civil rights protests 1960-74 Flashcards
(29 cards)
sit - ins
4 black college students sat in the white counter area of a woolworth’s, refused to move when asked to and stayed there until closing.
- grew to a campaign involving <70,000 people
- police sometimes had to remove people, but it was very difficult and large numbers of people were arrested, meaning that there was no real meaning
- SDS - 1962
SDS
Students democratic society
- founded in university of michigan, 1959
- gave students a say in the world around them and what they wanted
- how they were taught and treated at university
impacts - sit-ins
- became very popular as they were so easy to participate in, and it was effective and also hard to prevent
- caused many desegregated lunch counters, and those who didn’t were forced to shut down due to lack of business
- over 120 towns/cities desegregated across the south
Freedom Riders
4 may 1961, where black people rode buses across the states, with black people in the seats/places of whites
- frequently attacked by the KKK, eg. the anniston fire bombing - 14/5/61
William Chappell
responsible for many of the KKK violence attacks on the freedom riders, including the Anniston Fire bombing (14/5/61), and the gunfire and shots where the peopel were forced off the bus, beat, and tortured
impacts of freedom riders
- there was lots of violence, attracting the media and increasing publicity of the events
- bad press embarrassed the federal gov, and threatened to send the US marshals to enforce desegregation
- federal gov. forced states to acc integrate and follow new laws put into place.
James Meredith
- black student who tried to apply at white university - Mississippi university, but got rejectd because of his race
- went to NAACP for help, and university ordered to accept him, however the governer of mississippi refused, JFK forced him in
- there were many protests against meredith’s joining, but hundreds of federal officials sent in to escort meredith
- guarded by 300 state troops until his graduation
impacts of James meredith case
- forced the government (Kennedy) to act on the matter, and showed that the government was willing to intervene to protect students and abide by the supreme court rulings
- shows that laws alone could not cause reform, but people need to have a change of heart and mindset
Martin Luther King
- head of SCLC, and NAACP, was a baptist minister, had respect of most AAs
- believed in non-violent, direct protest movements that were confrontational but also dangerous for participants
- constantly showed respect for the government and constitution, increasing their respect and awareness of him.
bombingham
1963 - most places in birmingham still segregated despite the 45% of AA inhabitants
- lots of active KKK members and very frequents attacks and bombs against AA, hence the nickname
2 may 1963 - first children’s march - 1000s of people were arrested, treated terribly
3 may 1963 - police ordered fire department to hose down the people, lots of media attention and negative coverage towards the police
march on washington
28/8/1963
many people marched to the US capital city, and showed support for the introduction of the new civil rights bill
- 3000 enforcing members and safety staff brought in, and none of them were needed
- broadcasted on live tv - media attention and publicity
“I have a dream”
speech made by martin luther king after the march on washington in august 1963
- spoke with great respect to the government, bringing national and government attention to his work
- referred to the constitution, declaration of independence and american dream in his speech to appeal to more americans
- put MLK at the face of the civil rights movement
mississippi freedom summer
- summer of 1964, where they protested fro voting rights
- mississippi had the lowest number of registered in the country, at only 7 percent
- set up classes to teach black history and politics, and educate others about black history, to help people get registered
- lots of KKK attacks (violence)
- failure, because only 1000 AA’s registered successfully, compared to 17,000 that tried
- brought national attention to voter registration and assosciated problems
selma
march 1965
- lower percentage of AA voters than mississipi, and many previous protests and attempts of registration led to violence from police and arrests
- selma march to montgomery across edmund pettus’ deead body, as a protest (54 miles) (2 marathons)
- led to many different protests around USA, leading to national attnetion
impacts of selma
- led to the voting rights act in 1965, august
–> submitted in march 1965 - led to some questioning of non-violent protest methods, wanted more confrontational methods
civil rigths act (2nd)
1964:
- banned the segregation and discrimination in all public places
- for voter registration tests to be fair and equal for blacks and whites
- discrimination in employment banned, commission for equal opportunities
- federal gov. to remove funding from projects involving discrimination
–> buisnesses had to become more integrated to receive funding, and would suffer economically if they didn’t do this
voting rights act
1965 - to set up a fair, national test for voter registration
- banned individual states from creating their own voting qualifications unless approved
- federal examiners to supervise examination
–> allowed many more AA citizens to become registered
–> meant that they were able to elect representatives that concurred with their votes, and that representatives also had to please AA with terms
Nation of Islam
- founded in july 1930
- wanted black nationalism, for AA to form their own independent country
- believed in black supremacy, and did not want / believe in the possibility of integration
- believed that violence was necessary to cause change
- was not a large organisation, was only able to expand to 40,000 when malcom x was leading
malcolm x
- believed that violence was necessary in protest, and that non-violence was too slow
- originally had views of the Nation of Islam
- changed views in 1964, believing that races could coexist with each other, however did not do much work with this
- assassinated in february 1965
black power causes
- 1960-70s, coined by stokely carmichael
- believed in black supremacy, idea popular among younger generations to be proud of their nationality
- encouraged use of violence (esp. in self defence)
- believed that changes in civil rights act / law had not helped
stokely carmichael
- previous leader of SNCC, believed that the strategy of non-violence was too permissive and ot effective enough
- that they needed a more radical approach
- (SNCC = student nonviolent coordinating committee)
- white people were no longer allowed in the SNCC
- again, young people liked his ideologies
1968 olympics
- two black men from USA on the podium for 200m sprint (tommie smith, john carlos)
- held up their fists at the medal ceremony, a sign of black power during the US national anthem
- wore black socks and no shoes, as a symbol of poverty among black americans
- criticized and yelled at by americans when they left the stadium, but media attention meant that more young people were encouraged to join the movement
impacts of black power
- increased the awareness of the younger generation on the civil rights movement, and increased their interest
- showed the power of protest and led to many more student-led protests
- somewhat the end of the non-violent protests
- taught many people to take pride in their heritage and their cultures
black panthers demands / principles
led by booby seale, huey newton
- only 2000 members, but well known and feared
- ten point plan - most well known:
#7, following police around in an attempt to end police brutality
- also wanted freedom, employment, robbery, good housing, equal education etc.
