“Race in the United States Criminal Justice System PART II
“Race in the United States Criminal Justice System PART II
Let us pick up with this LAW during the Reconstruction Period (1865-1877)
The Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a vigilante organization whose goal was to keep control over freed slaves; It preformed acts of lawlessness against negroes and other minorities. This included taking negro prisoners from the custody of officers or braking into jails to put them to death. Few efforts were made by civil authorities in the South against the Ku Klux Klan.
The Memphis Riots of 1866 took place after many black men were discharged from the United States Army. The riot broke out when a group of discharged Negro soldiers got into a brawl with a group of Irish police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty-six African Americans and two white people were killed in the riot, and seventy-five people received bullet wounds. At least five African American women were raped by predatory gangs, and the property damage was worth over $100,000.
In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution overruled the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford by establishing that those born or naturalized in the United States are entitled to equal protection under the law, regardless of race.
Events After the Reconstruction Period
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson
In its 1896 ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court established that segregation was legal in the United States, establishing the doctrine, "separate but equal. “Homer Adolph Plessy was removed from the East Louisiana Railroad train and arrested for violating the 1980 Louisiana Separate Car Act on June 7, 1982. Despite the Supreme Court ruling against him, Plessy's case marked the first use of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection provision after the Reconstruction Period.
1935 Norris v. Alabama
In 1935 the United States Supreme Court overturned convictions of the Scottsboro Boys in Norris v. Alabama. These were nine African American teenagers who had been previously denied equal protection under the law as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution because African Americans were purposely excluded from their cases' juries.
1941 Fair Employment Practices Commission
President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Commission with Executive Order 8802, which banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in the defense industry.
1954 Brown v. Board of Education
In the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court decision overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine implemented in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case in schools and required that schools be integrated. The case was brought before the Court in 1952 after African American Oliver Brown tried to enroll his daughter Linda in a local white elementary school and was refused enrollment. He and other African American parents, with the help of the NAACP sued the Topeka school district, and Thurgood Marshall argued before the Supreme Court in 1952 and 1953 that public school segregation violated the 14th Amendment. The Court decision was unanimous.
I am have so much fun with this history, I can go on and on and on but I did promise not to be long-winded. Now when we come back, we will briefly explore the 1955 Murder of Emmett Till.
Do you remember.
Let us pick up with this LAW during the Reconstruction Period (1865-1877)
The Ku Klux Klan, founded in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a vigilante organization whose goal was to keep control over freed slaves; It preformed acts of lawlessness against negroes and other minorities. This included taking negro prisoners from the custody of officers or braking into jails to put them to death. Few efforts were made by civil authorities in the South against the Ku Klux Klan.
The Memphis Riots of 1866 took place after many black men were discharged from the United States Army. The riot broke out when a group of discharged Negro soldiers got into a brawl with a group of Irish police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty-six African Americans and two white people were killed in the riot, and seventy-five people received bullet wounds. At least five African American women were raped by predatory gangs, and the property damage was worth over $100,000.
In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution overruled the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford by establishing that those born or naturalized in the United States are entitled to equal protection under the law, regardless of race.
Events After the Reconstruction Period
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson
In its 1896 ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court established that segregation was legal in the United States, establishing the doctrine, "separate but equal. “Homer Adolph Plessy was removed from the East Louisiana Railroad train and arrested for violating the 1980 Louisiana Separate Car Act on June 7, 1982. Despite the Supreme Court ruling against him, Plessy's case marked the first use of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection provision after the Reconstruction Period.
1935 Norris v. Alabama
In 1935 the United States Supreme Court overturned convictions of the Scottsboro Boys in Norris v. Alabama. These were nine African American teenagers who had been previously denied equal protection under the law as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution because African Americans were purposely excluded from their cases' juries.
1941 Fair Employment Practices Commission
President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Fair Employment Practices Commission with Executive Order 8802, which banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in the defense industry.
1954 Brown v. Board of Education
In the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court decision overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine implemented in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case in schools and required that schools be integrated. The case was brought before the Court in 1952 after African American Oliver Brown tried to enroll his daughter Linda in a local white elementary school and was refused enrollment. He and other African American parents, with the help of the NAACP sued the Topeka school district, and Thurgood Marshall argued before the Supreme Court in 1952 and 1953 that public school segregation violated the 14th Amendment. The Court decision was unanimous.
I am have so much fun with this history, I can go on and on and on but I did promise not to be long-winded. Now when we come back, we will briefly explore the 1955 Murder of Emmett Till.
Do you remember.
