Civil Rights Flashcards
(33 cards)
1
Q
What was the position of black people before the CRM?
A
- -Jim Crow laws
- -Legalised segregation in southern states
- -Black people and white people had to use separate public facilities such as toilets, benches and schools.
- -Supreme Court ruling in the 1890s: “separate but equal”
- -Banned from voting (literacy tests)
- -KKK: violence and intimidation from white people (Emmett Till 1955)
- -Ghettos even in the north: poor quality housing, high rents due to too much demand
- -Estate agents wouldn’t sell houses in white areas to black people
- -With inferior accommodation and education black people were effectively denied the same opportunities as white people and trapped in a cycle of poverty
- -De facto (North) vs de jure (South)
- -Black workers were willing to work for lower wages, therefore they were more employable and resented by white people
- -Police were hostile to black people
- -Anti-Communism meant racists could smear the CRM as pro-Communist
2
Q
What were the conditions of change?
A
- -By 1945 many black Americans had migrated from the South to northern cities, or from rural work to cities, meaning that they benefited from the greater prosperity of the 50s and 60s and were easier to organise.
- -Black education had expanded, leading to a new, educated black leadership.
- -Black people also depended on their Christian churches and leadership, giving them unity and a belief to carry on.
- -When black Americans returned from WW2 they had higher expectations and were not prepared to accept less.
- -WW2 improved black people’s economic position
- -NAACP membership quadrupled during the war
- -Decline in colour prejudices in white people; rise in liberalism, led by Roosevelts
- -Fair Employment Practices Commission; by 1953 20 states had fair employment laws
- -Development of the COld War: US portrayed itself as leader of the Freee World, and therefore racism damaged its image
- -Mass media: all Americans became aware of the issues affecting black people
- -Black people were better organised
3
Q
Name two civil rights groups
A
- -CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)
- -NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People), 1909
4
Q
How did desegregation occur in the army?
A
- -Truman issed an Executive Order in 1948 endeding segregation in the armed process.
- -This was speeded up by the Korean War when it was easier to organise mixed units of black and white people.
- -By 1954 the armed forces were desegregated.
- -Officer class was still mostly white
5
Q
How did desegregation occur in education?
A
- -NAACP took test cases to the Supreme Court
- -1953: Earl Warren appointed by Eisenhower
- -Central High, Little Rock
- -Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka
- -1964: only 2% of black children attended multiracial schools in the south
- -In the late 1980s in the north: 2/3 of black children attended public schools where they formed over 50% over the students
- -White middle-class families sent their children to private schools which meant public schools mostly had black students
6
Q
What was Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka?
A
- -1954
- -Separate but equal was inherently unequal.
- -State laws requiring public school segregation were unconstitutional.
- -Public schools should be integrated with ‘all deliberate speed’.
- -Huge resistance among white people; Citizens Councils, governors, KKK
7
Q
What happened in Little Rock, Arkansas?
A
- -Board of Education planned desegregation process for September 1957
- -Nine black students attempted to enter Central High, Little Rock but were stopped by National Guardsmen
- -Governor withdrew the guard and the students entered under police protection
- -An angry mob attacked the school; Eisenhower had to send 1000 federal troops who stayed for several months.
8
Q
What was the issue with bussing?
A
- -Segregated housing meant separate schools
- -Supreme Court decisions supported bussing black and white students across cities to achieve racial balance in public schools
- -Widespread resistance in the north, even rioting, because black students were moved from inner-city ghettos to suburban schools and vice versa
- -Supreme Court eventually softened compulsory bussing
9
Q
What happened at the University of Mississippi?
A
- -All-white university
- -1962: James Meredith, 26 y/o, air force veteran, attempted to attend
- -Opposed by the governor
- -Meredith was only admitted when JFK sent federal marshals to protect him
- -A white mob attacked the university, two onlookers were killed
- -Army troops had to be sent in to control the situation
10
Q
What was Montgomery like before the Bus Boycott?
A
- -70,000 white people, 50,000 black people
- -Enforced Jim Crow
- -Most black people were employed in low-paid, unskilled jobs
- -60% of black women were domestics
- -50% of black men were domestics or labourers
- -Average income of black people was half of white people
- -Bus company employed no black drivers
- -Segregated buses; black people at the back, whites at the front
- -Verbal abuse from white bus drivers
11
Q
Who was Rosa Parks?
