WEBVTT

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I want to start with, I
guess for lack of a better

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word, two vignettes.  One,
and it really is lack of a

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better word, vignette
is actually a series of,

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of statistics.  You don't
need to keep them from your

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notes, but I want you to
understand them from an

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impressionistic point of
view.  These--this is a

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tallying of the state of
segregation in 1951.  It's a

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random point in time in
the South.  In May of 1951,

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the state of Texas did not
allow interracial boxing

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matches.  Florida did
not allow white and black

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students to use the same
editions of textbooks.

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In Alabama, a white woman
was not allowed to take care

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of a black male patient. 
North Carolina required

01:10.900 --> 01:14.770
separate washrooms in its
factories.  South Carolina

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required them in its cotton
mills.  Four other states

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required them
in their mines.

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In six
states--and there's a,

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I'm going to be reading a
list in numbers of states. 

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They're overlapping in
different combinations,

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I'm quite
sure--in six states,

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white and black prisoners
could not be chained

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together.  In
seven states, parks,

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playgrounds, bathing
and fishing and boating

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facilities, amusement
parks, race tracks,

01:39.500 --> 01:42.400
pool halls, circuses,
theaters and public halls

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were all segregated.  Ten
states required separate

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waiting rooms for bus and
train travelers.  Fourteen

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states required black
passengers to ride in the

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back of buses and
streetcars.  Some other

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combination of fourteen
states segregated railroad

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passengers on trips within
their borders.  Some other

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combination of
fourteen states required

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mental--segregated mental
patients.  Some seventeen

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states required segregation
of public schools.  Four

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other states permitted
the practice if local

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communities
wished it.  And in,

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and in Washington, D.C.,
the custom had prevailed for

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nearly ninety
years.  In eleven,

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in eleven states--and
this one I find is actually

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breathtaking for the
absurdity of all of this,

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or maybe even the passion
for all of this--in eleven

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states, eleven states
operated separate schools

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for the blind.  So even
if you could not see each

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other, you could not be in
the same space if you were

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white and if you were
black.  It's a thoroughgoing

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segregation across
many different lines,

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many different vectors, of
how you operate as a citizen

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in the world. 
Now that's 1950,

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'51.

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I want to read to you an
excerpt from the memoir

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Warriors Don't
Cry by Melba Beals,

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who was one of the, who
would become one of the,

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would become one of
the Little Rock Nine,

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who'd deseg--desegregate
Central High School.  We'll

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be talking--I'll talk a
little bit about Central

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High School in Monday's
lecture.  We're actually

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chronologically not getting
up to that point in today's

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lecture.  But I want to
read to you an excerpt from

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1954--of events that
happened in 1954--to help

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underscore, undergird the
extent to which the kind of

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higher level organizing
and political work and legal

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affairs that will be the
bulk of today's lecture,

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to underscore the way in
which these things really

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made themselves manifest on
the ground.  So Melba Beals

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writes very
early in her book,

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reflecting back
to when she was,

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I believe, twelve years
old.  She's walking back

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home from school on
the day that Brown v.,

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Brown v., Brown versusthe
Board of Education decision

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had been announced.  And
teachers all--the teachers

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told their
students, black teachers,

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black students,
"Go straight home.

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Don't take any shortcuts. 
Just go straight home."

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"As I entered the
persimmon field,

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I sank deep
into my thoughts,

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but a few steps past the
big tree at the front of the

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path, I heard a rustling
sound.  I stood perfectly

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still, looking all around.

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I didn't see a soul.

04:27.900 --> 04:29.900
Suddenly, as I came near
to the end of the field,

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a man's gravel voice
snatched me from the secret

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place in my head.

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'You want a ride, girl?'
He didn't sound at all like

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anybody I knew. 
There it was again,

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that stranger's voice
calling out to me.  'Want a

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ride?' 'Who is it?' I asked,
barely able to squeeze the

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words out.  'I got
candy in the car,

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lots of candy.'
I crept forward,

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and then I saw
him--a big white man,

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even taller than my
father, broad and huge,

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like a wrestler.

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He was coming
toward me fast.

04:57.200 --> 04:59.100
I turned on my heels
and fled in the opposite

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direction, back
the way I had come.

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'You'd better come on
and take a ride home,

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you hear me girl?'
'No sir!' I yelled,

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'No, thank you,'
but he kept coming.

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My heart was racing
almost as fast as my feet.

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I couldn't hear anything
except for the sound of my

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saddle shoes pounding the
ground and the thud of his

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feet close behind me.

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That's when he started
talking about 'niggers'

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wanting to go to school
with his children and how he

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wasn't going to
stand for it.

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My cries for help drowned
out the sound of his words,

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but he laughed and said it
was no use because nobody

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would hear me.  I was
running as fast as I could. 

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The lace on my shoe came
untied and my feet got

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tangled.  As I
hit the ground,

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I bit down hard on my
tongue.  I felt his strong

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hands clutch my back.

05:38.200 --> 05:41.000
I bolted up, struggling to
get away.  He pulled me down

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and turned me on my back. 
I looked up into his face,

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looming close above me
like the monster on a movie

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screen.  I struggled against
him but he was too strong. 

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He slapped me hard across
the face.  I covered my eyes

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with my hands and waited
for him to strike me again.

05:54.500 --> 05:57.070
Instead, I felt him
squirm against me,

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and then I saw him
taking his pants down.

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In my house, private parts
were always kept private.  I

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couldn't figure out
what he was doing,

06:03.900 --> 06:06.500
but I knew it had to be
bad.  I scratched and kicked

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and thrashed against him
with every ounce of strength

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I could muster.  His huge
fists smashed hard against

06:11.200 --> 06:12.200
my face.

06:12.200 --> 06:14.300
I struggled to push him back
and to keep the dark curtain

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of unconsciousness
from descending over me.

06:17.100 --> 06:19.570
'I'll show you niggers the
Supreme Court can't run my

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life,' he said, as
he--as his hand ripped at my

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underpants.  A voice inside
my head told me I was going

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to die, but there was
nothing I could do about

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it.  White men
were in charge."

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Someone comes to her rescue
within about four or five

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seconds of this moment,
before she's actually raped.

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One of her classmates she
didn't really know that well

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knocks the guy over the head
with a brick and she's able

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to escape to safety.  Thus
begins her journey towards

06:48.000 --> 06:51.200
becoming one of the Little
Rock Nine.  These are the

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memories of a twelve year
old.  Now I want to set that

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stage about systemic
segregation and the ways in

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which people were, I
mean from my personal

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perspective, were driven
mad by the Supreme--Supreme

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Court decision of '54. 
To sort of underscore,

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for lack of a better phrase,
the intensity of the moment,

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a period of profound
ambiguity in this country

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and a period of profound
change for blacks as well as

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whites, conservatives as
well as liberals.  And over

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the course of today's
lecture and really Monday's

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lecture, we're going to
start canvassing the ways in

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which--[student sneezes]
Bless You--the ways in which

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this period of, of
incredible instability in

07:46.500 --> 07:51.300
the United States was made,
was felt on many different

07:51.300 --> 07:57.300
levels, in different ways. 
So much of today's lecture

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is context, for much of the,
for going across the 1940s

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up to Brown v.

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Board.  Now I ended the last
lecture before the midterm

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talking about A.

