Key Cases

Caption: U.S. Reports: Bell v. Maryland , 378 U.S. 226 (1964).
Credit: Library of Congress

Essential Question:

What important cases involving change, fairness, and equality were led by Thurgood Marshall?

 

 

Case # 4 – Bell v. Maryland (1964)

After the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision, African Americans became more active in protesting discrimination. Saying “separate but equal” was no longer the law was not enough. Many Southern states resisted integration and change. They used local laws and intimidation to keep Black and White people separate from each other.

Civil disobedience became an important part of the Civil Rights Movement. This means people peacefully refused to follow laws they believed were unfair. There were different kinds of civil disobedience, such as sit-ins, marches, freedom rides, and boycotts.

For example, Rosa Parks lived and worked in Alabama. In 1955, she was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Her arrest started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This meant that African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to ride city buses for more than a year. They wanted to protest unfair rules that forced Black riders to give up their seats to white passengers. The boycott was led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and it showed the power of peaceful protest to bring change.

At the same time, Thurgood Marshall worked to make change in the courts. He used the law to protect the rights of protesters and to challenge unfair arrests and convictions. One of these cases even took place in Maryland. The Bell v. Maryland (1964) case involved the arrest of 12 African American high school students. In 1960, they were a part of a sit-in at a segregated restaurant in Baltimore. Thurgood Marshall helped the protesters until 1961. Marshall had to give the case to another NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyer because he became a federal court judge.

Play the video to learn about Judge Robert Bell’s role in the case. Many years later, he became Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals (now called the Maryland Supreme Court) from 1996 to 2013.

 


Test Your Knowledge

Now it’s your turn. See what you remember about the four cases by reading each description and dragging it to match the correct case.