Segregation Flashcards
What were the Jim Crow laws
Laws that kept black and white people apart, with the term “separate but equal” used, but in practice this wasn’t true
What were the wages of whites vs blacks
Double
How were black people stopped from voting, especially in the Southern States (3)
- Literacy tests - white people were exempt
- Making everyone pay a poll tax
- Using violence
Why could black people often not seek help from the police and legal system
The police were often also racist and the juries were all-white, all-male, so would often side with the white person accused of attacking a black person, no matter how damning the evidence is
What was the Plessy vs Ferguson ruling of the Supreme Court and when was it. Also explain the signigficance
1896 - Separate facilities are allowed if they were equal. They rarely were but this was a precedent used when civil rights groups tried to challenge segregation via the courts
What is a precedent
A ruling in a law case that is used by other court when deciding similar cases
What was the Brown vs board , when was it and what was the significance
Linda Brown (black) was rejected from an all-white school in Topeka, in 1951. The case was rejected in a local court due to Plessy vs Ferguson, but then in a retrial in 1954, the Supreme Court decided that segregating schools was unconstitutional
What was the NAACP
The national association for the advancement of coloured people - a group that forced on challenging segregation
What was the doll test
When black children were given 4 dolls, identical apart from race, they preferred the white dolls, giving them positive characteristics. This concluded that black children developed a sense of inferiority and self-hatred due to seggregation
What were the impacts of Brown vs Topeka
- The immediate impact was limited, integration began but very slowly, due to hatred and pressure put on black families not to integrate.
- Segregation became more extreme due to ‘white flight’ as white people left areas with many black residents.
- Black schools that provided a good education were closed and many black teachers lost their jobs
What did many whites do in response to brown vs Topeka
They protested and signed petitions to maintain segregation and many joined the KKK
What happened to KKK membership as the civil rights movement progressed
It grew, but not to the level of the 1920s
What methods did the KKK use to scare/kill victims
Shootings, lynchings, beating and bombing
Which group did the KKK believe were superior
WASPS
What did Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam do to emitt till
Tortured him, shot him in the head and threw his body in the river
What was significant to do with Till’s funeral
His body was not buried in Mississippi where he died, but it was shipped back to Chicago and the funeral was open casket so people could see what happened to him
What were the impacts of Emmett Till’s funeral (2)
It was open casket so everyone could see the horrors done to him.
Pictures of his body were taken and these were published in newspapers -
- many people in the North did not understand the extent of the racism in the south; this helped them to grasp how horribly blacks were treated in the south.
- It also motivated many blacks to bring about change, especially those around the same age of Till. Many historians believe the “murder of Till was the catalyst of the civil rights movement”
What was the verdict and impact of the verdict of the trial against Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam
They were found not guilty by the all white all male jury.
This sparked outrage, especially as a few months later, they admitted to killing him, as you cannot be tried twice for the same crime in USA
What caused the Montgomery boycott
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man, saying she was motivated by the death of Emmett Till. She was arrested. The NAACP chose this case as the starting point for a wide scale boycott of the buses in Montgomery, Alabama
What was the MIA
The Montgomery improvement association - aimed to improve intergration in Montgomery. MLK was the chairman of the
How long did the Montgomery bus boycott last
381 days
When did the Montgomery bus boycott begin
5th December 1955
What were the impacts of the Montgomery bus boycott on:
1. Bus companies
2. Seggregation on Montgomery buses
3. White backlash
- Many bus companies went out of business without the black fares
- The buses became integrated
- Many white people harassed carpoolers and police pulled over many carpoolers for minor offenses and arrested them. Laws also prevented people from gathering in large numbers waiting for cars
How was the Montgomery bus boycott maintained
Carpooling
The word of black churches and black ministers
