EOYE Y9 Flashcards
What were Jim Crow laws?
State and local laws enforced in the southern states of North America that legalised segregation of coloured and white Americans
Who were the ancestors of black Americans living in the early 20th century?
Slaves from Africa who were shipped to America for working on farms to produce cash crops
What percentage of African American people living in the south were still slaves in the early 20th century?
89%
What does the KKK stand for?
Klu klux klan
How big was the KKK at the height of its enrollment in 1923?
5 million members
What was the KKK’s WASP category?
- Stood for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
- you could only be a members of the KKK if you fit this criteria
What did all members of the KKK swear an oath to?
- they would swear an oath to the loyalty of America + fight against anyone foreign to the USA
What was the KKK ‘made to do’?
Made to keep foreigners such as blacks, catholics and Jews ‘in their place’
What did the attire of the KKK look like?
- ghost-like appearance
- wore white robes with pointed hoods and white masks and gloves
- held the American flag and flaming crosses
- marched in dead silence
Who did the southern members of the KKK focus their attacks on? Why?
- the southern members of the KKK focused their attacks on black people
- committed physical abuse = lynching, whipping and branding
- committed damage such as arson and bombing to AA homes
They did this because of their remaining white supremacy ideology as most blacks used to be slaves and whites were theirs masters
Why did the police fail to protect African Americans when they reported the KKK?
A lot of the KKK consisted of police members and government officials, meaning that they were corrupt
What happened on the 8th august 1925?
50,000 members of the KKK marched in Washington DC on a large main road
What was the significance of the event occurring on 8th august 1925?
- occurred on a main road = meant that politicians and local government were in the KKK as they allows a racist organisation’s march to happen
- the members didn’t wear the mask over their faces or the hoods, meaning that they were not ashamed to be doing such a heinous act
What is the 1896 Plessy vs Ferguson?
Stated that all citizens in the USA should be separate but equal - they look different to each other they can still have separate and equal facilities
Why was the fact that Emmet till was from the north of the USA mean that he was different to the African Americans in the south?
Since emmet lived in the northern states of the USA, he didn’t experience the segregation that happened with the Jim Crow laws in the south, therefore he didn’t know that he couldn’t interact with white people like he could in the north
What happened to emmet till in 1955?
- he came to Mississippi by himself to visit his uncle, Mose wright
- he talked to some black boys outside of a convenience store and he told them about his white friends back in Chicago
- they dared him to go in and talk to the white lady working in the store as they didn’t believe his claims
- when he left the store, he said ‘bye, baby!’ On the way out
- the next morning at 2 am, he was taken from his uncles house and brutally murdered by 2 men
Why was emmet till murdered?
- the lady that he said ‘bye, baby!’ to wa the shop owner’s wife, and she was appalled by his comment, and so was her husband
- he was forcefully stolen from his uncle’s farm by the husband and another man and murdered and stabbed with barbed wire till he was in a multilated stated and was chucked into the river, only to be recognised 7 days later by his ring with his initials on it
Did the murderers of emmet till face charges?
No, as the court did not care about the case and didn’t give it much importance as emmet till was ‘just’ an African American. The KKK, also didn’t let the case go further and threatened emmet’s uncle and made him go into hiding. The murderers even sold their story to a newspaper and profited $4,000 off of it.
What does the NAACP stand for?
National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
Why did Linda Brown’s father take the Topeka Board of Education to court?
- his daughter had to travel very far to a black school which had a lesser quality of education and resources as the white school very close to where she lived
- he wanted Linda to safely travel to a good, local school
- he wanted schools to be integrated and equal
What was the final verdict of the Supreme Court in the brown vs Topeka case?
- the court announced that they would be ‘colour blind’
- this meant that all the public state schools currently implementing segregation would have to integrate and that all races would receive an equal and strong education
What was the effect of the ‘colour blind’ decision?
- meant that 300,000 black children now went to integrated schools
- however, 2.4 million black children still went to Jim Crow schools as most of the southern states opposed the supreme court’s decision
- many state schools became private to avoid integration
- furthermore, president Eisenhower didn’t back up the supreme court’s decision as he didn’t want to lose the votes of the south
Why was it good that the Supreme Court got involved in the brown vs Topeka case?
