The Civil Rights Movements Flashcards
(28 cards)
1
Q
The Dred Scott decision (Scott v. Sandford)
A
- in 1857 in a 7-2 decison the Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional
2
Q
Emancipation Proclamation
A
- 1863 - Abraham Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” frees slaves living in areas controlled by the Confederacy but no others
- 1865 - Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery is ratified
- the Fourteenth (1868) and Fifteenth (1870) amendments to the Constitution redress the issue raised in the Dred Scott decision:
3
Q
End of Reconstruction in 1876
A
- introduction of a new system of segregation (“Jim Crow”)
- segregation in public facilities by law and “custom” (from cradle to grave)
- denial of voting rights ( literary requirements, poll taxes, gerrymandering)
4
Q
Plessy v. Ferguson
A
-1896
- in a 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled: Laws permitting, and even requiring, their separation, in places where they are liable to be brought into contact, do not necessarily imply the inferiority of wither race to the other,…
-separate but equal
5
Q
sharecropping
A
- Crop-Lien System
- blacks in the south subjected to a new labor system
-many still lived in the slave cabins they had occupied before the Civil War
6
Q
lynching
A
- between 1889 and 1918, a min of 2522 black Americans were lynched (50 women)
- hanged, burnt alive or hacked to death
- lynching continued across US through the 1960s
7
Q
great migration
A
- beginning in late 19th century
- blacks begin to move out of the south
- encouraged by the african american media
- establishment of large, urban populations in the north
- New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland
8
Q
Black Civil Rights Movement
A
- NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People)
- established 1909
- many black and white members
- W. E. B. Du Bois (leading Black member in the first half of the 20th century)
9
Q
Legal and Political activities (Civil Rights)
A
- NAACP led legal challenges to segregation and attempted to have a Federal anti-lynching law passed (unsuccessfully)
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954) led by Chief Counsel Thurgood Marshall
10
Q
Thurgood Marshall
A
- led the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1940 to 1961, focusing on systematic legal challenges to racial segregation
- known for his brilliant legal strategy of gradually building precedents that would ultimately challenge the “separate but equal” doctrine
- his careful preparation and persuasive arguments in Brown v. Board of Education led to the landmark unanimous decision that transformed American society
11
Q
foreshadowing the civil rights movement
A
- April 15, 1947 - Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play professional baseball in the modern era
- 1997 - his number “42” is retired by baseball, not to be worn by any players except on each April 15, when all players wear the number
- July 24, 1948 - President Harry S. Truman issues an Executive Order in his power as Commander-in-Chief ordering an end to segregation in the U.S. military
12
Q
the end of segregated military units
A
- July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981
- last all-Black unit was abolished in 1954
- in 1963, the Secretary of Defence banned all discrimination in facilities by soldiers
13
Q
Brown v. Board of Education
A
- overturned Plessy v. Fergusson (1896) - “Separate but equal” facilities are constitutional
- unanimous decision written by Chief Justice Earl Warren
- “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”
- they violate “equal protection clause” of the Fourteenth Amendment
14
Q
Chief Justice Earl Warren
A
- then Attorney General of the State of California Earl Warren testifying before Congress on the Internment of people of Japanese Ancestry (1941)
- Warren was elected governor of California in 1943 and would serve until 1953 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated him to be the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, which he served as until his retirement in 1969
15
Q
Montgomery Bus Boycott
A
- Rosa Parks, a Black woman and local NAACP activist refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and was arrested on 1 December 1955
- 30 000 Black citizens of Montgomery, AL organised a 381-day bus boycott (5th December ‘56 ti 20th December ‘57)
- Dr. Martin Luther King is selected to lead the boycott committee
16
Q
SCLC
A
= Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- established 1957
- made up of ministers from Predominately Black churches across the U.S. and white religious figures from liberal northern churches
- first leader was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
- best known for organizing “non-violent” resistance to segregation across the South
17
Q
Lunch Counter sit-ins
A
- organised by university students to protest segregation in eating facilities
- first was held in Greensboro, NC in 1960
- 4 North Caroline A&T students sit in at Woolworth’s lunch counter
- sit-ins were met with violence and arrests
18
Q
Freedom Rides
A
- 1961
- protested segragation in interstate bus transportation
- met with mob violence and government repression
19
Q
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
A
- first proposed by African American labour leader A. Philip Randolph in 1941
- August 28th, 1963 - 200-300 000 protesters from across the U.S. marched down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial
- high point is Dr. Kind’s speech “I Have A Dream”
20
Q
April 16, 1963
A
Martin Luther King arrested and jailed in Birmingham
- writes “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
21
Q
1963
A
it was a mess, idk
- Medgar Evers (Mississippi’s NAACP field secretary) gunned down in June
- March on Washington in August
- 4 girls murdered while attending Sunday School in Birmingham when it was bombed in September
22
Q
end to legal segregation
A
- civil rights act of 1964
- voting rights act of 1965
- the 24th Amendment (banning poll taxes)
- affirmative action (president Johnson, Loving v. Virginia)
23
Q
The Lovings
A
- married in 1958, arrested in 1959
- Loving v. Virginia
-> “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man’, fundamental to our very existence and survival”
24
Q
Latinx
A
- in the 1960s most worked as poorly-paid farm labor
- United Farm Workers
- Established in 1962
- Led by Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)
- agitated for better conditions and pay
- used non-violent methods including hunger strikes
25
Women's Rights
- equal rights amendment (proposed 1971)
-> “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
26
LGBTQ Rights
- prior to the mid-1960s sexual contact between members of the same sex was illegal in most states
- Illinois led the way in decriminalizing (1962)
- police harassment was widespread in cities
- Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, NYC (June 27, 1969)
- June 28, 1970: First gay pride parades in NYC, LA, Boston, Chicago
27
#BlackLivesMatter
- in Response to a number of high profile killings of African American men, Patrisse Cullors re-posts a message on July 14, 2013 about the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter
28
Colin Kaepernick
- August 26, 2016 - San Francisco 49’ers quarterback sits during the pre-game playing of the national anthem (for the third time)
- his protest is met with anger from the general public, but more athletes begin to join his protest