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Philip Randolph's March
on Washington Movement,

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his bluff with FDR, FDR's
issuing of Executive Order

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8802, and the creation of
the FEPC.  I was trying to

08:22.667 --> 08:25.097
cram a lot of things into
the lecture.  Give me two

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minutes to talk about the
FEPC very quickly and move

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us into the
1940s.  The FEPC,

08:31.667 --> 08:34.567
Fair Employment--Fair
Employment Practices

08:34.567 --> 08:36.697
Commission--Committee, held
high profile hearings in

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major cities about
segregation in defense

08:41.400 --> 08:45.200
industry factories.  But it
was essentially powerless to

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do anything except for
embarrass the companies and

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the factories that are,
that are continuing these

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practices.  Now in terms
of, so literal change,

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the FEPC is not doing much,
as it turns out.  But again,

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since we're
wrestling with--I,

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I've been talking about the
tension between the symbolic

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and the real.  At
the symbolic level,

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the FEPC contributes to the,
to blacks' reorientation

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away from
notions of, you know,

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systems of white patronage. 
They have to rely on white

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patrons to make ends meet,
but they could turn to the

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federal government instead,
but the federal government,

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and I started talking about
it with the Black Cabinet

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through Marian Anderson's
concert on Easter Sunday,

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1939, the federal government
is now standing in,

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in complicated
ways, certainly,

09:35.500 --> 09:39.000
but still standing in
and keeping an eye on the

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quality of
black life.  Well,

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here we are in
1941 and 1942,

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the U.S.

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is now involved in the
Second World War.  And as

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you'll remember from going
back to the First World War,

09:51.900 --> 09:52.900
as, as the U.S.

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is about to get
involved and W.

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E.

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B.

09:56.567 --> 09:57.567
Du Bois called on African
Americans to close ranks,

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but then called on them to
return fighting.  You have

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black soldiers enlisting in
terrifically large numbers. 

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You have a lot of the same
kind of troubling dynamics

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about training
black soldiers,

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their treatment abroad,
positive by foreign troops

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and foreign citizens
and negative by U.S.

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troops.  And you have the
treatment coming home that

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is scandalous. 
ThePittsburgh Courier,

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along with the
Chicago Defender,

10:26.900 --> 10:30.400
the two most important
black newspapers of the day,

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the Pittsburgh Courier,
aware that the same dynamic

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might repeat
itself, that is,

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you know, black soldiers
fighting for citizenship

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rights and
being denied them,

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in February of 1942 begins
a campaign.  It's--It is a

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publicity campaign;
it's nothing beyond that,

10:47.100 --> 10:49.500
but it becomes very
popular.  It's the Double V

10:49.500 --> 10:53.200
campaign, Double V, two Vs:
that there would be victory

10:53.200 --> 10:56.300
over fascism abroad
and victory over racial

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discrimination at home. 
This is just like Du Bois's

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call, "We return.  We return
from fighting.  We return

11:02.400 --> 11:08.300
fighting."  Okay?  But
twenty-three years have

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passed.  It's the same
call, it's the same agenda. 

11:13.967 --> 11:18.697
That's the important thing
to understand.  Now Randolph

11:18.700 --> 11:21.200
bluffs FDR into signing
this executive order,

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and Randolph realizes he
has an important opportunity

11:24.000 --> 11:26.700
here to make something out
of this bluff and this March

11:26.700 --> 11:29.870
on Washington Movement
becomes an organization,

11:29.867 --> 11:34.197
not just one person
trying to organize a march,

11:34.200 --> 11:37.200
but it actually becomes its
own grassroots organization,

11:37.200 --> 11:41.800
the MO--MOWM.  There's no
easy way to say it.  The

11:41.800 --> 11:44.100
March on Washington Movement
embodies a certain set of

11:44.100 --> 11:49.600
tactics and they are, for
lack of a better phrase,

11:49.600 --> 11:53.470
racial tactics.  Randolph,
as you already know,

11:53.467 --> 11:58.697
was an anti-communist.  He
was deeply concerned about

11:58.700 --> 12:02.470
white communists
infiltrating the National

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Negro Congress and
when it happened,

12:05.000 --> 12:08.100
he broke from it.  And
he saw that the March on

12:08.100 --> 12:10.500
Washington Movement was
a way--by--he kept it

12:10.500 --> 12:11.500
all-black.

12:11.500 --> 12:13.800
I should have said that
first.  It was an all-black

12:13.800 --> 12:16.070
movement.  He saw by
keeping it all-black,

12:16.067 --> 12:18.197
it would reduce or even
eliminate the chance that

12:18.200 --> 12:20.800
the Communist Party would
infiltrate the organization,

12:20.800 --> 12:22.900
since the Communist Party
was predominantly white. 

12:26.000 --> 12:29.800
But Randolph was very clear,
since we're in a time of

12:29.800 --> 12:33.970
war, to go to great ends to
make sure his movement was

12:33.967 --> 12:37.267
not considered black
nationalist.  Although it's

12:37.267 --> 12:41.567
all-black, it's not black
nationalist.  And Randolph

12:41.567 --> 12:43.767
declares, and I'm quoting
here: "We condemn all

12:43.767 --> 12:47.167
dictatorships, Fascist,
Nazi and Communists.

12:47.167 --> 12:50.567
We are loyal,
patriotic Americans all.

12:50.567 --> 12:52.567
But if American democracy
will not defend its

12:52.567 --> 12:55.267
defenders; if American
democracy will not protect

12:55.267 --> 12:58.297
its protectors; if American
democracy will not give job

12:58.300 --> 13:01.200
to its--jobs to its toilers
because of race or color;

13:01.200 --> 13:04.200
if American democracy will
not issue--insure equality

13:04.200 --> 13:08.200
of opportunity, freedom
and justice to its citizens,

13:08.200 --> 13:11.370
black and white, it is a
hollow mockery and belies

13:11.367 --> 13:14.797
the principles for which
it is supposed to stand."

13:14.800 --> 13:18.400
The March on Washington
Movement is all-black.  It

13:18.400 --> 13:20.100
certainly
welcomes white support,

13:20.100 --> 13:22.670
but not within the
organization itself,

13:22.667 --> 13:25.167
and it is profoundly
patriotic as far as its

13:25.167 --> 13:30.297
assertions--as far as its
assertions are concerned. 

13:30.300 --> 13:33.600
On the ground, the March on
Washington Movement engaged

13:33.600 --> 13:36.500
in mass,
nonviolent, direct action,

13:36.500 --> 13:40.200
a blend of Gandhi's tactics
and Randolph's experiences

13:40.200 --> 13:44.400
with labor sit-down
strikes.  He believed in

13:44.400 --> 13:47.700
small direct
actions, you know,

13:47.700 --> 13:49.600
going into one
region or, you know,

13:49.600 --> 13:52.870
a part of the country with
small and highly symbolic

13:52.867 --> 13:56.267
acts of resistance. 
You know it has,

13:56.267 --> 13:59.967
It's sort of a
hodgepodge of org--of,

13:59.967 --> 14:04.097
of, of , of groups
operating under its banner,

14:04.100 --> 14:06.300
doing different things
in different places,

14:06.300 --> 14:09.300
but all embracing
an all-black agenda,

14:09.300 --> 14:11.700
an all-black constituency,
mass nonviolent,

14:11.700 --> 14:17.670
direct action.  There's
another group that's founded

14:17.667 --> 14:19.767
in 1942, a year after
the March on Washington

14:19.767 --> 14:25.267
Movement, that embraced this
secular--that embraced a

14:25.267 --> 14:27.397
different agenda from
the March on Washington--a

14:27.400 --> 14:29.000
different organizing
agenda, pardon me,

14:29.000 --> 14:35.370
from the March on
Washington Movement.  It was

14:35.367 --> 14:38.897
interracial civil rights
organization called the

14:38.900 --> 14:40.870
Congress on
Racial Equality, CORE,

14:40.867 --> 14:44.567
Congress on Racial Equality,
an off-shoot of the pacifist

14:44.567 --> 14:46.567
Fellowship of
Reconciliation.

