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Daily plus other fantastic history podcast at

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Into history.com. It's

0:25

the morning of November Fourteenth, Nineteen

0:28

Sixty in New Orleans, Louisiana. Six.

0:30

Year old Ruby Bridges sits on the

0:33

back seat of a car and drive

0:35

from her home to a new school

0:37

where Rubio starting today. But the

0:39

driver of the car isn't Ruby's mother

0:42

or father, it's a National Guardsmen one

0:44

who's been tasked with making sure Ruby

0:46

gets to school safely. Six years

0:48

ago, the States Supreme court ruled that

0:51

educating black children like Ruby and separate

0:53

school from white children was unconstitutional, but

0:55

southern states have been slow to

0:57

respond to the burning Today, Ruby is

1:00

the. First black child to attend

1:02

the previously all white William France

1:04

Elementary. As the car carrying her

1:06

approaches the schools entrance, Ruby can

1:08

see a crowd has gather at

1:10

the gates are tomato strikes the

1:12

windshield, startling Ruby as a car

1:14

comes to a halt. But Ruby

1:16

is more puzzle than concerned. Her

1:19

parents have shield with her from

1:21

the controversy that their choice of

1:23

school has created. Ruby has no

1:25

idea that enrolling at Wm France

1:27

has caused such anger. The

1:30

car. Door opens and Ruby steps

1:32

out carrying a small set containing

1:34

her lunch and a few pencils.

1:37

She's surrounded by for burly Us

1:39

Marshal tower over Ruby. Here's the

1:41

white crowd shouting degrading name's racial

1:43

slurs she's quince as she slowly

1:46

reach the words on one of

1:48

their signs. all I Want for

1:50

Christmas is a clean white school.

1:52

One woman even holds a miniature

1:55

coughing with a black dollars. But

1:57

Ruby doesn't falter as the Marshals

1:59

as. Or her past the angry

2:01

protesters. Instead, she walked straight up to

2:04

the schools and. But

2:06

as soon as Ruby steps inside, a

2:08

flood of white mother's follows her into

2:10

the school. Marshals pull Ruby to the

2:13

side and surround her protectively. For the

2:15

women, ignore Ruby and instead surge into

2:17

the classrooms and sees their own children.

2:19

As the angry parents leave with their

2:21

kids trailing behind them, they shouted, they'd

2:23

rather keep their children at home and

2:26

share a school with a black. After

2:29

a few moments, the crowd dispersed is

2:32

the halls fall silent, and Ruby wonders

2:34

whether every day at school will start

2:36

like this with. Although

2:41

six year old Ruby Bridges was

2:43

born after racial segregation and public

2:45

schools was declared unconstitutional, many Southern

2:48

states only integrated when the National

2:50

Guard was called in to enforce

2:52

the law. And. Over the next

2:54

few months Ruby will be escorted to

2:56

school like this. Every day she will

2:58

have lessons with the soul teacher who

3:00

agrees to teach a black child and

3:03

she will only eat food she brings

3:05

from home for fear of being poisoned.

3:07

For. Ruby won't be deterred, and this

3:09

little brave girl will play a

3:11

crucial role in ending the segregation

3:13

of America's public schools, which was

3:15

declared unconstitutional by the United States

3:18

Supreme Court on May Seventeen. Nineteen

3:20

Fifty Four. History.

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Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsey Graham

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and this is History Daily. History

5:37

is made every day. On this

5:39

podcast every day we tell the true stories

5:41

of the people and events that shaped our world.

5:44

Today is May 17th, 1954. The American Supreme Court

5:49

abolishes segregation in public schools.

5:56

It's June 7th, 1892 at the Press Street Railroad

5:59

Yard in New Orleans. Louisiana, 62

6:01

years before the Supreme Court

6:03

orders public schools to integrate.

6:05

Homer Plessy, a 30-year-old shoemaker, clutches

6:08

a first-class ticket for the East

6:10

Louisiana Railroad and approaches the platform.

