Civil Rights Flashcards

1
Q

Define Jim Crow Laws

A

series of laws to enforce segregation as long as services were ‘separate but equal’

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2
Q

Court of Law in Southern States (3)

A
  1. Racist white officials such as police and judges were members if the KKKs
  2. Investigations into the assaults of black people were not properly investigated
  3. Black people couldn’t sit on juries
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3
Q

Voting Rights (3)

A
  1. Georgia passed laws making it harder for blacks to vote (unfair literacy tests)
  2. Southern States used ‘grandfather clause’ where they had to prove their forefathers had voted
  3. Some white employers sacked blacks if they attempted to vote
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4
Q

NAACP (5)

A
  1. National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
  2. Set up in 1909
  3. Fought using the legal system
  4. Defended blacks who had been unfairly convicted
  5. Focused on overturning ‘separate but equal’
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5
Q

CORE (3)

A
  1. Congress of Racial Equality
  2. Set up in 1942
  3. Used non-violent direct action
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6
Q

Summary of Brown Vs Topeka

A

Linda brown’s school education was used in a legal case which was taken to the Supreme Court by the NAACP in 1954. Argued that the principle of ‘separate but equal’ in schools was unconstitutional as it damaged black children. She had to walk past her local white school to get to her black school.

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7
Q
Timeline of Brown Vs Topeka using the dates:
1952
Dec 1952
May 1954
July 1954
May 1955
1957
A

1952: NAACP took school segregation cases to Supreme Court claiming they broke the 14th Amendment as black children felt inferior

Dec 1952: Judges ask to hear more legal advice. Ear Warren became new Chief Justice

May 1954: Supreme Court ruled that segregated education was unconstitutional however no time limit was set

July 1954: In the deep south the WCC were set up to stop desegregation using violence

May 1955: Second court ruling said desegregation of schools should happen with all deliberate speed

1957: 723 school districts had desegregated education

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8
Q

Short Term Significance of Brown Vs Topeka (5)

A
  1. Overturned 1896 Plessy vs Ferguson decision
  2. KKK membership increased
  3. Black students and teachers faced threats
  4. Some good black schools were shut down
  5. Many southern states avoided the court rulings
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9
Q

Long Term Significance of Brown Vs Topeka (3)

A
  1. Awareness of civil rights issues increased
  2. Rulings were inspirations
  3. Whites moved away from blacks forcing segregation
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10
Q

Describe the formation of the Little Rock Nine

A
  1. 75 black students applied to join little rock and the board accepted 25.
  2. People were threatened if they took their place at the school and so at the start of the 1957 school year only 9 were still going to join. They were called the Little Rock 9
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11
Q

Governor Orval Faubus (3)

A
  1. He was a state governor of Arkansas
  2. Opponent of school integration
  3. 1958 he tries to close every school in Little Rock to stop racial integration but it only lasted 1 year due to pressure from parents
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12
Q

Write a narrative of the Little Rock Nine 1957 (6)

A
  1. 3rd September Little Rock High desegregated due to Brown Case and the start of the new school term
  2. 4th September the NAACP made sure blacks arrived together
  3. Faubus sent 250 state troops in attempt to ‘keep the peace’ but it was really to block the blacks’ entrance
  4. Elizabeth Eckford didn’t get the message and arrived alone targeted by the crowd
  5. NAACP challenged Faubus which forced him to withdraw the state troops
  6. 24th September Eisenhower sent in federal troops to protect the black students
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13
Q

Presidential Intervention (Little Rock High) (3)

A
  1. Caused by worldwide media coverage of events at little rock
  2. Eisenhower sent in 1000 federal troops
  3. He used a presidential order
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14
Q

Significance of events at little rock (4)

A
  1. Hundreds of reporters produced coverage that shocked everyone
  2. Continued resistance to school integration after 1957
  3. First black student from Little Rock graduated in 1958 but fellow white students refused to sit with him
  4. Even 10 years later black students were still subject to violence
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15
Q

