Three Supreme Court Cases That Influenced The Civil Rights Movement

INTRODUCTION United States Supreme Court case Scott v. Sanford (1857), commonly known as the Dred Scott Case, is probably the most famous case of the nineteenth century (with the exception possibly of Marbury v. Madison). It is one of only four cases in U. S. history that has ever been overturned by a Constitutional amendment (overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments). It is also, along with Marbury, one of only two cases prior to the Civil War that declared a federal law unconstitutional. This case may have also been one of the most, if not the most, controversial case in American history, due simply to the fact that it dealt an explosive opinion on an issue already prepared to erupt - slavery. Thus, many scholars assert that the

The Scott v. Sanford starts with Harriet and Dred Scott, Dred was a long-term slave, owned by Dr. John Emerson. Dred moved with Emerson army post to army post, due to Emerson was an army surgeon. Dred moved with him over the course of eleven years. In the year 1857, Emerson dies and Dred is left in a free-territory. Dred then went to a local court and sued for his freedom. On March 6th, Chief Justice Robert B. Tany spoke the majority opinion. The US Congress ruled that slaves were not citizens and they could not receive protection from the Federal Government or the Federal Courts (Supreme Court Archives). Also, that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a federal territory. This created major problems and changes in the United States (Kelly, 2014).

There were many cases during the civil rights movement that helped shape the world into what it is today. By the middle of the twentieth century, black people had long experienced a physical and social landscape of white supremacy, embedded in policy, social codes, and both intimate and spectacular forms of racial restriction and violence. It was time for a change. The Supreme Court made many decisions to change and affect this movement. Some of these these cases are Dred Scott vs. John F.A. Stanford, Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Shelley vs. Kraemer.

The Civil Rights movement was a social, economic, political and legal battle to end discrimination and gain equality for African-Americans. Although this struggle had been going on for centuries it didn’t peak until the 1950-60’s. The Jim Crow laws are what ignited the movement. Jim Crow laws were, “the laws that arose in the South after the Civil War that allowed discrimination against African Americans to continue.” In turn those laws lead to the renowned case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954. The case states that public school segregation was unconstitutional and it contributed to desegregating schools. Within the next year, the tragic and brutal murder of Emmett Till took place. This murder took a significant toll

The Civil Rights movement was a multi-faceted movement that tried to gain proper and equal rights for African-Americans on many fronts. One of the most important areas of society that African-Americans wanted to be looked upon equally in was in the courts. Blacks were being discriminated inside the courtroom in many ways, such as facing an all-white, racist jury that was sure to provide a quick trial and usually, an unfair decision that sent blacks to jail for crimes they did not commit. In 1935, the Supreme Court ruled that blacks could not be systematically excluded from juries to help solve this problem. However, not only did blacks continue to be left out of juries, but people who committed crimes against blacks were being acquitted, showing

The civil rights protest was an important time for people all around the world for achieving equal rights. While there were many against this idea, others fully supported this and believed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. There were many people that represented the civil rights movement, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and MalcoIm X. There were also cases that spawned from this that challenged the authority and showed a light of hope on equal rights for all. The cases that were essential in the civil rights movement were the cases of Dred Scott vs. Sandford, Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Brown vs. Board of Education.

“In 1847, Dred Scott first went to trial to sue for his freedom, (Dred Scott’s fight for freedom).” “While the immediate issue in this case was Dred Scott’s status, the court also had the opportunity to rule on the question of slavery in the territories, (Appleby et all, 446-447).” One of the main issues of this case was that the justices were trying to settle a political problem rather than being completely fair in their decisions. Dred lost the first trial but was granted a second trial. The next year the Missouri Supreme Court decided that the case should be retried, (Dred Scott’s fight for freedom). In 1850, the Circuit Court of St. Louis County

There are three key concepts that have impacted the results of the Civil Rights Movement. The Enumerated, Implied, and Reserved powers were created to help keep the two separate governments in balance. The Enumerated powers gave the government the right to coin money, declare war, etc. The Implied powers gave the government the right to create laws that they feel are necessary to carry out the laws that already exist. The Reserved powers were specifically assigned to the state government, and their role is to trade within the state and construct elections. The way the Constitution was written gave any matter dealing with civil rights to the state government, but soon that was handed over to the federal government. The Plessy v, Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education was what the back people needed to set the Civil Rights Movement into motion and to end discrimination. Affirmative Action was set into place to help end discrimination in the workplace and in schools. There are many actions that led up to the Civil Rights Movement, but the separation of powers, the Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, and Affirmative Action is really what impacted civil rights the most.

The Civil Rights Movement was an obvious struggle by African Americans in the mid-1950s to late 1960s to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites, including equal opportunity in employment, housing, and education, as well as the right to vote, the right of equal access to public facilities, and the right to be free of racial discrimination (Civil Rights Movement, 2005). According to Civil Rights Movement, 2005, this movement occurred to guarantee African Americans their citizenship and their rights, which were supposed to be protected by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. There are many different views and opinions on whether or not racial issues have or have not improved since the Civil Rights Movement. While some things

The Civil Rights Movement “began the process of removing legal discrimination based on race, gender, and other characteristics” (Source 23), and the goal was for everyone to be considered equal, and have the ability to vote. After a multitude amount of protests, along with Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the American government decided to take action. After evaluating many different investigations, the Supreme Court decided to outlaw “separate public schools for black and white schoolchildren” (Source 19) in the Brown vs Board of Education court case. This allowed black and white students to attend the same school.

The civil rights movement made a rapid advance towards the civil rights with help of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X along with their famous speeches that rallied the people to support the end to segregation and the right for African Americans. The civil rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s helped lay the groundwork for this change. Americans face discrimination in every aspect of their lives until at at least 1950s.

The situation turned very dire for the anti-slavery men when the Supreme Court made the Dred Scott v. Stanford decision. The Dred Scott v. Stanford case took place when a black slave named Dred Scott sued his master for his freedom. Dred Scott argued that he deserved freedom because he had served his master for five years on free territory. The ruling by the Supreme Court said that since Dred Scott was a slave, his master’s private property, the Constitution did not allow the government to deprive someone of their property without due process of law. Also, as a slave, the court could have dismissed the case then and there, but they made a ruling and took it one step farther.

The African American Civil Rights Movement officially “began” in 1954, but the ideas of Civil Rights had been brewing since the end of the Civil War, and even earlier. The Civil Rights Movement was centered on the idea of the equal, fair, and constitutional treatment of African Americans in the United States. The movement features some of history’s most prominent figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Throughout the movement, activists utilized protests, marches, boycotts, and strikes in attempts to change public opinion and governmental action on African Americans. The movement succeeded in overturning

The civil rights movement changed the way people saw each other in the U.S. At first, most people saw African Americans as defenseless and helpless people, until they collaborated and impacted the Montgomery Bus System, the school system, and the judicial system. This movement also had an impact on the U.S. population, and helped confront the issue that most American Caucasians were treating people unlike themselves unequally.

The Civil Rights Movement, popular in the 1950s and 1960s, was a large group of people who fought for the equal rights of the African Americans. The people of the movement constantly protested the lack of equality in hopes to change the ideals of the white leaders. In efforts to suppress the protesting, whites passed several laws attempting to give blacks their full rights. Even then, white employers were reluctant to hire any man of color, which caused unemployment rates to skyrocket. Because of the high unemployment rates, the whites continued to view themselves as superior over every other race. After the blacks were legally “free,” they still faced a plethora of violent acts and segregation. This caused the Civil Rights Movement to