14:49.700 --> 14:52.400
CORE was founded in 1942. 
Its director was James

14:52.400 --> 14:54.070
Farmer, and one of the
principal organizers was a

14:54.067 --> 14:55.497
man, was a man
named Bayard Rustin,

14:55.500 --> 14:57.200
someone we'll hear more
about in the next couple of

14:57.200 --> 15:03.800
weeks.  CORE and the March
on Washington Movement were

15:03.800 --> 15:05.700
two of the main
groups operating in,

15:05.700 --> 15:08.000
in the 1940s to educate
blacks to use nonviolent

15:08.000 --> 15:11.200
direct action.  So they
shared that strategic

15:11.200 --> 15:12.600
logic.  CORE
was interracial;

15:12.600 --> 15:18.600
March on Washington Movement
was all-black.  The March on

15:22.200 --> 15:26.200
Washington Movement built
its base on the Brotherhood

15:26.200 --> 15:29.800
of Sleeping Car
Porters and Maids Union,

15:29.800 --> 15:33.600
using Randolph's
organizing skills,

15:33.600 --> 15:35.700
and really tried to reach
out to lower-class blacks as

15:35.700 --> 15:38.900
well.  CORE was
significantly smaller than

15:38.900 --> 15:41.470
March on
Washington Movement,

15:41.467 --> 15:45.767
and it was focused on
essentially the demographic

15:45.767 --> 15:48.997
you represent:
college-aged student,

15:49.000 --> 15:51.100
highly
educated, interracial,

15:51.100 --> 15:57.100
and essentially elitist. 
CORE's mission statement

15:57.100 --> 15:59.300
says that it has one
purpose: to eliminate racial

15:59.300 --> 16:02.800
discrimination, and it
has one method: interracial

16:02.800 --> 16:05.800
nonviolent, direct
action.  And of course,

16:05.800 --> 16:10.900
style was to
test, to negotiate,

16:10.900 --> 16:14.070
to confer and then
to sit-in.  Test,

16:14.067 --> 16:21.597
negotiate, confer, and
sit-in.  Now I'm going to

16:21.600 --> 16:23.400
move away from these two
groups rather quickly,

16:23.400 --> 16:26.500
but I wanted you to
understand these different

16:26.500 --> 16:30.000
organizing logics, although
they're sharing the same

16:30.000 --> 16:32.570
strategic mode of
engagement.  Understand

16:32.567 --> 16:36.397
they're happening in
the 1940s as well,

16:36.400 --> 16:39.170
because as I hope to make
clear through this lecture

16:39.167 --> 16:42.867
and through much of the next
couple of weeks' lectures,

16:42.867 --> 16:44.997
it's very critical you start
to re-periodize the civil

16:45.000 --> 16:48.700
rights movement.  The
kinds of things that I just

16:48.700 --> 16:52.200
mentioned here, I hope that
you will recognize from your

16:52.200 --> 16:55.800
basic high school
American History class,

16:55.800 --> 16:57.200
talking about the
civil rights movement,

16:57.200 --> 16:59.670
that famous movement
between '54 and '68,

16:59.667 --> 17:06.067
at the most, okay? 
The strategies of,

17:06.067 --> 17:09.067
of, of, sort of the high
theater of the civil rights

17:09.067 --> 17:13.297
movement roots go back
to the 1940s and beyond,

17:13.300 --> 17:15.100
with direct
corrections and a,

17:15.100 --> 17:16.770
a direct
lineage of, of sorts,

17:16.767 --> 17:18.367
of resistance.

17:18.367 --> 17:22.667
You need to understand this;
it's rather important.  Now

17:22.667 --> 17:25.097
what's happening in the
1940s?  What's the scene in

17:25.100 --> 17:27.270
which the March on
Washington Movement and CORE

17:27.267 --> 17:31.867
are operating?  The country
is in transition.  It's in

17:31.867 --> 17:34.497
war.  As I
already mentioned,

17:34.500 --> 17:37.300
the Great Migration
happening in the first two

17:37.300 --> 17:39.570
decades of the twentieth
century.  There's another

17:39.567 --> 17:42.297
migration happening now that
dwarfs the Great Migration,

17:42.300 --> 17:44.800
a migration of
African Americans,

17:44.800 --> 17:47.070
many of whom are following
defense industry jobs out

17:47.067 --> 17:50.797
West and in the
North.  Essentially,

17:50.800 --> 17:53.200
the black population you
know of in Los Angeles is

17:53.200 --> 17:57.000
there because of, of defense
industry jobs and factory

17:57.000 --> 18:00.370
jobs during this period of
time.  This is the moment,

18:00.367 --> 18:02.967
over the next decade, when
African Americans move from

18:02.967 --> 18:06.397
being predominantly a rural
population--I think it's

18:06.400 --> 18:10.300
about forty percent at
that point--to over fifty or

18:10.300 --> 18:13.500
fifty-five percent urban. 
So it's a transition,

18:13.500 --> 18:15.970
profound transition,
for African Americans,

18:15.967 --> 18:19.497
as far as demographics are
concerned.  Now with this

18:19.500 --> 18:22.100
migration, like the
first Great Migration,

18:22.100 --> 18:28.600
you have crisis,
pressure for housing,

18:28.600 --> 18:35.300
cultural styles, political
battlefields.  1943 is a

18:35.300 --> 18:39.070
spectacular year for
crisis.  You have race riots

18:39.067 --> 18:41.597
happening in the summer of
'43 in forty-seven different

18:41.600 --> 18:44.570
cities.  One of the most
famous is the Zoot Suit

18:44.567 --> 18:47.367
Riots in Los Angeles, which
involved not blacks in this

18:47.367 --> 18:49.797
case, but Mexicans,
and Mexican Americans,

18:49.800 --> 18:56.300
and white Navy--I think it's
Navy.  I'm pretty sure it's

18:56.300 --> 19:00.770
Navy--members of the Navy
attacking Los Angelinos who

19:00.767 --> 19:05.297
happened to be Mexican, for
straying across racial and

19:05.300 --> 19:09.500
social lines.  The worst
riot happens in Detroit,

19:12.400 --> 19:14.800
a mere ten days before a
March on Washington Movement

19:14.800 --> 19:19.100
convention in
Chicago.  The riot,

19:19.100 --> 19:21.200
in all of its violence,
colored the March on

19:21.200 --> 19:25.370
Washington Movement in
Chicago--convention in

19:25.367 --> 19:31.697
Chicago, and so militant
race leadership is seen as

19:31.700 --> 19:37.870
too provocative and
un-American.  And really,

19:37.867 --> 19:39.797
people can deny the fact
that blacks actually were

19:39.800 --> 19:43.200
beginning to get jobs
in these factories,

19:43.200 --> 19:50.370
because factories were so
desperate for workers.  You

19:50.367 --> 19:53.497
have migration,
racial violence,

19:53.500 --> 19:56.100
a country at war, the
March on Washington Movement

19:56.100 --> 19:58.670
agitating, making some
headway as far as its

19:58.667 --> 20:01.597
long-term goals, but also
having a narrower range in

20:01.600 --> 20:03.100
which it could
operate, because,

20:03.100 --> 20:07.370
you know, appearing
un-American is the last

20:07.367 --> 20:08.897
thing you want to do at
this moment in time.  It's

20:08.900 --> 20:12.200
something that Randolph
himself articulates. 

20:12.200 --> 20:14.770
Meanwhile, membership
in the NAACP skyrockets,

20:17.000 --> 20:18.500
as the
organiza--organization

20:18.500 --> 20:23.070
appears to be a more
moderate and reasonable

20:23.067 --> 20:27.597
location for civil rights
agitation than the all-black

20:27.600 --> 20:29.300
March on
Washington Movement,

20:29.300 --> 20:33.570
even though it's making,
it's a pro-American stance,

20:33.567 --> 20:39.297
and more moderate than this
upstart CORE that people

20:39.300 --> 20:42.800
don't really know what to
make of yet.  So you have

20:42.800 --> 20:47.870
now, by the mid-1940s,
the NAACP becoming,

20:47.867 --> 20:50.667
turning into this
moderate organization,

20:50.667 --> 20:53.397
by outward appearances,
where it was on the edge,

20:53.400 --> 20:55.500
sort of the avant
garde, when it was founded,

20:55.500 --> 20:57.600
and for the first
decade, decade,

20:57.600 --> 21:00.900
two decades of its
existence.  Things are

21:00.900 --> 21:06.000
shifting.  Things shift
fundamentally in 1944 in a

21:06.000 --> 21:07.200
legal case, Smith v.

