Black Civil Rights 1865-1992 Flashcards
Facts and Statistics about Black Civil Rights 1865-1992. (72 cards)
1
Q
What was the first major piece of legislation? What did it say?
A
The 1866 Civil Rights Act.
All citizens were equally protected under the law, and it was unlawful to discriminate based on race.
2
Q
What other 3 acts were passed between 1865 and 1870 as evidence of Civil Rights progress?
A
- March 1867 Military Reconstruction Act dividing the South into military districts
- 1868 14th Amendment solidifying black protection under the law
- 1870 15th Amendment forbidding the denial of the black man to vote based on his skin colour
3
Q
What counterevidence is there to show the limits of civil rights progress in the 1860s? [2]
A
President Johnson pardoned thousands of Southern rebels to restore authority in the South to the aristocracy
He made no comment on black civil rights and made no attempt to stop the creation of Black Codes in the South
4
Q
How many black people could vote by Spring 1868?
A
700,000
5
Q
How many black people were elected to Congress in the 1870s? What was the distribution between the HoR and Senate? Who is a good example?
A
- 20 HoR, 2 Senate.
Blanche K. Bruce, who managed to serve a full 6-year term between 1875-1881.
6
Q
By 1881, what proportion of black people lived in the North? What does this show?
A
5%. Goes to show that many were still experiencing discrimination in the South
7
Q
When was the Freedmen’s Bureau set up? What did it do and how did it do it? [3]
A
It was set up in March 1865, aiming to:
* Provide housing, jobs and education for freedmen
* Funded mainly by missionaries and Congress
* Did well under Oliver Howard and educated black lawyers, teachers and scientists
8
Q
What proof is there that the Freedmen’s Bureau only worked for a minority? [1]
A
By 1890, 65% of black people were still illiterate.
9
Q
When did the Freedman’s Bureau close?
A
1872
10
Q
When did the Ku Klux Klan form?
A
December 1865.
11
Q
What prominent radical politicians died out early in the period to weaken the political representation of black civil rights?
A
Thaddeus Stevens (1868) and Charles Sumner (1874)
12
Q
When did Black Codes start to form? What examples are there? [3]
A
In 1865.
- Black person was anyone with 1/8th black heritage
- Interracial unions were forbidden
- Black people were often intimidated into not voting such as by the KKK, and also barred from jury service.
13
Q
What happened with a later Civil Rights Act that highlighted a legislative lack of progress?
A
A Civil Rights Act, passed in 1875, was declared unconstitutional in 1883 and was repealed.
14
Q
What percent of African-American farmland was being used for cotton or corn? Why was this proof of lack of progress and what did this cause? [3]
A
- 96.3%
- Because they were cheap crops and thus didn’t provide agricultural diversification for black people
- They led to boll weevil outbreaks from 1892
15
Q
What proportion of black people were in the South by 1900?
A
90%
16
Q
When did the Jim Crow Laws form? What early stages of it occured? [3]
A
- Between 1887 and 1891 8 Southern States introduced segregation by train carriage
- 3 continued it to waiting rooms
- All public spaces were segregated by 1891
17
Q
What other aspects of the Jim Crow Laws limited black suffrage directly? [3]
A
- Grandfather clauses meant that if your father or grandfather had voted pre-reconstruction then you were given the vote, but this applied to basically no one
- Mississippi carried out literacy tests in 1880, but asked black people harder questions
- Only those who owned their own home could vote in some states
- The voter also had to pay a Poll Tax in advance
18
Q
Which Presidents met and consulted Booker T. Washington?
A
Roosevelt and Taft.
19
Q
What notable example of lynching occurred in the early 1900s?
A
The 1908 Springfield Race riot, where a 79 year old black man was lynched.
20
Q
Who spoke out most notably against lynching?
A
Ida B. Wells
21
Q
When did Booker T Washington make his famous Atlanta Compromise Speech? What other actions did he do to become leader of the black Civil Rights Movement? [3]
A
- He made his Atlanta Speech in September 1895
- He created the Negro Business League in 1900 aimed to connect black businesses and increase prosperity amongst black people
- His autobiography, Up from Slavery, in 1901, was vastly popular
- Founded the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 to help black literacy and practical skills for jobs
22
Q
Why did Du Bois and others dislike Washington? When did he form the Niagara Movement in response?
A
- They believed that his approach was too passive, and his “cast down your bucket” ideas proposed ignoring brutal lynch culture and white supremacy; he basically failed to appeal to the lower black classes who actually suffered from such things.
- So he formed the Niagara Movement with William Monroe Trotter in 1905 to try and enshrine black equality and the black vote into law.
23
Q
By what year were there no black people in the legislature?
A
By 1915.
24
Q
When did the NAACP famously denounce the treatment of coloured people. What was the name of their magazine? What example of a court case shows their involvement in trying to gain equality?
A
- In May 1909
- Crisis
- 1915 Guinn v US where grandfather clauses in Maryland and Oklahoma were ruled unconstitutional.