A
- -42 year old black woman
- -Seamstress in a department store
- -Member of the NAACP
- -Put of a bus in the 1940s for refusing to as she was told
- -1 December 1955: she took a seat in the black section but was told by the bus driver to give her seat to a white man when the bus started filling up
- -She refused and eventually the police were called.
- -She was arrested for breaking city laws
12
Q
How was the Montgomery Bus Boycott organised?
A
- -Jo Ann Robinson, leader of the Women’s Political Council of Montgomery
- -Robinson asked black people to boycott the buses on the day of Parks’s trial.
- -Issued 35,000 leaflets, supported by black ministers.
- -Organised looked for a leader and found MLK, a 26 y/o clergymen and outstanding speaker.
- -MLK became president of the Montgomery Improvement Association
- -King inspired by Gandhi and adopted non-violent protest methods. This belief spread to others and gave his followers a strong feeling of unity and determination.
- -Parks convicted on Monday, 5 December and fined $10 but the boycott was successful.
13
Q
What did the NAACP about Rosa Parks?
A
- -E.D Nixon: leader of the Montgomery NAACP
- -Nixon asked Parks is the NAACP could use her case even though her life would be in danger. She agreed
- -The NAACP went head with a lawsuit to contest the constitutionality of segregation laws
14
Q
What were the demands of the MIA?
A
- -Black drivers
- -Drivers should be courteous to passengers
- -Seats should be filled on a first-come, first-served basis
15
Q
What were the risks and advantages of the boycott?
A
Risks: --Needed widespread support --They would have to walk or share cars Advantages: --Action without violence --Sense of solidarity --Hit the bus company as it would lose money
16
Q
How did the MIA and other organisations get around the problems raised the boycott?
A
- -Black leaders collected money to buy station wagons for a private taxi service
- -Money came from black workers, the NAACP, the United Auto Workers’ Union, sympathetic whites and the Montgomery Jewish community.
- -Set up a Transportation Committee to form car pools
- -Bicycles, walking
- -Local insurance agents tried to cancel car pool insurance; insured with Lloyds of London.
- -Churches raised $30,000 for the car pool
- -Churches became the dispatch centres where people waited for rides
- -24 ministers were arrested for helping the boycott
17
Q
How was the boycott opposed?
A
- -City authorities tried to undermine the protest
- -Black-owned taxis took customers for 10 cents a trip, the bus fare, the city authorities threatened to shut them down.
- -The KKK became active; marching in the streets. pouring acid on cars involved in the car pool, and bombing homes e.g MLK
- -Police also interfered and tried to find any excuse to disrupt the boycott
- -Feb 1956: 89 black people, including MLK, arrested under an old law banning boycotting
- -Churches bombed
18
Q
What helped the boycott?
A
- -Increasing outside interest in America and abroad
- -TV and papers publicised the boycott and the local white reaction
19
Q
How did the boycott end?
A
- -NAACP took a lawsuit through the courts.
- -13 November 1956: city laws relating to buses were unconstitutional
- -Seating arrangements must stop on 20 December
- -21 December: boycott ended, MLK and other leaders took seats at the front of the bus
- -New round of violence: snipers shot at buses, churches and houses were bombed
- -King: considered American Ghandi.
- -Boycott ended by Supreme Court decisions; might not have been enough on its own
20
Q
What were the results of the boycott?
A
- -Success of a well-organised and peaceful resistance
- -Beginning of modern CRM
- -New method of non-violent protest instead of just testing the laws
- -Also used by James Meredith, Lunch Counter Protests, Selma-Montgomery March and Freedom Rides.
- -Boycott involved local black leaders and followers who faced violence and pressure. It was a source of great pride to black people.
- -MLK rose to prominence. Used his influence to make sure the Civil Rights Act 1964 and Voting Rights Act 1964 were passed. Became accepted leader of CRM
- -Boycott got support from press and television, especially outside the south, and highlighted issues for northern whites.
- -Highlighted role of black churches and religious leaders.
- -Failed to end JIm Crow in other areas of life
- -Rosa Parks lost her job and had to leave Montgomery
21
Q
What were the Lunch Counter protests?