21:07.200 --> 21:11.500
Allwright, that
outlaws the white,

21:11.500 --> 21:14.600
outlaws the white-only
primary.  And I have to

21:14.600 --> 21:17.970
apologize.  I have to go
really quickly through a lot

21:17.967 --> 21:21.297
of these things, because
I lost a lecture by the

21:21.300 --> 21:24.900
midterm, so I'm not going to
get into the details.  But

21:24.900 --> 21:25.900
in the Smith v.

21:25.900 --> 21:29.170
Allwrightcase, the
white, white primaries,

21:29.167 --> 21:32.097
white primaries
are now outlawed,

21:32.100 --> 21:35.500
and now liberal
groups, broadly defined,

21:35.500 --> 21:40.100
start going after a whole
set of different means of

21:40.100 --> 21:42.870
exclusion, of preserving,
essentially an all-white

21:42.867 --> 21:46.897
vote.  Groups start going
after literacy tests that

21:46.900 --> 21:50.500
were, that were at
the point of absurdity,

21:50.500 --> 21:53.800
where a registrar could
actually ask somebody,

21:53.800 --> 21:55.800
"How many bubbles are
there in a bar of soap?"

21:57.900 --> 22:02.600
as a way to exclude them. 
People knew they had to act

22:02.600 --> 22:05.100
in terms of trying to
expand the right to vote,

22:05.100 --> 22:07.100
or access to the
ballot box, ballot box,

22:07.100 --> 22:08.670
by just looking at
Mississippi.  In

22:08.667 --> 22:12.097
Mississippi, you have
over three hundred and fifty

22:12.100 --> 22:13.970
thousand blacks who are
eligible to register,

22:13.967 --> 22:17.197
register to vote. 
Mississippi has a huge black

22:17.200 --> 22:21.300
population.  And of that
three hundred and fifty

22:21.300 --> 22:23.700
thousand, only twenty-five
hundred manage to vote in

22:23.700 --> 22:29.100
1946.  It's an
all-white vote,

22:29.100 --> 22:33.500
because of all the various
ways in which Mississippi

22:33.500 --> 22:35.770
registrars and voters are
being told to eliminate the

22:35.767 --> 22:36.897
black vote.

22:36.900 --> 22:39.170
In fact, very famously,
Senator Bilbo from,

22:39.167 --> 22:41.997
from Mississippi, who
was a virulent racist,

22:42.000 --> 22:46.700
would go around organizing
registrars of voters

22:46.700 --> 22:50.300
of--before actual
election night,

22:50.300 --> 22:52.200
telling them all these
different ways in which you

22:52.200 --> 22:55.570
can eliminate
the black vote,

22:55.567 --> 22:57.897
and said, you know, "If
worst comes to worst,

22:57.900 --> 23:00.170
you all know the most
effective strategy is the

23:00.167 --> 23:02.967
night before the election,
and you know what I mean,

23:02.967 --> 23:05.667
I mean essentially calling
for them to rally the Klan

23:05.667 --> 23:12.467
to eliminate
black vote.  Again,

23:12.467 --> 23:15.897
the country's in--under
incredible stress because of

23:15.900 --> 23:21.900
these transitions going on. 
Between '46 and '48 at the

23:21.900 --> 23:24.700
presidential level, some
more radical changes are

23:24.700 --> 23:29.200
happening.  FDR had died in
office already.  Now Harry

23:29.200 --> 23:31.470
Truman is the President,
and he's fighting for his

23:31.467 --> 23:34.697
political life.  The
Democratic Party's on the

23:34.700 --> 23:39.500
verge of being split. 
Recognizing that there's

23:39.500 --> 23:41.400
incredible dissension
amongst the Democratic

23:41.400 --> 23:43.400
ranks, Southern Democrats
are very unhappy with the

23:43.400 --> 23:47.600
trends in what's
happening in the country,

23:47.600 --> 23:50.100
supported by the
federal government,

23:50.100 --> 23:54.700
that entity that blacks saw
as a place of salvation. 

23:54.700 --> 23:55.770
Truman doesn't
know what to do,

23:55.767 --> 23:58.997
and so he actually lets--he
sort of throws a bone to his

23:59.000 --> 24:01.700
antagonists in the
Democratic Party and lets

24:01.700 --> 24:06.000
Congress kill the FEPC. 
So now there's no more

24:06.000 --> 24:09.200
publicity campaign
machine to sort of embarrass

24:09.200 --> 24:11.270
factories into employing
African Americans and

24:11.267 --> 24:12.997
practicing
non-discrimination

24:13.000 --> 24:16.770
policies.  Truman lets
Congress kill the FEPC but

24:16.767 --> 24:20.167
knows he needs the black
vote to win election.  It

24:20.167 --> 24:23.897
was clear when FDR
got elected in 1944,

24:23.900 --> 24:26.000
it was clear that the black
vote is what brought him,

24:26.000 --> 24:30.370
got him into office, and
Truman can't lose it.  So

24:30.367 --> 24:35.767
Truman raises the stakes,
after killing the FEPC,

24:35.767 --> 24:37.767
and appoints a distinguished
panel to serve as the

24:37.767 --> 24:39.997
President's
Commission on Civil Rights,

24:40.000 --> 24:44.100
which would recommend over
time more adequate means and

24:44.100 --> 24:46.900
procedures for the
protection of civil rights

24:46.900 --> 24:47.900
for U.S.

24:47.900 --> 24:50.070
citizens.

24:50.067 --> 24:51.967
In October '47
it issues its,

24:51.967 --> 24:55.067
its report, called "To
Secure These Rights,

24:55.067 --> 25:00.767
a landmark document.  "To
Secure These Rights" defined

25:00.767 --> 25:02.797
the nation's civil
rights agenda for the next

25:02.800 --> 25:05.800
generation.  The commission
noted the many restrictions

25:05.800 --> 25:08.070
on blacks and urged
that each person,

25:08.067 --> 25:10.097
regardless of race,
color, or national origin,

25:10.100 --> 25:12.700
should have access to equal
opportunity in securing

25:12.700 --> 25:16.600
education, decent housing,
and jobs.  Among its

25:16.600 --> 25:19.400
proposals, the commission
suggested anti-lynching and

25:19.400 --> 25:23.600
anti-poll tax laws,
a permanent FEPC,

25:23.600 --> 25:24.800
and
strengthen--strengthening

25:24.800 --> 25:26.800
the Civil Rights Division of
the Department of Justice. 

25:29.200 --> 25:33.200
The commission went
much further than Southern

25:33.200 --> 25:36.400
Democrats ever imagined
they would dare to go,

25:36.400 --> 25:39.970
further than Truman thought
they would actually go.  But

25:39.967 --> 25:41.897
he called this commission
together and so he had to

25:41.900 --> 25:48.900
face a choice, what to
do.  So in February of 1948,

25:48.900 --> 25:52.900
Truman rolls the dice and
calls for the implementation

25:52.900 --> 25:56.400
of the Commission's
recommendations. 