25
When was Jesse Washington lynched?
1916
26
When did the Great Migration occur? Why? [3]
* From 1914 onwards
* To supply labour for the war effort following a decrease in European immigrant labour
* Out of frustration of 30 years of sharecropping, lynching and boll weevil providing no stability
27
How many black people served in WW1? How many of these were active service and how many of these went to France?
* 350,000
* 40,000
* 20,000
28
What is an example of the frustration of soldiers at returning home to their jobs taken in the North?
The July 1919 Chicago Race Riots, leaving 1,000 black people homeless.
29
What evidence was there of a social growth of black people in the 1920s and 30s? [2]
* The Roaring 20s brought on the Jazz Age as well as black poets, painters and musicians
* Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals in the 1936 Olympics
* Hattie McDaniels won an Oscar for Gone With The Wind in 1940
30
List as much as you can about Marcus Garvey. [4]
* He wanted to allow black people to manage their own affairs and not just be equal
* He advised black people to build up their own education and businesses, like Booker T
* He was a great orator – Harlem June 1917 Speech – and was a long-term pan-African
* Made his own paper, The Negro World to latch on to growing press popularity
* Strong personality through ritual pageantry and being “provisional president of Africa”
* Resonated well with working class unlike Booker T., and encouraged self-dependence
* Lacked political strategy and was a suspicious individual; held talks with the KKK in 1922, imprisoned in 1925, and was deported to Jamaica in 1929
31
Who was the first black person elected to Congress since 1900, and when and where were they elected?
Oscar de Priest, Chicago, 1928
32
How did NAACP membership changes between the 1920s and 30s? Why the drop? [3]
90,000 members by the early 1920s, but this dropped to 50,000 by the 1930s.
Dropped because it was run by a black middle class which failed to appeal to many and saw limited progress outside of the courts.
33
When did the KKK reform? How did their membership change between then and 1930? [2]
* They reformed in 1915
* They peaked at 5 million in 1924
* They dropped to 30,000 by 1930 as many feel that they had done enough and were no longer needed.
34
Fill in the blanks: In the 1920s and 30s, for every $_ spent on a black school, $_ was spent on a white one
1 and 3.50
35
Describe the results of FDR's New Deal Policy for Black People
30% of black people and 10% of whites were on benefits due to the New Deal.
Works Progress Administration employed 350,000 black people
Executive Order 8802 prohibited discrimination in the defense industry
36
What did the Slaughterhouse Cases rule? When?
1873: Ruled that the 14th Amendment primarily protected rights associated with federal citizenship, not state citizenship; so in favour of States’ Rights and bad for civil rights
37
What did US v Cruikshank rule? When?
1875: Ruled that the 15th Amendment protected against federal interference in voting, not that of state; again in favour of States’ Rights and bad for civil rights
38
What did Plessy v Ferguson rule? When?
1896: Ruled that segregation was allowed, provided that there was equal facilities; introduced the “separate but equal” doctrine
39
What did Guinn v US rule? When?
1915: Ruled that Grandfather Clauses in Oklahoma and Maryland were unconstitutional
40
What did Buchanan v Warley rule? When?
1917: Ruled that racial zoning ordinances (segregational) were unconstitutional
41
What did Moore v Dempsey rule? When?
1923: Commuted the death sentences of 12 black men following the Elaine race riots, as their trials were dominated by mobs; showed that Southern lynching was seen as unacceptable in the law
42
What did Gaines v Canada rule? When?
1938: Ruled it unconstitutional to deny Lloyd Gaines, a black man, a place based on his colour; argued using the constitution
43
What did Smith v Allwright rule? When?
1944: Outlawed Texas’ white primary, increasing black voters from 2% of black people in 1940 to 12% in 1947
44
What did Brown v Board of Education rule? When?
1954: Overturned Plessy v Ferguson and ruled that state-sponsored segregation in public schools was unconstitutional
45
What did Browder v Gayle rule? When?
1955: Ruled segregation on public transport to be unconstitutional
46
What did Boynton v Virginia rule? When?
1960: Outlawed all segregation on interstate transport; supported by orders from Robert Kennedy
47
What did Green v Connally rule? When?
1970: Ruled that funding could be withheld from segregationist private schools
48
What did Griggs v Duke Power Company rule? When?
1971: Ruled that employment practices with a discriminatory impact on minority groups are unlawful, even if they appear neutral on their face
49
What did Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education rule? When?
1971: Ruled that busing was constitutional
50
How many black servicemen were sent to England in WW2?
130,000
51
When was CORE founded?
1942 by James Farmer.
52
What action was taken in the 1940s from the executive to progress civil rights? [2]
* Roosevelt set up the Fair Employment Practices Comission
* Truman issued a President's Commission on Civil Rights in 1946
* Truman desegregated the Army in 1948
53
Fill in the blank: The Brown v Board case found that $__ was being spent on each black child and $___on each white child in South Carolina
43 and 179
54
By 1957, Brown v Board had led to what proportion of schools being integrated?