6:13

The 415 train to Covington is

6:16

waiting, and Homer nervously heads for

6:18

the whites-only carriage. Although Homer

6:20

has light skin and can easily pass

6:22

as white, he's not actually entitled to

6:24

ride in the whites-only section. Homer

6:27

has a black grandmother, which means

6:29

he's legally classified as colored, and

6:31

almost as soon as he boards the train,

6:33

he feels the firm hand of the train

6:35

conductor on his shoulder. At

6:38

the end of the Civil War, almost 30

6:40

years ago, black Americans were granted new legal

6:42

rights and freedoms. In Louisiana,

6:44

marriage between whites and blacks was allowed,

6:46

public schools were integrated, and black men

6:49

could vote if they paid a poll

6:51

tax. But at the end

6:53

of the 1870s, federal troops were withdrawn

6:55

from the state, and white Democrats won

6:57

power in local elections. Louisiana's

7:00

progressive laws were then rolled back.

7:03

The state legislature passed new laws restricting

7:05

the rights of black people, and

7:07

among them was the 1890 Separate

7:09

Car Act, which allowed Louisiana railroads

7:12

to designate separate carriages for white

7:14

and black passengers. But

7:16

recently, Homer joined the Committee of Citizens, a

7:18

group of 18 activists

7:20

that opposed Louisiana's new

7:22

segregationist policies. And today,

7:25

Homer wants to be arrested and charged

7:27

with breaking these restrictions, a plot to

7:29

set up a legal test case. The

7:32

train conductor is also a member of the

7:34

Committee of Citizens and knows all about the

7:36

plan. So as Homer hands

7:38

over his ticket, the conductor asks whether

7:40

Homer is white. Homer answers

7:43

truthfully that he is not, and

7:45

the conductor tells him that he must travel

7:47

in the colored carriage, but Homer refuses to

7:49

move, so the conductor summons a detective to

7:52

arrest him. This detective has

7:54

also been planted by the Committee of Citizens

7:56

to ensure that their plan goes off without

7:58

a hitch. Unfortunately,

8:00

as Homer is arrested, several white passengers

8:03

decide to help the detective and drag

8:05

Homer out of the whites-only carriage. The

8:08

situation threatens to descend into violence, so

8:10

the detective hustles Homer away from the

8:12

railroad yard before he gets hurt. Then

8:15

when he's safely away from the station, Homer

8:18

is charged with violating the Separate Car Act.