25:56.400 --> 26:00.370
Southerners immediately
threaten a filibuster and

26:00.367 --> 26:04.067
Truman, unable to secure
support from Congress or

26:04.067 --> 26:06.797
action from Congress,
moves ahead using executive

26:06.800 --> 26:09.000
authority.  And
among other things,

26:09.000 --> 26:11.070
he bolsters the Civil Rights
Division at the Department

26:11.067 --> 26:13.297
of Justice, appoints the
first black judge to the

26:13.300 --> 26:16.200
federal bench, names several
other blacks to high-ranking

26:16.200 --> 26:18.700
administrative positions,
and most important,

26:18.700 --> 26:22.400
on July 26th of 1948, he
issued the executive order

26:22.400 --> 26:25.170
abolishing segregation in
the armed forces and ordered

26:25.167 --> 26:28.997
full integration of all
the services.  The executive

26:29.000 --> 26:32.400
orders that grow out of this
array of changes are 9980,

26:32.400 --> 26:35.870
nine-nine-eight-zero,
establishing fair employment

26:35.867 --> 26:38.397
practices in the
federal government,

26:38.400 --> 26:39.770
and the next
one immediately,

26:39.767 --> 26:40.967
so you can see
he's going on a tear,

26:40.967 --> 26:45.197
Executive Order 9981
establishes the President's

26:45.200 --> 26:47.300
Committee on Equality of
Treatment and Opportunity in

26:47.300 --> 26:49.900
the Armed Forces, the
decree that leads to the

26:49.900 --> 26:54.270
desegregation order to
the military.  Now it's the

26:54.267 --> 26:57.467
order.  The military
takes its sweet old time

26:57.467 --> 27:03.097
desegregating, but the
order's issued in 1948,

27:03.100 --> 27:07.070
growing out of
this--Truman's political

27:07.067 --> 27:10.967
move to sort of clarify
the mess of the Democratic

27:10.967 --> 27:13.867
Party, make it known to
African Americans that he

27:13.867 --> 27:15.697
was going to support them,
the Democratic Party would

27:15.700 --> 27:20.470
support them.  But was it
enough?  Henry Wallace,

27:20.467 --> 27:22.597
who had been a former
Vice President of FDR,

27:22.600 --> 27:28.070
before he got booted, very
progressive and challenges

27:28.067 --> 27:30.067
Truman from the left.

27:31.667 --> 27:35.767
The real challenge
comes from the right,

27:35.767 --> 27:39.567
within the Democratic Party,
let me be clear.  Truman's

27:39.567 --> 27:41.567
support for a strong civil
rights platform for the

27:41.567 --> 27:43.967
Democratic, Democratic
convention that was coming

27:43.967 --> 27:50.997
up is opposed by
conservative Democrats.  And

27:51.000 --> 27:53.300
they say, "If you bring this
platform to the convention

27:53.300 --> 27:58.300
floor, we will leave." 
Truman brought the platform

27:58.300 --> 28:04.070
to the convention floor and
conservative Democrats from

28:04.067 --> 28:11.497
Southern states bolt and
form what is popularly known

28:11.500 --> 28:14.070
as the Dixiecrat Party,
with Strom Thurmond as its

28:14.067 --> 28:20.597
presidential candidate.  The
Democratic Party is split

28:20.600 --> 28:24.600
and it's quite unclear
what's going to happen. 

28:24.600 --> 28:27.600
Now, what happens is that
Truman wins by a hair's

28:27.600 --> 28:32.900
breath, and again,
without black support,

28:32.900 --> 28:35.200
he never would have been
elected to a full term as

28:35.200 --> 28:39.100
President.  Now that's
what's happening on sort of

28:39.100 --> 28:45.470
the high political stage
throughout the 1940s.  Let

28:45.467 --> 28:49.697
me quickly canvass
what's happening,

28:49.700 --> 28:50.800
it's still
politics of course,

28:50.800 --> 28:54.400
but in the legal
arena, over this period,

28:54.400 --> 28:57.800
to help you understand
another element of this,

28:57.800 --> 28:59.470
of this shift that's
happening in the country on

28:59.467 --> 29:03.367
these issues.  And what I
want to give you is the

29:03.367 --> 29:04.367
legal history of Brown v.

29:04.367 --> 29:06.797
Board of Education.  That's
where this is heading up

29:06.800 --> 29:14.500
to.  The legal history
begins at Howard University

29:14.500 --> 29:16.900
Law School.  I already
mentioned before the

29:16.900 --> 29:18.770
National--the New
Negro Alliance,

29:18.767 --> 29:23.597
excuse me, formed in
1933, relied upon law school

29:23.600 --> 29:26.470
students and law professors
at Howard University Law

29:26.467 --> 29:28.997
School to argue its case
that eventually becomes a

29:29.000 --> 29:33.300
Supreme Court decision in
1930--I forgot my notes. 

29:33.300 --> 29:36.800
I'll just guess '37, I'm
blanking right now.  But the

29:36.800 --> 29:42.800
battle begins at Howard
University Law School. 

29:48.767 --> 29:51.167
Excuse me, I've lost
track for a second.

29:51.167 --> 29:55.897
There we go. 
Charles Houston,

29:55.900 --> 29:58.300
the attorney who also
spearheads its citizens

29:58.300 --> 30:02.300
campaign for Marian
Anderson's concert,

30:05.900 --> 30:08.070
he's brought in to head
up the law school in the

30:08.067 --> 30:12.297
late-1920s, to bring it up
to fully accredited status. 

30:12.300 --> 30:17.600
He starts hiring professors
of law.  Some of the great

30:17.600 --> 30:20.200
legal jurists of the next
twenty and thirty years,

30:20.200 --> 30:22.500
forty years would actually
start at Howard University

30:22.500 --> 30:25.000
Law School as professors,
and they would train that

30:25.000 --> 30:27.800
first cadre of civil
rights attorneys.  In fact,

30:27.800 --> 30:30.800
the first civil rights law
class in the country was

30:30.800 --> 30:34.870
taught at Howard during this
period.  The most famous

30:34.867 --> 30:36.597
student during
the period, this,

30:36.600 --> 30:39.600
this early-1930s, is
Thurgood Marshall.  Thurgood

30:39.600 --> 30:41.370
Marshall, a
native of Maryland,

30:41.367 --> 30:43.297
wanted to go to the
University of Maryland

30:43.300 --> 30:46.900
School of Law,
but by practice,

30:46.900 --> 30:49.570
blacks were not admitted, so
he had to go to--he ended up

30:49.567 --> 30:53.397
going to Howard University. 
And at that very small law

30:53.400 --> 30:55.170
school with some
very intense faculty,

30:55.167 --> 30:58.497
he goes through sort of a
boot camp for several years,

30:58.500 --> 31:02.200
and comes out with the
kind of legalized training,

31:02.200 --> 31:07.300
with special attention
to civil rights cases. 

31:07.300 --> 31:10.700
Marshall scores his first
major court victory along

31:10.700 --> 31:15.200
these lines in 1935, in a
case called Murray versus

31:15.200 --> 31:17.500
Pearson.

31:17.500 --> 31:20.100
In this case, a guy
named Donald Murray was not

31:20.100 --> 31:22.300
allowed to enter the
University of Maryland

31:22.300 --> 31:25.970
because he was
black.  Raymond Pearson,

31:25.967 --> 31:27.497
the president of the
University of Maryland--so

31:27.500 --> 31:29.300
it's the student versus the
president as far as naming

31:29.300 --> 31:32.700
conventions, Murray versus
Pearson--said that Murray

31:32.700 --> 31:34.700
could obtain separate
but equal training at the

31:34.700 --> 31:38.900
Princess Anne Academy, also
in the state of Maryland. 

31:38.900 --> 31:43.170
However, the Princess
Anne Academy did not offer a

31:43.167 --> 31:45.167
legal degree, which is what
Murray was actually trying

31:45.167 --> 31:47.167
to obtain.

