Legal Action

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NAACP Recruitment Advertisement, (1968)

This newspaper advertisement from 1968 displays images of prominent NAACP members/leaders. The advertisement also presents the justice the NAACP has invoked and provides information about their upcoming meeting. Unity was the key factor for African American equality, which is what the NAACP brought before and during the Civil Rights Movement. The NAACP did help organize other protests and forms of fights for justice, but their legal actions are one of their more prominent aspects. The NAACP started the 20th-century fight for equality with legal action against discriminatory laws. During the mid-1900s, the NAACP depended on member’s funds so they could seek legal action and make progress in the Supreme Court on laws that discriminated against African Americans. Although progress from the initial court cases was subtle, the NAACP’s legal actions would help lead to huge progress cases, like Brown vs. Board of Education. This advertisement presents the significance of the legal action that the NAACP took in the 1900s.

 

“Brown vs. Board of Education”, photo (1954)

This iconic photo from May 18, 1954, displays Nettie Hunt and her daughter Nickie sitting on the steps of the Supreme Court building. Taken the day after the Supreme Court had ruled a ban against segregation in public schools, Nettie is holding the newspaper proclaiming the ruling that would help create justice for African Americans. African American children in the early-1900s dealt with a worse education compared to white children, because of the insufficient funding African American schools received. Oliver Brown, Hunt’s plaintiff, would be part of the group that would take legal action against Topeka, Kansas’ board of education. This legal action would lead to one of the most monumental decisions in the Civil Rights Movement, ruling against the segregation of public schools. This ruling is known as one the kickstarts of the following Civil Rights Movement protests that would help African Americans receive justice. This action also allowed African American children to receive a better education.