1955-80 Black Americans Flashcards
When was Rosa Parks arrested
1955
When was the Montgomery Bus boycott
1955-56
What did the boycott show
the potential power of non-violent and large scale direct action
What led to the desegregation of buses
Browder v Gayle 1956
What was Little Rock
1957- NAACP encouraged 9 black students to enrol in the newly desegregated school
What did Little Rock achieve
SC ruling Cooper v Aaron 1958
-declared unconstitutional any law seeking to keep schools segregated
Why was litigation becoming less effective
The Supreme Court lacked powers of enforcement
Example of Supreme Court Ruling not being upheld
Shelly v Kraemer (1948)- ruled against discrimination in housing sales
When were the Greensboro sit ins
1960
How many students emulated the Greensboro sit ins
70,000
What did the Greensboro sit ins encourage
150 cities to introduce some form of desegregation
SNCC
Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee
SCLC
Southern Christian Leadership Confrence
What did the SNCC reject about the SCLC
Rejected MLK’s top-down leadership and focused on empowering black communities
from 1961-64 what did the SNCC organise
Citizenship classes and assisted impoverished black share croppers in voter registration in the Mississippi Delta
Who took part in Freedom Rides
CORE and SNCC in 1961
What were the Freedom Rides
Small integrated group travelling the South to test Supreme Court rulings against segregation in interstate travel
When was Birmingham
1963
How was King’s approach in Birmingham unusual
*used children to protest to gain media attention
*Encouraged Kennedy to promote Civil Rights Bill
When was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedoms
1963
Weakness in 1964 Civil Rights Act
did little to facilitate Black Voting
When was Selma
1965- culminated in ‘Bloody Sunday’
King’s failed Northern Strategy
1966 Chicago Freedom Campaign
How did the SNCC and CORE demonstrate growing black radicalism (2)
- expelled whites in 1966 and 1968
- Declared non-violence inappropriate when BA needed to defend themselves
Black Panthers ghetto improvement
established clinics in which advise was given on health, welfare and legal rights
Who established the Black Panthers
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966
What contributed to the decline in the Black Panthers in the 1970s (3)
-Shootouts
-Successful targeting of authorities
-internal divisions
What did the 1964 Civil Rights Act do (2)
-ended de jure segregation
-promoted greater equality in education and employment
What did the 1965 Voting Rights Act do
Gave BA greater voting and political power
Black Americans in Congress (3)
1959- 4
1969- 10
1980- 18
BA mayors in major cities
*Detroit
*LA
*Washington DC
*Atlanta
*Birmingham
Rate of Black voting by 1980
7% lower to that of whites
Limitations to black political power in the 1980s
- Proportion of BA in Congress still disproportionate
- Not proportionate increase in black elected officials
Black senators 1967-79
-Only 1: Edward William Brooke III
Supreme Court promoting racial equality by ruling that no redrawing of political boundaries should leave BME worse off in political representation
Beer vs United States 1976
Supreme Court weakening the Voting Rights Act
City of Mobile v Bolden 1980
-made it harder to challenge discrimination voting laws
% of desegregated schools
by 1974 % of segregated schools in the South went form 68% to 8%
White Anti-Busing Group
ROAR- Restore Our Alienated Rights
Legislation against busing
Milliken v Bradley 1974
1974/75 Democratic- controlled Congress approved anti-busing legislation
1980 median black household income
Only 60% that of whites, similar to 1965
Proportion of BA in poverty
33%- three times higher than whites