31:50.400 --> 31:54.900
Making a long story short,
Marshall and his mentor,

31:54.900 --> 31:57.670
now increasingly
colleague, Charles Houston,

31:57.667 --> 32:02.897
who's now the head of the
Legal Defense Fund at NAACP,

32:02.900 --> 32:07.700
argue the case up to the
Supreme Court.  And the

32:07.700 --> 32:11.770
court declares that the
University of Maryland,

32:11.767 --> 32:14.797
because it did not have a
separate and equal facility

32:14.800 --> 32:21.170
for teaching law, had
to let Murray in.  Okay,

32:21.167 --> 32:27.967
that's 1935.  Based on
the success of that case,

32:27.967 --> 32:32.367
Houston brings Marshall over
to the NAACP and they start

32:32.367 --> 32:35.197
traveling from southern
courthouse to southern

32:35.200 --> 32:36.700
courthouse to
southern courthouse,

32:36.700 --> 32:39.400
filing law--lawsuits
for black students and

32:39.400 --> 32:46.700
teachers.  In 1938, in
the case--these are Supreme

32:46.700 --> 32:48.870
Court cases by
the way--Gaines v.

32:48.867 --> 32:55.897
Canada.  Lloyd Gaines is the
plaintiff and Canada--who

32:55.900 --> 32:58.870
is, I'm missing
the first name here.

32:58.867 --> 33:00.567
It's the last name of the
registrar of the University

33:00.567 --> 33:02.997
of Missouri.  So the
case is called Gaines v.

33:03.000 --> 33:06.270
Canada.  It's a student
versus the registrar of the

33:06.267 --> 33:10.597
University of Missouri. 
The University of Missouri

33:10.600 --> 33:12.370
refused to
admit Lloyd Gaines,

33:12.367 --> 33:17.597
African American, to its law
school because the school

33:17.600 --> 33:22.470
was only for whites.  It was
common in Missouri for the

33:22.467 --> 33:26.667
state to send black students
to neighboring states for

33:26.667 --> 33:29.667
courses of study not
offered by Missouri's black

33:29.667 --> 33:33.597
schools.  Since Missouri
did not have a separate but

33:33.600 --> 33:39.100
equal law school for blacks,
the Supreme Court declares

33:41.100 --> 33:42.700
that Gaines had to be
allowed to attend the

33:42.700 --> 33:48.900
University of Missouri
Law School.  So you have in

33:48.900 --> 33:49.900
Murray v.

33:49.900 --> 33:54.100
Pearson, there's no separate
institution offering a law

33:54.100 --> 33:56.500
degree in Maryland,
so you have to let,

33:56.500 --> 34:01.900
admit Murray into the
school of law.  In Gaines v.

34:01.900 --> 34:05.900
Canada,
University of Missouri,

34:05.900 --> 34:09.300
the idea of shipping a
student out of state--which

34:09.300 --> 34:11.370
was not just a Missouri
practice by the way.  A lot

34:11.367 --> 34:15.667
of southern students--states
did this--was ruled

34:15.667 --> 34:19.197
unconstitutional.  The state
had to provide state-funded

34:19.200 --> 34:22.900
separate but equal
legal facility.  Now,

34:22.900 --> 34:24.070
I mean, one
might ask, why's,

34:24.067 --> 34:26.297
why would a state
even, you know,

34:26.300 --> 34:29.200
provide these fellowships,
scholarships to get the

34:29.200 --> 34:32.200
students educated in law
school if not in their own

34:32.200 --> 34:35.170
state?  The thinking was,
you got them out of the

34:35.167 --> 34:38.797
state, they would stay out
of the state.  So the South

34:38.800 --> 34:41.100
was trying to
export black legal,

34:41.100 --> 34:46.070
potential legal talent to
northern places mainly.  To

34:46.067 --> 34:48.297
get that "problem"
out of their state,

34:48.300 --> 34:51.300
they'd pay for them to
leave.  The Supreme Court

34:51.300 --> 34:55.300
says, "Can't do
it."  That's 1938,

34:55.300 --> 35:02.000
if I didn't mention that. 
Houston and Marshall keep

35:02.000 --> 35:04.400
plugging away,
filing the lawsuits,

35:04.400 --> 35:08.300
poking at the
system.  In 1946,

35:12.300 --> 35:17.400
they take on the case of a
woman named Ada Sipuel.  In

35:17.400 --> 35:20.900
'46, Sipuel had applied to
the University of Oklahoma

35:20.900 --> 35:27.870
Law School and was denied
because of race.  And in

35:27.867 --> 35:32.767
1948, the Supreme Court
finally rules that Oklahoma

35:32.767 --> 35:35.497
had to provide instruction
for blacks equal to that of

35:35.500 --> 35:41.100
whites.  So this is now--not
following--they're not

35:41.100 --> 35:42.300
breaking new ground
here.  They're following a

35:42.300 --> 35:46.470
precedent that was
there in the Donald v.

35:46.467 --> 35:50.997
Murray, bounded by Gaines v.

35:51.000 --> 35:54.070
Canada, say you can't ship
her out some place else.  So

35:54.067 --> 35:58.367
Oklahoma says, "All right,
well we're going to comply. 

35:58.367 --> 36:00.567
We're not going to admit
her to our law school,

36:00.567 --> 36:03.167
to the white law school. 
We'll build a law school for

36:03.167 --> 36:08.997
her."  And so in a few
months' time the state of

36:09.000 --> 36:11.100
Oklahoma creates the
Langston University School

36:11.100 --> 36:13.400
of Law, located at
the state capital,

36:15.600 --> 36:20.400
thus requiring further
litigation to demonstrate

36:20.400 --> 36:22.500
that the law school was
inferior to the University

36:22.500 --> 36:26.400
of Oklahoma's law
school.  I mean,

36:26.400 --> 36:27.700
the lawyers
were, were claiming,

36:27.700 --> 36:30.900
"You cannot build a law
school in a few months,

36:30.900 --> 36:33.300
and it really was just
done in a few months,

36:33.300 --> 36:38.200
"designed to educate blacks
in the state and suggest

36:38.200 --> 36:40.300
that it's even near equal
to what the University of

36:40.300 --> 36:41.900
Oklahoma's already
established law school

36:41.900 --> 36:44.600
provides."  They
don't have the resources,

36:44.600 --> 36:46.300
they don't have the access,
they don't have the training

36:46.300 --> 36:51.300
available to them.  So
further litigation ensues

36:51.300 --> 36:54.400
and in 1949, Oklahoma,
the University of Oklahoma

36:54.400 --> 36:58.970
decides to admit Sipuel,
thus breaking the color line

36:58.967 --> 37:00.967
for the School of Law there.

37:02.700 --> 37:05.300
Sipuel becomes not just
the first black woman,

37:05.300 --> 37:07.400
or black, to integrate
in the University of

37:07.400 --> 37:08.670
Oklahom--Oklahoma
Law School,

37:08.667 --> 37:11.397
she's the first black woman
to attend an all-white law

37:11.400 --> 37:19.070
school in the entire South. 
The law school admits here

37:19.067 --> 37:21.797
and gives her a
special chair.  That's nice,

37:21.800 --> 37:24.900
it seems, right?  Well, the
chair is marked "colored"

37:24.900 --> 37:28.100
and it's roped off from the
rest of the class.  She's in

37:28.100 --> 37:31.700
the same classroom but in a
roped off section of one. 

37:35.100 --> 37:37.370
Now as it happens, her
classmates and teachers

37:37.367 --> 37:39.867
actually welcome her
into the classroom.  The

37:39.867 --> 37:42.197
resistance is coming
from someplace else,

37:42.200 --> 37:46.570
institutionally or
governmentally.  Stories

37:46.567 --> 37:48.097
abound, and
Sipuel is--would,

37:48.100 --> 37:50.970
would support this, that
students shared their notes

37:50.967 --> 37:54.497
with her, studied with
her, helped her catch up on

37:54.500 --> 37:58.100
material if she happened to
miss some of it.  Sipuel had

37:58.100 --> 37:59.800
to eat in a
separate section of the,

37:59.800 --> 38:03.200
of a separate and chained
off and guarded section in

38:03.200 --> 38:06.800
the law school cafeteria,
and white students would

38:06.800 --> 38:10.800
crawl under the chain and
eat with her when the guards

38:10.800 --> 38:15.500
weren't around.  Her
law student tuition are

38:15.500 --> 38:19.300
supported by hundreds
of small donations and,

38:19.300 --> 38:21.700
she would recount later, she
believed she owed it to all

38:21.700 --> 38:25.700
those who supported her that
she had to ser--that she had

38:25.700 --> 38:30.400
to make it.  Now actually,
if you look up on the

38:30.400 --> 38:32.870
website, and I imagine one
or two might do it right

38:32.867 --> 38:34.797
now, even though
I hope you don't,

38:34.800 --> 38:36.670
the University of
Oklahom--Oklahoma Law School

38:36.667 --> 38:39.397
is named for Ada Sipuel now.

