Discussion Board

1. List and briefly explain the purpose of at least three Supreme Court cases that led to the segregation of schools and the establishment of the separate but equal doctrine after the passage of Plessy v. Ferguson - 1896.

2. List and briefly explain at least five Supreme Court decisions that show the evolution and direction of school desegregation after the passage of Brown v. Board of Education decision -1954.

3. List and briefly explain the purpose of at least five Supreme Court decisions that show the direction that affirmative action has taken since the Bakke decision of 1978. Please cover the scope of the case into the mid 1990's decade or so.

4. Trace the evolution and scope of voting rights cases since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

a. List and explain at least four cases that have determined the extent of African American voter empowerment based upon the conflict between single member districting and the racial composition of the districts.

5. Explain/ Summarize the Civil Rights Act of 1964. How is this act similar to the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875? Please be specific.

6. Based upon chapter 7 in your textbook, Walton & Smith, American Politics and the African American Quest for Freedom, briefly summarize the four Material Base Coalitions with Blacks and Whites. These coalitions include: Populism, the Progressive, The Labor Movements and the Rainbow Coalitions. How successful were these movements in building effective coalitions? What were their strengths and weaknesses? Please submit about one or so double spaced typed pages.