Life After World War II As WWII soldiers were returning

home, they were happy to see that the Great Depression was over and people had jobs. Unfortunately, not everything was better than before.

African American soldiers came home to find that people were still segregated (separated) by the Jim Crow Laws that were passed after the South lost the Civil War. The Jim Crow Laws were laws that segregated African Americans in public places like schools, restaurants, train and bus stations, and restrooms.

African Americans held many peaceful protests because they did not want to break the law. To protest peacefully, African Americans used words, and not weapons. These protests are known as the Civil Rights Movement. A group called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) helped African Americans protest by going to court to change the laws. “Separate but Equal”

According to the law, all schools were supposed to be “separate but

equal”. However, this was far from true.

- White students had new, clean schools while African American students had old schools.

- African American schools did not have heating/ air conditioning or plumbing for water fountains and restrooms.

- African Americans schools were given old books and desks.

Also, there were not any buses to take African American children to school. The Briggs family asked the school for buses and the school said no. The NAACP helped the Briggs family go to court. The case was called Briggs vs. Elliott. The Briggs family did not win, so they went to the Supreme Court. Since many other African Americans were also fighting segregation, some of these court cases were combined and called Brown vs. The Board of Education. In 1954, The Supreme Court decided that segregation was unequal and that all children should be allowed to go to school together. However, some people did not agree with the new laws, so schools and other public places remained segregated.

Civil Rights Activists An activist is a person who takes

action to make a change. Rosa Parks was a Civil Rights Activist and a member of the NAACP. In 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. The bus driver had Rosa arrested.

There were many other peaceful protests that included boycotts, speeches, sit-ins, and marches. At sit-ins, African Americans sat at “white only” sections in restaurants all day even though they were not served. Many protests were led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

These protests continued until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made segregation illegal (against the law) in all public places.

Quick Check

1. The Civil Rights Movement began after World War _________. 2. The __________________ Laws segregated African Americans in public places.

3. African Americans held peaceful protests like ______________________________. 4. What group of people supported equality for African Americans? _______________________. 5. Name one way that schools were not equal. __________________________________________________________________________________ 6. In Brown vs. the Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was ________________________________________. 7. The Civil Rights movement was a _____________________ protest. 8. ______________________________________ was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King, Jr. what is

Movement

Rights

Civil

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