A
- -1960
- -Group of black students sat at a whites only lunch counter
- -Set off widespread lunch counter protest in 54 cities in the Old South
- -Protests were highlighted in the press and on TV
- -Desegregated lunch counters led to greater student involvement
22
Q
What were the Freedom Riders?
A
- -1961
- -Black and white college students took interstate buses to test if the law against segregating them was being applied.
- -One bus was firebombed, other Freedom Riders were attacked by crowds.
- -Media highlighted the issues, federal govt enforced desegregation on interstate buses
23
Q
What happened in Birmingham, Alabama?
A
- -Protesters encouraged a white backlash against their actions to get media coverage
- -Alabama, 1963: MLK used school children as demonstrators.
- -Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor: used dogs and water cannons, feature on TV
24
Q
What happened in Washington?
A
- -August 1963
- -Peaceful rally, 250,000 civil rights protesters
- -‘I Have A Dream’
25
What was the Selma to Montgomery march?
- -1965: 50% of Selma County, Alabama were black, only 1% registered to vote
- -Efforts by black leaders to register black voters were stopped by police and state troopers in Selma.
- -Attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery to protest and were attacked by state troopers.
- -Covered on national TV
- -Johnson sent National Guardsmen to Selma to protect the marchers
- -MLK and other black leaders joined
- -Numbers grew from 3,000 to 25,000
- -Won support for the Voting Rights Act, August 1965
26
What happened to MLK?
- -Influence began to decline
- -Criticised Vietnam War, looked for social equality
- -March 1968: shot by a white assassin in Memphis
- -Sparked huge rioting and looting in 130 cities
- -65,000 troops called in
- -35 people died
27
Why did divisions grow in the CRM?
- -Black people demanded more than civil rights
- -'What use is a mouthful of civil rights and an empty stomach?'
- -Majority of unemployed were black
- -Frustrated by slow progress of racial integration, poverty of the black ghettos and white violence against marchers
28
What divisions occurred in the CRM?
- -Malcolm X; black nationalism
- -Black Power
- -Separate black identity
- -Black Panthers; wanted to gain Black Power 'through the barrel of a gun'
- -Bad social and economic conditions in inner-city ghettos, growing violence: race riots in a number of cities between 1965 and 1968
29
What did the government do about civil rights?
- -Truman and Eisenhower: ended army segregation
- -Civil Rights Act 1957: Eisenhower set up Civil Rights Commission to investigate places where black people were denied the vote
- -JFK: Civil Rights Bill, passed by Johnson
- -Civil Rights Act 1964: outlawed discrimination in public places e.g restaurants, theatres, stadiums and cinemas. Set up Employment Opportunities Commission to outlaw job discrimination.
- -Voting Rights Act 1965: organised voters' registration, banned literacy tests.
- -1968: discrimination in housing ended
- -Government extended affirmative action by ensuring that companies on federal contracts had to provide jobs for minorities
- -Reagan withdrew federal support for civil rights programmes, appointed more conservative judges to the Supreme Court. Dismantled New Deal and Great Society welfare programmes, which benefited blacks.
30
In what areas did black people succeed?
- -New economic and social black leadership was created in sports, films, politics and music
- -More black people registered to vote
- -More were elected to state and federal Houses of Congress.
- -Greater white acceptance of black people.
- -Clear majorities of whites supported desegregation
31
In what areas didn't the CRM succeed?
- -Large number of black people in poverty
- -Black society became divided
- -40% of black people achieved a middle-class lifestyle in the 70s
- -30% still below the poverty line
- -Class issue as much as a race issue
32
What did the Chicanos do?
- -Used legally and illegally as farm labourers
- -Suffered white hostility in California and Florida especially
- -Early 60s: Cesar Chavez used non-violent methods of boycotting to gain improved working and living conditions for agricultural labourers
33
What did the Native Americans do?
- -Suffered from over 100 years of discrimination
- -End of the 60s: suffered the worst education and housing, highest disease and death rates among any ethnic group in the US.
- -American Indian Movement took over Alcatraz Island and government building to highlight their conditions.
- -Indian Self-Determination Act 1975: control of their reservations
- -Other laws: religious freedom and educational support.
- -Tribes won legal battles to get the return of their lands
