Johnson Civil Rights Flashcards
(37 cards)
Bombing of Birmingham church
1963- 4 black schoolgirls killed and over 20 injured. Thousands of angry protesters, 2 men killed (1 by the police, 1 by racists)
MLK conducted a funeral to 8,000 mourners
perpetrator charged with buying dynamite but cleared for murder
Selma
50% black, 23 registered to vote. King led would-be voters in march to register, trooper shot a black youth and whites threw venomous snakes.
7th March 1965 SCLC SNCC organised march from Selma to Montgomery to campaign for voting rights Act. ‘Bloody Sunday’ states troopers attacked with clubs and teargas
Voting Right Act
1965 disallowed literacy tests and questions on state constitutions, replaced racist registrars with federal ones.
May have failed to pass without Selma
Civil Rights Act
July 1964 used Kennedys death and needed to pass before civil unrest forced it through. Ended segregation in the South and prohibited segregation in any places (anywhere that received federal funding)
Support and oppositions towards Civil Rights Act
By Jan 1964, 68% public supported meaningful civil rights legislation
Many African Americans thought it didn’t go far enough
Urban riots
1965-8
Causes of urban riots
‘long hot summers’, civil rights movement only aided South, those born in ghettos couldn’t break out cycle of poverty, 32% ghetto pupils finished high school- 56% white pupils, early 60s 46% unemployed were black
Watts, LA
1965 34 deaths, 1000 injuries, 3500 rioters and looters arrested, over $40mil damages to largely white businesses
Detroit
1967 40 deaths, 2000 injured, 5000 arrested, 5000 made homeless, had previously been seen as a model for interracial relations
Newark
July 1967 rumours of police brutality against a black taxi driver. Black ghetto erupted. 6 days of riots, 26 died, 1500 injured, much of the inner city burnt down
Assassination of MLK consequences
1968 sparked more riots in 100 cities, 46 dead, 3000 injured, 27,000 arrested
‘hostile outbursts’
225 between 1964-68
Kerner report
Feb 1968 Johnson commissioned Otto Kerner Gov of Illinois to investigate causes of riots
Kerner report basic conclusion
‘our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white- separate and unequal’
Kerner report reasons
12 reasons
inadequate housing, education, federal programmes, municipal services and welfare programmes, poor recreation facilities and programmes, unemployment, police practices, ineffectiveness of political structure, disrespectful white attitudes, discriminatory justice, consumer and credit practices
opposition to kerner and other reports
recommended increased expenditure on ghettos but most whites didn’t want extra taxes. Attributed rise in taxes to near 50% increase in federal expenditure but it was due to Vietnam.
Didn’t want to stop ghetto overcrowding by welcoming black people to their neighbourhood as it made property values fall.
increasingly perceived black people as seeking ‘handouts’
Why Chicago?
3 mil people, 700,000 black
civil rights action post CRA
King said movement now needed to focus on economic justice and opportunity to allow black people to afford the restaurants they can now sit in
Actions in Chicago
King moved to a ghetto apartment which the landlord quickly renovated
July 1966 rally gathered around 30,000 hoped for 100,000
Democracy mayor Daley met regularly with King but meeting were unproductive
March through white working class area Cicero saw violent opposition, cries of ‘apes’ and ‘savages’. King was hit by a rock and decided to leave.
His deputy took over who led a limited campaign of economic boycotts
Reasons for Chicagos failure
no real plan and Kings focus wasn’t on the real concerns of African-Americans
Johnson Chicago
made $4mil of federal funds available which was nowhere near enough
James Meredith
June 1966 embarked on 200 mile walk from Memphis to Jackson. On the second day he was shot and unable to continue to civil rights leaders vowed to complete his march
conflict in James Meredith’s march
NAACP wanted to focus on new civil rights bill and withdrew when Carmichael criticised the bill, King welcomed white participants but SNCC rejected them, Meredith felt excluded and began a march of his own, some SCLC leaders joined him to disguise the split
Difference in chants, James Meredith march
Stokely Carmichael chants ‘black power’ King tried to encourage chants of ‘Freedom now’
