History 4321/Children’s Studies 401

Brown

September 21, 2005

I. New Deal

1. Cultural Confrontations of the 1920s (Prohibition, KKK, and cultural polarization; fate of Al Smith)

            2. Scopes Trial (verdict and effect)

            3. New Deal and Youth Issues (New Deal ideology, CCC, NYA)

II. The Path to Brown

1. Laying the Foundation (FDR’s Justice Department; NAACP Strategy; legacy of Washington/DuBois dispute; Huston and origins of LDF)

2. Challenging Separate but Equal (education—Missouri v. Gaines (1938); Sweatt v. Painter (1948); McLaurin v. Oklahoma (1948); elections—Smith v. Allwright (1944); housing—Shelley v. Kramer (1948); judicial compromises and nature of Brown)

III. The Expansion of Rights

            1. Reaction to Brown (Eisenhower and origins of massive resistance; defiance: Little Rock, Virginia; Brownell and response to Birmingham Bus Boycott; 1956 bill and difficulties in Congress: House—Rules Committee and Judge Smith; Senate—Eastland elevation and tradition of filibuster; LBJ, political ambition, and path to 1957 Civil Rights Act; significance of Russell; debate over jury-trial amendment; 1960—SNCC, Greensboro, tepid bill; civil rights in the 1960 election)

2. The Kennedy Administration and Civil Rights (Court action and its limits; executive initiative; Kennedy record and political concerns; significance of bureaucracy—Wofford, Marshall, power of Justice Department; forcing the issue—Freedom Rides and role of federal marshals; Meredith and integration of Ole Miss, NAACP and Civil Rights Division support)

3. After Ole Miss (riots and federal military intervention; Wallace and demagoguery; political costs; Birmingham and Operation “C”; role of Bull Connor; sit-ins and boycott; use of children; public and media response)