12%
55
What evidence of Southern resistance was there in the 1940s and 50s? [2]
* White Citizens Councils were set up in the South to maintain segregation
* Mississippi and Louisiana amended their constitutions to retain segregation
* The KKK was still present and active
* Lynchings still occurred, like that of Emmett Till in August 1955
* Strom Thurmond ran as a 3rd party candidate in the 1948 election after the desegregation of the army.
56
What did Eisenhower do both in Little Rock and more generally? [3]
* He outlawed racial segregation in the District of Columbia upon election in 1953.
* He put the Arkansas National Guard under federal control in 1957 and sent paratroopers, after governor Orval Faubus prevented 9 black children from going to the central high school
* Little Rock proved that Brown v Board could not be enforced unilaterally and needed help from the executive branch
* Passed 2 Civil Rights Acts in 1957 and 1960 (but they were very weak and did very little)
57
When was the Montgomery Bus Boycott? Why was it so important? [4]
* It started in December 1955 and ended in November 1956.
* Ended with the Browder v Gayle decision; LANDMARK
* Put MLK in the spotlight as someone who could link the working class American to the movement through clear and organised action
* It also inspired similar movements, such as the 1960 and 1961 Freedom Rides, and the 1960 Greensboro Sit-ins which spread to Tennessee and Virginia
* With the attacks brought on Freedom Riders, they gained even more support
58
What evidence is there to show the impact of TV and publicity in MLK's time and their impact on desegregation? [2]
* 45 million families owned TVs by 1960
* By the end of 1961, 810 towns had been desegregated
59
When did LBJ pass the Civil Rights Act? What did this do? [3]
In 1964.
It:
* Outlawed all segregation and allowed attorney generals to file suit to speed this up
* Made FDR’s Fair Employment Practices Commission permanent
* Set up a Community Relations Service to help with further racial disputes
60
When did LBJ pass the Voting Rights Act? What did it do? [2]
1965.
* Forbade any demonstration of education, moral character, knowledge or ability to interpret material to be used as a condition for voting
* Also ensured that people of any colour could vote in elections
61
By the time of the CRA, what evidence is there to show that black people were still economically struggling?
1/3rd of black people earned <$5,000/year
62
What did Malcolm X and Black Power want? When was X assassinated?
* Black Superiority – they shouldn’t need favours from white people
* Voting Rights as a fundamental rightNo integration – to him, whites were inherently racist and couldn’t integrate
* To him, black people were primarily Africans and secondarily Americans
* X was assassinated in February 1965
63
What were MLKs actions in the later 1960s? [2]
* King also encountered issues; in Chicago in 1966, his protest failed to gather much publicity as most of the abuse was verbal not physical, and the Mayor, Daley, was evasive but still polite
* His assassination then caused huge riots and anger at a lack of progress over the past 3 years, prompting the 1968 Fair Housing Act, making it illegal to discriminate house prices by race
64
What did Nixon do to help Civil Rights? [3]
* Encouraged Affirmative Action
* Increased black construction workers from 1% to 12% (of workers) in the Philadelphia Plan
* Passed the 1972 Equal Opportunity Act
* Managed to withhold funding from segregationist schools in Green v Connally (1970)
* But this wasn’t entirely effective as 90% of black students were still at their traditional colleges by the time he resigned in 1974
65
What did Carter do to help Civil Rights? [1]
Appointed 37 black federal judges; twice as many as anyone else
66
What did Reagan do to help Civil Rights? [4]
* Appointed fewer black people than anyone since Eisenhower to the administration
* Held office during a time of black poverty; black people were around 40% of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children which Reagan cut
* Appointed a conservative Chief Justice, so little progress was made
* Renewed the Voting Rights Act in 1982
* RELUCTANTLY made MLK’s birthday a National Holiday
* Passed the Civil Rights Restoration Act in 1988 BUT he vetoed this so it doesn’t count. Worth knowing that he vetoed it.
67
What did George H W Bush do to help Civil Rights? [1]
* Vetoed a civil rights bill which would have made it easier to tackle job discrimination in 1991
* Appointed conservative black republican Clarence Thomas to SCOTUS to seem like he cared about civil rights even though the guy was conservative
68
How many black public officeholders were there by 1992?
Over 8,000
69
What proportion of black people actually voted by 1976?
Just under 50%, showing the limited impact of the VRA.
70
Why is Jesse Jackson relevant to the Civil Rights discussion?
Jackson emerged in an attempt to form a "Rainbow Coalition" to unite the Democrats durinh his 1984 and 1988 Campaign
71
To how many members did the NAACP decline in the 1970s?
To below 200,000.
72
What notable event happened that proved that there were there still issues by 1992?
The 1992 Rodney King Affair still showed that black racism was prevalent in society, with the officers acquitted by an all-white jury and ensuing protests killing 500 people. Still looked dire.
