiana statute requiring "separate but equal" railroad accommodations. This allowed segregation to become standard throughout the southern United States. In practice, facilities for African Americans were almost always of lower quality. President Woodrow Wilson allowed individual government department heads to impose segregation of federal workplaces in 1913. Some streetcar companies did not segregate voluntarily, taking 15 years for the government to break down their resistance.

Did You Know?

• In the 1857 Dred Scott case, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Black people were not and could never be U.S. citizens.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1883 in the Civil Rights Cases.
• Prudence Crandall was jailed for violating a Black Law after converting her boarding school to one for only African American girls in 1833.
• In 1867, Portland, Oregon established a separate segregated school for a Black student when sued, then integrated its public schools in 1872.
• President Woodrow Wilson allowed individual government department heads to impose segregation of federal workplaces in 1913.