38:39.400 --> 38:41.300
This is also a generational
change of another kind of

38:41.300 --> 38:42.600
order.

38:42.600 --> 38:44.600
In any event, the important
thing about all these

38:44.600 --> 38:48.670
different cases, these three
sort of landmark cases,

38:48.667 --> 38:52.097
they shared some things in
common.  They're all about

38:52.100 --> 38:55.900
law schools.  They're
all about law schools.

38:55.900 --> 39:00.270
Marshall and Houston
believed that they had to

39:00.267 --> 39:03.367
find test cases that would
create the greatest chance

39:03.367 --> 39:07.197
of sympathy from judges
and eventually Supreme Court

39:07.200 --> 39:08.570
justices.

39:08.567 --> 39:11.797
And so they thought by
bringing to their attention,

39:11.800 --> 39:14.900
to the judges' attention,
people who wanted to be like

39:14.900 --> 39:18.370
them, study the law, and
people who--and this is

39:18.367 --> 39:20.667
important, and I'll speak
more about it on Monday--who

39:20.667 --> 39:23.667
were astonishingly good
students.  They had to be

39:23.667 --> 39:25.497
perfect students.

39:25.500 --> 39:28.000
By bringing incredible
students in front of them

39:28.000 --> 39:30.770
who are trying to
become lawyers,

39:30.767 --> 39:31.797
these judges
might be, you know,

39:31.800 --> 39:33.500
have thought, "Well,
gosh, this really is a silly

39:33.500 --> 39:34.870
system.  We need to
find some other way,

39:34.867 --> 39:36.867
other way around it."  So
that's one part about it. 

39:36.867 --> 39:38.697
It's just about, it's
just about access to law

39:38.700 --> 39:44.470
schools.  Now
what it's also,

39:44.467 --> 39:46.497
and probably even
more important--not even

39:46.500 --> 39:48.700
probably--definitely more
important about these law

39:48.700 --> 39:50.970
school, these cases,
these legal cases,

39:50.967 --> 39:52.867
is that none of them
challenged Plessy v.

39:52.867 --> 39:56.167
Ferguson.  All of them are
articulated upon the grounds

39:56.167 --> 39:57.997
of, there is no
separate but equal,

39:58.000 --> 40:01.970
equal institution for these
black plaintiffs to attend. 

40:04.100 --> 40:07.300
In Maryland, in
Missouri, in Oklahoma,

40:07.300 --> 40:10.370
in each of those cases,
they're saying there's no

40:10.367 --> 40:13.297
separate but equal
institution.  Oklahoma tried

40:13.300 --> 40:17.700
making one.  It wasn't equal
enough.  It was separate but

40:17.700 --> 40:23.100
not equal.  So these--this
is a nice and slow and

40:23.100 --> 40:25.470
gentle, I mean
according to them,

40:25.467 --> 40:28.167
approach to try to break
down segregation in higher

40:28.167 --> 40:31.597
education.  Based on the
success they're meeting with

40:31.600 --> 40:33.270
the law schools, they
start going after graduate

40:33.267 --> 40:37.297
schools.  So professional
schools into graduate

40:37.300 --> 40:42.300
schools, and then
they start--I mean,

40:42.300 --> 40:45.000
and basically the writing is
now on the wall.  People see

40:45.000 --> 40:46.600
this.

40:46.600 --> 40:50.600
They realize the trajectory
of these attorneys is

40:50.600 --> 40:52.570
heading sort of
downward in a sense,

40:52.567 --> 40:55.797
hierarchically, and the next
battlefield is going to be

40:55.800 --> 40:59.800
secondary and primary
schools.  Southern states

40:59.800 --> 41:03.000
recognize this and
feverishly start trying to

41:03.000 --> 41:07.270
improve black schools, which
were horrible.  I mean the,

41:07.267 --> 41:09.767
the statistics are kind of
shocking about how poorly

41:09.767 --> 41:11.397
funded these
schools were, you know,

41:11.400 --> 41:17.500
only used textbooks, no
transportation.  Southern

41:17.500 --> 41:19.670
states try--start
trying pouring,

41:19.667 --> 41:20.897
pouring money
into these schools,

41:20.900 --> 41:24.800
trying to improve them, so
they could actually survive

41:24.800 --> 41:27.800
a test of separate but
equal.  But they're so bad,

41:27.800 --> 41:32.500
they can't catch
up.  So the attorneys,

41:32.500 --> 41:36.900
NAACP attorneys, start
focusing now on elementary

41:36.900 --> 41:40.170
and secondary schools
and challenging the very

41:40.167 --> 41:42.867
principle of segregation in
education--that seg--that

41:42.867 --> 41:48.867
segregation on racial lines
was unconstitutional.  They,

41:51.400 --> 41:53.900
as they're going around
setting up these test cases,

41:56.900 --> 41:59.200
there are five cases all
happening at the same time

41:59.200 --> 42:02.000
that rise to the
Supreme Court's attention,

42:02.000 --> 42:03.500
and the Supreme--Supreme
Court bundles them

42:03.500 --> 42:05.000
together.  There are
cases in South Carolina,

42:05.000 --> 42:07.670
Virginia, Kansas, Delaware,
and the District of

42:07.667 --> 42:15.297
Columbia.  They bundle
them together under Brown,

42:15.300 --> 42:17.670
the father of two girls
integrating--trying to

42:17.667 --> 42:21.797
integrate schools in Topeka,
Kansas.  But that's--this is

42:21.800 --> 42:25.100
one case representing many
other cases.  The attorney

42:25.100 --> 42:30.470
general of the United States
actually calls for the end

42:30.467 --> 42:33.897
of segregation, but the
reasoning is revealing.  He

42:33.900 --> 42:36.700
wrote that, "Racial
discrimination furnishes

42:36.700 --> 42:39.500
grist for the Communist
propaganda mills and it

42:39.500 --> 42:41.770
raises doubt even among
friendly nations as to the

42:41.767 --> 42:45.297
intensity of our devotion
to the Democratic faith."

42:45.300 --> 42:46.600
He's not
talking about, "Hey,

42:46.600 --> 42:48.670
we need to educate our
citizens."  It's like,

42:48.667 --> 42:51.797
"This looks bad on the
international scene.  It's

42:51.800 --> 42:55.470
embarrassing and it's, it's
affecting negatively our

42:55.467 --> 43:01.197
potential to make change
around the world."  Cutting

43:01.200 --> 43:07.000
to the chase, Brown versus
the Board of Education makes

43:07.000 --> 43:12.870
it to the Supreme Court, and
the ruling is offered in May

43:12.867 --> 43:18.567
of 1954.  Earl Warren,
the very new Chief Justice,

43:18.567 --> 43:21.397
writes the opinion for a
unanimous court that says,

43:21.400 --> 43:24.000
"The separate educational
facilities is in--inherently

43:24.000 --> 43:25.700
unequal.

43:25.700 --> 43:27.400
Therefore, we hold that
the plaintiffs and others

43:27.400 --> 43:29.870
similarly situated for
whom the actions have been

43:29.867 --> 43:33.667
brought up (brought, I mean,
this is the bundling) are,

43:33.667 --> 43:35.697
by reason of the
segregation complained of,

43:35.700 --> 43:38.000
deprived of the equal
protection of the laws

43:38.000 --> 43:39.900
guaranteed by the
Fourteenth Amendment."