Name 3 long-term causes of the Bus Boycott

A
  1. Womens Political Council in Montgomery focused on bus discrimination since 1950
  2. Montgomery bus company forced black passengers to sit at the back of buses and vacate their seats for white people
  3. Request to change bus company rules were ignored
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16
Q

Name 3 short-term causes of the Bus boycott

A
  1. 1st December 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat

2. Police arrested and charges Parks under Montgomery segregation laws

17
Q

Write a narrative of the Bus Boycott 1955-56 (5)

A
  1. 5th December 1955 Montgomery Improvement Associated (MIA) was formed and elected MLK as chairman
  2. 8th December 1955 MIA met bus company officials who wouldn’t change their rules so they continued the boycott until they won
  3. 12th December first car pools began and grew to involve 300 cars. They negotiated cab prices with black drivers also
  4. 30th January 1956 MLK’s home was bombed and he responded by calling for peaceful protest and no retaliation
  5. Violence increased media coverage and non-violent direct action was a popular campaigning approach
18
Q

Significance of Rosa Parks (4)

A
  1. She was married and a middle aged woman so it was difficult to criticise her respectability
  2. Understood principles of non-violent direct action
  3. Involved in campaigns for black voter registration
  4. Secretary of Montgomery NAACP
19
Q

Reasons for the Bus Boycott’s success (4)

A
  1. Well organised - existing civil rights groups allowed quick campaign
  2. Committed to success - boycott continued despite threats
  3. Well publicised - publicised through church meetings and local newspapers
  4. Bus company financially ill - most customers were black so lost lots of money
20
Q

Supreme Court Ruling 1956

A
  1. 5th June Supreme Court ordered segregation on buses was unconstitutional
  2. 17th December the bus company appealed but it was rejected
  3. 20th December MIA called off the boycott
21
Q

Significance of MLK Leadership (4)

A
  1. Advocated a non-violent approach
  2. Played an important part of bus boycott
  3. Made many powerful speeches
  4. Emphasised Christian values of love and humility
22
Q

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) (6)

A
  1. Set up in January 1957 to coordinate church-based protest
  2. Led by MLK and Ralph Abernathy
  3. Members campaigned against segregation
  4. Uses non-violent direct action
  5. Secured black and white membership
  6. Earliest major campaign was for voter registration
23
Q

1957 Civil Rights Act (3)

A
  1. Act aimed to increased black voter registration
  2. Allows federal courts to prosecute states that didn’t guarantee citizens voting rights
  3. All-white juries were unlikely to uphold federal prosecutions
24
Q

Activities of KKK’s (5)

A
  1. Set up in 1865 after black slaves won their freedom
  2. Operated mostly in Southern States
  3. Terrorised black American families (lynching)
  4. Only White Anglo-Saxon Protestants can join
  5. Also attacked Jews, Catholics and liberals
25
Q

Write a narrative of the murder of Emmett Till 1955

A

Chicago to Mississippi to visit family

  1. Carolyn Bryant claimed Till made sexual advances when he went to her store, yet Till’s cousins stated he only wolf-whistled her
  2. Next night Bryant’s husband and half-brother abducted Till, shot him and threw him in a river and the body was found 3 days later
  3. Tills mother chose an open casket which increased media coverage
  4. Defendants found not guilty but then sold their story to a magazine admitting to the murder
26
Q

Federal opposition to Civil Rights (3)

A
  1. Civil Rights Act was opposed by some southern members of congress
  2. Dixiecrats wanted to keep segregation
  3. Presidents needed the Dixiecrats support so took their views on board when creating new laws
27
Q

Types of resistance (2)

A
  1. Some state officials closed school to avoid desegregation

2. Some school admission test were biased against black students

28
Q

White Citizens Council (WCC) (3)

A
  1. Set up from 1954 onwards to stop desegregation
  2. They had around 60,000 members in 1950
  3. They used violent protest and even went to economic means (sacking employees)