8:20

And three months later, Homer answers the

8:23

charge in front of Judge John Howard

8:25

Ferguson. But Homer enters an

8:27

unusual plea. Rather than

8:29

answering guilty or not guilty, Homer

8:31

requests that the charge be dismissed

8:34

because Louisiana's Separate Car Act is

8:36

unconstitutional. Homer claims that the

8:38

racial segregation of train carriages violates the 13th

8:41

and 14th Amendment, which

8:43

abolish slavery and require equal treatment

8:45

under the law. According

8:47

to Homer's lawyers, forcing black passengers

8:50

into separate carriages implies that they

8:52

are inferior and undermines their constitutional

8:54

rights. But Judge Ferguson

8:56

disagrees. He dismisses Homer's petition

8:59

and insists that they must go to

9:01

trial. Homer and his

9:03

attorneys appeal Judge Ferguson's ruling in the

9:05

Louisiana Supreme Court. And when

9:07

the judge is there dismissed the petition,

9:09

too, Homer then appeals again to the United

9:11

States Supreme Court. Years

9:14

pass, though, before the nation's highest court

9:16

finally hears the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

9:19

Homer's lawyers rehash the same argument that's

9:22

already been rejected twice in Louisiana, but

9:24

hope they'll receive more sympathy in Washington,

9:26

D.C. Instead it falls on

9:28

deaf ears a third time. The

9:31

eight white men of the U.S. Supreme

9:33

Court rule 7-1 against Homer Plessy, leaving

9:35

him with no more legal options. As

9:38

a result, Homer must plead guilty to violating the

9:40

Separate Car Act in his order to pay a

9:42

$25 fine. But

9:45

the Plessy v. Ferguson case will have a much

9:47

bigger impact than this mere fine. The

9:49

Supreme Court judgment will set a powerful legal

9:52

precedent, establishing a doctrine that will come to

9:54

be known as separate but equal. As

9:56

long as facilities are deemed to be the same, the

9:59

Supreme Court will be court rules that there

10:01

is no legal impediment to segregation on

10:03

the basis of race. And

10:05

emboldened by this Supreme Court verdict, in

10:07

the years that follow, Southern states will

10:09

pass even stricter Jim Crow laws. Racial

10:13

segregation will extend to almost all

10:15

aspects of society, including jobs, housing,

10:17

health care, and education. More

10:20

than a half century will pass before the

10:22

crusade against racial segregation returns to the Supreme

10:24

Court, and when it does, a new lawyer

10:27

will take up the case with a very

10:29

different result. History

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12:49

It's December 9th, 1952 at the Supreme Court in

12:52

Washington, D.C. 56 years after the

12:54

rejection of Homer Plessy's case against

12:57

racial segregation. 44-year-old civil

12:59

rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall steps into

13:01

the courtroom. Thurgood feels the

13:04

eyes of everyone inside turn to him. Most

13:06

of the people in the courtroom are white, but

13:09

Thurgood is black. He takes his

13:11

horn-rimmed glasses out of his jacket pocket and

13:13

puts them on. But he doesn't really

13:15

need them because Thurgood knows the brief

13:17

he's about to argue like the back of his hand.

13:21

Today's case is Brown v. Board of

13:23

Education and Thurgood services have been employed

13:26

by the National Association for the Advancement

13:28

of Colored People. The

13:30

NAACP are acting on behalf of Oliver

13:32

Brown, a black man from Topeka, Kansas,

13:34

who wants to send his daughter to

13:36

the school nearest the family home, rather

13:38

than the all-black school much farther away.

13:41

But the Topeka School Board refused

13:43

to enroll Oliver's daughter because the

13:45

nearby school was designated whites only.

13:48

The Browns responded by contacting

13:50

the NAACP and then filing

13:53

a class-action lawsuit with 12 other black

13:55

families. Thanks to Oliver's name

13:57

coming first in alphabetical order, it's his name

13:59

on the... case file, and his

14:01

lawyer Thurgood has a reputation for

14:03

successfully litigating cases where black Americans

14:05

were paid unequal salaries or barred

14:08

from attending college. Now

14:10

he sent his sights on another

14:12

totem of racial segregation, America's public

14:14

schools. After

14:16

Thurgood takes his place, the justices of the

14:18

Supreme Court file into the courtroom. All

14:21

of them are men and all of them are white. But

14:24

Thurgood knows from their previous rulings that four

14:26

of them are likely to be sympathetic to

14:28

his cause. The justices are also

14:30

under pressure from the White House. As

14:32

the USA seeks allies in the Cold

14:35

War, the mistreatment of black Americans is

14:37

an easy propaganda win for the Soviet

14:39

Union. So many in the

14:41

federal government hope the Supreme Court will take

14:44

this opportunity to sweep away an embarrassing and

14:46

unfair law. But even then,

14:48

Thurgood still has a difficult task ahead of

14:50

him. He's trying to overturn a

14:52

legal precedent set more than 60 years

14:54

ago when Plessy v. Ferguson judgment

14:57

ruled that separate but equal racial

14:59

segregation was legal. When

15:01

it's time for Thurgood to speak, he rises

15:03

and lays out his case. As

15:05

Brown v. Board of Education progressed through the

15:07

lower courts, the judges of Kansas denied the

15:10

Brown family the chance to send their daughter

15:12

to an all-white school because they ruled that

15:14

the all-black school was just as good. The

15:17

state attorneys commissioned a study of the

15:19

school's buildings, curricula, and teachers, and the

15:22

study concluded that the two schools were

15:24

broadly comparable. Thurgood argues that

15:26

the all-black school is not the equal of

15:28

the all-white school, and he has the data

15:30

to prove it. Thurgood

15:33

then calls an expert witness. Dr.

15:35

Kenneth Clark is a psychologist who has

15:38

spent years studying the impact of segregation

15:40

on children. Under questioning, Dr.

15:42

Clark explains the results of a study

15:44

he and his wife carried out using

15:46

dolls. Children between the

15:49

ages of three and seven were asked to

15:51

choose their favorite toy from a selection of

15:53

four dolls that differed only in skin and

15:55

hair color. They were asked which doll

15:57

was the nice one and which doll was the bad

15:59

one. Dr. Clark found that

16:02

both white and black children tended

16:04

to favor the white dolls, which

16:06

they attributed with positive traits, while

16:08

the black dolls were associated with

16:10

negative traits. Thurgood

16:12

concludes his questioning by asking Dr. Clark

16:14

why the children favored the white doll.

