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What Is The Triumph Of The Plessy Fight For Freedom

Decent Essays

William Bertolucci
Granados
US History
01 May 2017
21.1 Section Notes: Taking on Segregation
THE SEGREGATION SYSTEM
1890: Louisiana passed law requiring railroads to provide “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.”
In the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that the “separate but equal” law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment—guarantees all Americans equal treatment under the law.
States throughout nation, armed with the Plessy decision, passed Jim Crow laws—laws aimed at separating the races.
Forbade marriage between blacks and whites and established many other restrictions on social and religious contact between the races.
Separate schools, streetcars, waiting rooms, railroad coaches, …show more content…

21.2 Section Notes: The Triumphs of a Crusade
RIDING FOR FREEDOM
When a new band of freedom riders rode into Birmingham, policemen pulled them from the bus, beat them, and drove them into Tennessee.
They returned to the bus terminal, and the bus driver refused to transport them.
In protest, they occupied the whites-only waiting room at the terminal for eighteen hours until a solution was reached.
After an angry phone call from US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, bus company officials convinced the driver to proceed.
A mob of whites—many carrying bats and lead pipes—fell upon the freedom riders when they arrived in Montgomery.
President Kennedy arranged to give the freedom riders direct support.
Justice Department sent 400 US marshals to protect the riders on the last part of their journey to Jackson, Mississippi.
The attorney general and the Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation in all interstate travel facilities, including waiting rooms, restrooms, and lunch counters.
STANDING FIRM:
September 1962: Air Force veteran James Meredith won a federal court case that allowed him to enroll in the all-white University of

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