Key Topic 1: The development of the civil rights movement, 1954-60 Flashcards
(39 cards)
what system of government does the USA have?
federal system
what is a federal system of government?
one that divides the powers of government between the national government, and state and local government
what was the name of the laws that segregated black Americans in the southern states?
Jim Crow Laws
what were the 2 civil rights organisations by 1950s?
-national association for the advancement of colored people (NAACP)
-congress of racial equality (CORE)
what year was the NAACP created?
1909
what did the NAACP focus on?
focused on fighting for civil rights in the courts
what year was CORE created?
1942
what did CORE focus on?
focused on using non-violent direct action protests e.g boycotts
how did some Southern states make it harder for black americans to vote?
impossible literacy tests, violence, poll-tax and threats of unemployment
what year was the Brown V Topeka case?
1954
what did the 1896 Plessy V Ferguson case say?
‘separate but equal’
which civil rights group campaigned for the Brown case?
NAACP
by 1957 how many black students attended desegregated schools?
300,000
by 1957 how many black students in southern states still attended segregated schools?
2.4 million
what year was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) created?
1865
what were the aims of the KKK?
to stop black americans from gaining equality
what did members of the KKK see themselves as?
WASPS - white anglo saxon protestants, they saw themselves as racially superior and were white supremacists
where did the KKK mainly operate?
southern states e.g mississippi and alabama
what were the main policies of the KKK?
fear and intimidation - through beatings, mutilations, lynchings, murder, economic discrimination and maintaining strict segregation
who were the ‘Dixiecrats’?
they were a splinter group from the Democratic party made up of southern politicians which had strong views about keeping segregation
when were White Citizens councils created?
1954
what were the aims of the White Citizens Councils?
to preserve segregation and prevent desegregation
by mid 1950s how many members did the White Citizens Councils have?
around 60,000
what were the methods of the White Citizens Councils?
they protested and used violence/ intimidation