- highlighted a national issue which meant that it gained publicity and significance
- started the equality movement in education as the Supreme Court sided with the African Americans for the first time
What happened of 3rd September 1957?
Central high school, Arkansas’ most prestigious high school, announced that they would be closing enrolling their first African American students.
- out of the 75 applied, only 25 were accepted and out of those only 9 came
- the 9 had organised to come altogether to school, but Elizabeth Eckford didn’t hear about this and walked alone
What happened to Elizabeth eckford on 3rd September 1957?
- she was followed to school by great masses of white people shouting horrible things at her and being very mad at her, shouting ‘lynch her!’
- when she reached the school, she and the other eight African American students were prohibited entry by state troopers put there by governor fabubus
What did president Eisenhower do regarding LR9?
3 weeks after the 9 black American students were prohibited entry into central high, president Eisenhower sent 1000 paratroopers and 10000 troops to allow the black children to go to school
What were the effects of Little Rock nine?
- president Eisenhower gets involved and supports the African Americans
- schsools gradually become integrated
- Little Rock 9 closed down and reopened as integrated
- public awareness - images on TV and newspapers about the treatment of Elizabeth eckford
- president’s involvement led to a bigger impact on the equality movement a he was much more well-known and visible than the Supreme Court in the Linda brown case
What percentage of bus riders in the 1960’s were African Americans?
75%
What was the rule of segregation in buses?
- the first ten rows were for white people
- black people weren’t allowed to sit next to white people
- black ppl aren’t allowed to sit parallel to white ppl
- black ppl have to give up their seat to a white person if the bus is full and there’s nowhere for the white persona to sit
What was the start date of the Montgomery bus boycott?
5th December 1955
How long was the original boycott meant to last? Why did it last longer?
- the boycott was originally meant to only last for 24hrs but then the AA of Montgomery met up and decided to only stop the boycott when segregation on buses will be illegal
- the churches in Montgomery started giving minibus rides
What happened on the evening of Monday 5the December 1955?
Martin Luther king gave a speech to thousands to African Americans at a meeting. They decided to only stop the boycott when the bus company stopped segregation. Churches around the world gave their support
What happened on 22nd February 1956? Why did it happen?
- Martin Luther king and 100 other were arrested for ‘plotting an illegal boycott’
- this was because the bus companies were starting to go bankrupt as barely anyone rode the buses
What happened in November 1956?
The Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was illegal
What happened in December 1956?
The bus company gave in, nearly 13 months after the Montgomery bus boycott began.
Why was the Montgomery bus boycott significant? What effect did it have on the civil rights movement?
- showed the world the effect that a non-violent protest could have
- strength in numbers + led the African Americans to believe in themselves
- the first direct form of action in the movement
What had been achieved in Montgomery after the bus boycott?
- awareness and publicity of inequality on buses
- integration in buses in Montgomery
- prompted the desegregation of many other facilities after this
What role did MLK play in the Montgomery bus boycott?
- was asked by Rosa parks and her friends to organise the boycott, as he was the new church leader, forming the Montgomery improvement association
- he helped everyone decide that they’d only stop the boycott once there was no segregation busses
- Distributed leaflets + organised the church minibus service
What happened after the first few days of the greensborough sit in? What did this cause Woolworths to do?
- the first day, there were only 4 students but the next day, they brought 23 more with them!
- on the third day, there were around 80 in total
- caused Woolworths to close down on 6th feb
Why was the greensborough sit in successful?
- the people participating were students at uni who didn’t have jobs to lose and were idealistic and determined to
- Non-violent protest
What was the aim of the greensborough sit in?
- they wanted to prove a point- wanted equality in public places such as lunch counters
- wanted to show that Woolworths benefited equally from both white and black customers
- create publicity for the treatment of AA in public places
- direct action to address the problem
- STOP SEGREGATION
What were the effects of the greensborough sit in?
- publicity for civil rights campaign
- shows the power of a peaceful protest
- gained support and awakens for inequality in the south
- other areas desegregated by themselves
- white Americans were also involved
- Eisenhower showed his support
25th July 1960
The first black customer was served at the lunch counter, 5 months after the initial greensborough sit in! This is because they must have been losing lots of profits