43:39.900 --> 43:44.100
Separation of the races
and facilities is inherently

43:44.100 --> 43:47.700
unequal, based on equal
protection clause in the

43:47.700 --> 43:50.600
Fourteenth Amendment. 
Now, very quickly,

43:50.600 --> 43:53.000
a few words about Earl
Warren himself because it's

43:53.000 --> 43:55.500
actually fascinating. 
He's a--while the,

43:55.500 --> 43:57.300
while these cases are
being bundled and brought up

43:57.300 --> 44:01.670
through the, the system,
he's not the Chief Justice. 

44:01.667 --> 44:03.197
He's appointed that
position--He's not even on

44:03.200 --> 44:05.270
the Supreme Court.  He's
appointed to that position

44:05.267 --> 44:06.797
after the Chief
Justice, Fred Vinson,

44:06.800 --> 44:11.470
dies.  Someone,
jurists, legal,

44:11.467 --> 44:13.197
legal historians think it
was probably going to go

44:13.200 --> 44:18.070
against Brown.  Eisenhower,
now the President of the

44:18.067 --> 44:21.767
United States, appoints
what others thought a mere

44:21.767 --> 44:24.967
politician to
the Supreme Court,

44:24.967 --> 44:26.867
thus angering other
associate justices who

44:26.867 --> 44:30.267
thought they were going to
be the next Chief Justice. 

44:30.267 --> 44:32.367
And Warren would actually
go on to become a great

44:32.367 --> 44:38.167
mediator on the court, using
his political skills.  And

44:38.167 --> 44:43.197
becomes on-- becomes a
great civil rights jurist,

44:43.200 --> 44:45.370
someone Eisenhower would
call "the greatest mistake

44:45.367 --> 44:48.867
of his presidency,"
appointing Warren to the

44:48.867 --> 44:52.767
Supreme Court.  Now Warren
himself did not have a

44:52.767 --> 44:55.597
sterling civil
liberties record.  In fact,

44:55.600 --> 44:59.000
it was pretty horrible. 
When he was the attorney

44:59.000 --> 45:01.000
general of
California in 1942,

45:01.000 --> 45:03.100
he led the move to detain
and then inter Japanese

45:03.100 --> 45:09.500
Americans.  And as he told
a conference of his fellow

45:09.500 --> 45:11.600
governors in 1943, his
first year as governor of

45:11.600 --> 45:14.770
California,"If the
Japs are released,

45:14.767 --> 45:17.097
no one will be able to tell
the saboteur from any other

45:17.100 --> 45:19.900
Jap.  We're now producing
approximately half of the

45:19.900 --> 45:21.700
ships and airplanes of
the country on the Pacific

45:21.700 --> 45:25.100
Coast.  To cripple these
industries or the facilities

45:25.100 --> 45:28.370
that serve them would be a
bloody--a body blow to the

45:28.367 --> 45:30.567
war effort.  We don't
want to have a second Pearl

45:30.567 --> 45:32.997
Harbor in California.  We
don't propose to have the

45:33.000 --> 45:35.600
Japs back in California
during this war if there is

45:35.600 --> 45:37.800
any lawful means
of preventing it."

45:37.800 --> 45:40.970
This is one of the
great civil rights justices

45:40.967 --> 45:43.297
speaking before he was
elevated to that position. 

45:43.300 --> 45:47.300
So people doing some
basic psychoanalysis,

45:47.300 --> 45:49.670
armchair psychoanalysis,
saying Warren is trying--I

45:49.667 --> 45:52.897
mean is horrified in
retrospect over what he did

45:52.900 --> 45:56.970
in a moment of war, what he
felt was right at the time,

45:56.967 --> 45:59.997
to deny citizenship
rights to so many people,

46:00.000 --> 46:03.470
and was trying to
sort of cleanse himself.

46:03.467 --> 46:05.297
Now there's much more to
be said about Brown v.

46:05.300 --> 46:07.300
Board of Education, the
legal court case.  But this

46:07.300 --> 46:11.300
part is important to know,
in the sense that Warren

46:11.300 --> 46:15.200
comes in out of the blue.

46:15.200 --> 46:18.000
It probably changes the
future of the decision.

46:18.000 --> 46:20.100
The, the--If you look at
justices' opinions leading

46:20.100 --> 46:22.800
up to Brown, it seemed at
best there might be a split

46:22.800 --> 46:25.300
in the court,
if not a denial,

46:25.300 --> 46:28.600
but Warren said, "No, we
are going to be active,

46:28.600 --> 46:30.700
essentially, and it
must be unanimous,

46:30.700 --> 46:33.300
and he basically browbeat
the associate justices to

46:33.300 --> 46:38.100
line up behind him to offer
this ruling.  A watershed

46:38.100 --> 46:40.900
moment, thus
closing the door on the

46:40.900 --> 46:44.100
constitutionality of
separate but equal,

46:44.100 --> 46:46.600
articulated in Plessy v.

46:46.600 --> 46:52.900
Ferguson at the end of the
nineteenth century.  Now the

46:52.900 --> 46:56.200
Supreme Court says that
this is unconstitutional,

46:56.200 --> 46:58.670
segregation in,
in, in education,

46:58.667 --> 47:02.567
but how are you going to
change it?  This is probably

47:02.567 --> 47:06.867
one of the most--This may be
the most cruel but important

47:06.867 --> 47:07.867
part of Brown v.

47:07.867 --> 47:12.767
Board of Education, is that
it's remanded back to local

47:12.767 --> 47:15.497
districts to figure out
the best play--best way to

47:15.500 --> 47:22.000
desegregate the
schools.  South Carolina,

47:22.000 --> 47:24.100
Georgia, Mississippi
governors threaten to

47:24.100 --> 47:28.200
abolish public schools as a
result.  "We'll just close

47:28.200 --> 47:29.570
all the damn
public schools,

47:29.567 --> 47:32.097
because the Supreme Court
is only talking about public

47:32.100 --> 47:37.070
places of accommodation. 
A year after Brown is

47:37.067 --> 47:39.397
articulated, it comes back
with what people call Brown

47:39.400 --> 47:45.900
II, when the Supreme Court
sends these cases back to

47:45.900 --> 47:49.600
the local, local--sends the
cases back to the courts of

47:49.600 --> 47:52.000
origins and in
deference to local customs,

47:52.000 --> 47:54.200
and familiarity, says that
these things should proceed

47:54.200 --> 47:57.100
with "all deliberate
speed."  One of these

47:57.100 --> 47:59.400
wonderfully vague,
damningly vague,

47:59.400 --> 48:03.070
Supreme Court edicts. 
All deliberate speed. Many

48:03.067 --> 48:08.997
people thought, "like really
quickly!"  Other people

48:09.000 --> 48:13.100
thought, "Let's deliberate
for a long time."  Speed,

48:13.100 --> 48:18.000
after all, is really quite
relative.  There are many

48:18.000 --> 48:20.970
other immediate
ramifications or responses

48:20.967 --> 48:21.967
to Brown v.

48:21.967 --> 48:25.467
Board and its ruling in 1954
and '55.  You--We began the

48:25.467 --> 48:27.197
lecture with one
of them, with Anna,

48:27.200 --> 48:30.900
excuse me, Melba Beals as
a young girl about to be

48:30.900 --> 48:35.270
raped, because the Supreme
Court had enraged this white

48:35.267 --> 48:39.397
father, that it was going
to change the way the world

48:39.400 --> 48:44.300
looked for him.  We'll talk
more about other ways of

48:44.300 --> 48:47.370
resistance and high
political theater and Gothic

48:47.367 --> 48:49.097
violence in the
wake of Brown v.

48:49.100 --> 48:52.100
Board when we pick up
on Monday.  Thank you.