16:17

Dr. Clark's hypothesis is that racial

16:20

segregation and discrimination lowers the self-esteem

16:22

of black children. And

16:24

when Dr. Clark leaves the stand,

16:26

Thurgood uses Dr. Clark's research to

16:29

assert that the racial discrimination legalized

16:31

in Plessy v. Ferguson is inherently

16:33

damaging to black Americans. As

16:35

such, it violates their constitutional right

16:37

to equal treatment. With

16:39

this, Thurgood finishes speaking, but his work

16:41

is not over yet. The

16:43

first hearing doesn't lead to a verdict,

16:46

and a year later, the justices recall

16:48

Thurgood to Washington to rehash the arguments

16:50

a second time. Thurgood

16:52

does not see this as a good

16:54

sign, though, suspecting that the justices are

16:56

stalling, and he heard rumors that Justice

16:59

Stanley Reed is especially opposed to overturning

17:01

segregation in public schools. Still

17:03

Thurgood does his best, knowing it's likely to

17:05

be his last chance to influence the verdict.

17:08

It will be several more months, though, before the court

17:10

comes to a decision. And after

17:13

years of careful planning and hard work,

17:15

all Thurgood Marshall would be able to

17:17

do is wait. History

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May 17th, 1954 at the

19:23

Supreme Court in Washington, DC, five months

19:25

after the justices heard the Brown v.

19:27

Board of Education case for a second

19:30

time. Thurgood Marshall stands

19:32

nervously in the courtroom. After

19:34

months of consideration, the verdict is about

19:36

to be delivered. As

19:38

Chief Justice Earl Warren clears his throat,

19:41

Thurgood locks eyes with one of the

19:43

other justices, Stanley Reed. Thurgood

19:45

then glances away, but Justice Reed's

19:47

dark eyes continue to stare. Justice

19:50

Reed is rumored to be the main

19:52

holdout against ruling segregation to be unconstitutional,

19:55

and Thurgood can't tell whether Justice Reed

19:57

is angry or pleased with the court's

19:59

verdict. Her her a

20:01

good focuses his attention on just as warm

20:04

as the chief justice reached a decision and

20:06

it's only after a moment or two that

20:08

are good heart beats. He's won

20:10

the case. And not only that, the

20:12

decision is unanimous. The. Court has

20:14

ruled by nine votes to zero to

20:16

overturn plus he be ferguson. Separate.

20:19

But equal is no longer a

20:21

constitutional doctor. Their. Goods

20:23

eyes then returned to justice. read the

20:26

man. He expected to dissent. Without.

20:28

Smiling Justice read returns Thurgood gaze

20:30

With a small most Thurgood takes

20:32

it as a gesture of respect

20:34

for a well argued tix. This

20:37

victory is celebrated by civil rights

20:39

activists across the United States. Many.

20:42

In the deep south though see the ruling as

20:44

a tragedy and out of sight. It. Over

20:46

the next few years, school districts across the

20:48

South will resist the call to integrate schools,

20:51

and Thurgood will be forced to take hundreds

20:53

of districts to court before they open up

20:55

their schools to all races. And

20:57

even then many black children like Ruby

21:00

Bridges will face protesters and threats of

21:02

violence when they attend previously all white

21:04

school. And Brown v

21:06

Board of Education won't be sorted. Marshals

21:08

last visited the supreme court either. Thirteen

21:11

years after this, just Sir Good will

21:13

return to Washington, but in a new

21:15

role. He will be appointed

21:17

America's first ever Black Supreme Court justice

21:19

and go on to serve on the

21:22

nation's highest court for twenty four years,

21:24

all the while remaining an advocate for

21:26

equality, honoring the legacy of his heart.

21:29

Five victory over Racial segregation came with

21:31

the Brown v Board of Education verdict

21:33

on May seventeenth. Nineteen Fifty Four. In

21:42

history to me, twentieth Nineteen

21:44

Sixty with their ship Frost

21:46

by punishing antarctic conditions explore,

21:49

Ernest Shackleton and two others

21:51

finally escaped to civilization. The

22:00

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