How Did The Supreme Court Cases That Affect The Civil Rights Movement In The 1900's

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“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. The civil rights movement had a major affect on not only those living in the 1900's but people of all races today as well. The civil rights movement led up to the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which banned public segregation and employment discrimination. Many Important supreme court cases helped the civil rights movement take off: Plessy v. Ferguson, Dred Scott v. Sanford, and Brown v. board of education. One of the most important court cases sustained the constitutionality of Louisiana's Jim Crow law. The justice for the Plessy v. Ferguson case said that if both races had equal rights, that one could not be inferior to another, but if one was inferior, they couldn't be put upon the same social plane. Legislation made it a crime to deny anyone equal fulfillment and enjoyment of any accommodations or public amusement because of race. The final ruling justified the Louisiana state law by allowing "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races"(Plessy v. Ferguson). …show more content…

Sanford case the court ruled against Scott because, under the constitution, he was his master's property and they couldn't deprive slaveowners of their property. This case maintained that states could allow rights to anyone, but blacks would never truly be citizens, and they weren't allowed the courts to prove otherwise. The court ended the case saying that, "...Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a Federal territory. This decision moved the nation a step closer to Civil War"(Dred Scott v. Sanford). Because slaves were not citizens, not everyone has equal civil and political