2 Civil Rights Flashcards
1
Q
1964 civil rights act
1964 Civil Rights Act: what did it do?
A
ended de jure (legal) segreagation in the south.
- all public facilities and services, and employment to be desegregated by 1965
2
Q
1964 civil rights act
why was the 1964 civil rights act passed?
A
- NAACP, SCLC, CORE activism
- response of northern whites to the CRM
- tribute to Kennedy, who introduced the bil
- Johnsons commitment to civil rights and his persuasion of congress
3
Q
1964 civil rights act
where did the act succeed? where did it fail?
A
- racism could not be legislated out of existence
- 68% of southern black school children still attended segregated schools in 1968. This improved by 73, (1/2 of black children attended majority white schools)
- didn’t facilitate black voting in the deep south
4
Q
the selma campaign
why was the Selma Campaign march 1965 launched?
A
- deep south states had no voting for black people
- selma had a population of 29,000, half of which were black
- there were only 23 registered voters
- king launched a campaign against disenfranchisement, working hard to make sure it was non-violent bc of racist Sheriff Jim Clarrk
5
Q
the selma campaign
what happened?
A
- a trooper shot a youth trying to shield his mother from a beating and sheriff clark clubbed a black woman
- king was jailed, writing a letter exposing Selma that was published in the New York Times
- the SCLC and the SNCC marched from Selma to Montgomery to publicise the cause, state troopers attacked the marchers with clubs and tear gas
6
Q
the selma campaign
what was the march from selma to montgomery labelled?
A
‘bloody sunday’ making worldwide headlines.
7
Q
the selma campaign
The Voting Rights Act 1965: what did it do?
A
- disallowed literacy and constitutional interpretation tests that southern white registrars usually used to stop black voter registration.
8
Q
the selma campaign
mississippi’s black population of voters: 1968
A
59%
9
Q
the selma campaign
number of black americans elected to office 1965-1969; 1969-1980
+++ SPECIFIC EXAMPLE FAYETTE
A
increased sixfold, then doubled.
1969: Charles EVers became the first black man to be elected as mayor of Fayette, Mississippi.
10
Q
Kings changing priorities
ghetto problems
A
- housing was invariably poor and white prejudice made it difficult for black americans to move
- poor education meant a poverty cycle
- chicago had 50-70% black youth unemployment
11
Q
Kings changing priorities
the watt’s riots 1965
A
- black mobs cried ‘long live malcolm x’ and set fire to several blocks of stores in Watts
King told the press that it was a class revolt and called for better distribution of wealth in America.
12
Q
Kings changing priorities
the chicago campaign 1966
A
- aimed to encourage black ghetto residents to reject violence and support his cause.
- MLKs family became temporary ghetto residents from July to September 1966
- he led reporters around rat-infested ghetto apartments with no heating or conditioning.
- he led marchers into white districts which were met with violence.
13
Q
Kings changing priorities
chicago campaign: result
A
- Mayor Daley made an agreement with King that the housing situation would improve, but he reneged on the agreement after King left chicago
14
Q
Kings changing priorities
chicago campaigns significance
A
- many northern whites sympathised with chicago white people because black people would make property values fall and schools declie
- helping the ghettos cost taxpayers money
- it alientated white people, despite a $4m federal grant for chicago housing, many black chicagoans lapsed into apathy
15
Q
Kings changing priorities
kings final campaign?
A
Poor Peoples campaign
he wanted black Americans, hispanic americans, native americans, and poor appalachian whites to come together to camp in Washington DC, as this would draw national attention to their poverty
16
Q
Kings achievements
Kings achievements
A
- demising de jure segregation
- montgomery buss boycott
- effective mass protest and manipulation of white violence led brown v board to become reality
- birmingham persuaded kennedy to pass civil rights act
- voting rights act after selma
17
Q
Kings achievements
who helped him?
A
protestors
civil rights organisations
field workers
the federal government
the supreme court
president johnson
white extremists who arroused white sympathy
18
Q
Kings failures
kings failures
A
- chicago campaign
- johnson and nixon did more than king: supporting affirmative action designed to combat current discrimination in employment and education
- Nixons philadelphia plan 1969 meant the federal government pressed companies to ensure non discriminatory employment practices
19
Q
impact of kings assassination
fair housing act 1968
A
congress was shamed into passing it.
it prohibited racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing
- white resistance made it hard to enforce
20
Q
impact of kings assassination
black activists continued..
A
to work effectively at a local level, despite CRM seeming leaderless nationally.
21
Q
impact of kings assassination
riots
A
- provoked major riots in over 100 cities in the country.
- 46 people died
- 3000 injured
- $45m property damage
- encouraged black power
22
Q
significance of Malcolm X
malcolm Xs background
A
- struggling midwestern family
- born in 1925
- his teacher told him he couldnt be lawyer because of his race
- he worked as a shoeshine boy
- then a drug dealer, burglar, pimp which resulted in his imprisonment in 1946
- while in prison he joined the NOI
23
Q
the significance of Malcolm X
nation of islam
A
- led from 1934-1975 by Elijah Muhummad
believed:
1. allah originally created people black
2. evil scientist yakub created other races
3. white people would rule the world for several thousand years until Allah returned and ended their supremacy
24
Q
the significance of Malcolm X
the NOI urged
A
- separation of black and white people
- black economic independence
- pride in black culture and history
- religious commitment without alcohol or extramarital sex
25
Impact of the NOI
- estimates of committed members range from 25-250,000
- increased divisions between black and white people
- Malcolm X attacked MLK for humiliatingly begging for access to the white dominated world
- transformational (**1975** the *washington post* praised its impact on 'turning outlaws into useful, productive men and women'
26
# the significance of Malcolm X
malcolm x leaving the NOI
- he left in 1964 because Muhummad's corruption and refusal to allow him to join the Birmingham campaign
- NOI gunman assassinated Malcolm X in 1965
27
# the significance of Malcolm X
Malcolm vs MLK
- they both aimed to improve black lives through speeches and writings
- but, king sought intergration, Malcolm favoured separatism.
- the NOI taught white people were evil, so it made sense to live seperately from them.
28
# the significance of Malcolm X
contemporary opinions of Malcolm X
- magazines such as *New York TImes* and *Time* printed critical obituaries describing him as a racist and a demagogue
- black intergrationists were critical, Thurgood Marshall said he achieved nothing
- the NOI derided him after his death
- Jackie Robinson ponted out that Malcolm stayed in safe places like Harlem, MLK and others risked their lives in the deep south
29
# the significance of Malcolm X
greatest significace of Malcolm X
- drew early attention to the northern ghetto problems
- contributed to the growing pride in being black
- inspired a new, assertive generation of black Americans such as Stokely Carmichael and influenced black power development
30
# black power and the black panthers
advocated for
- violence
- armed self defence
- separatism
- alliance with victims of colonialism oppression the less developed natons
- black working class revolution
31
# black power and the black panthers
why did it develop?
1. ghetto problems
2. malcolm x
3. the NAACP and the SCLC were too slow and insufficiently focussed.
4. the SNCC and the CORE became dillusioned and elected radical leaders such as stokely carmichael, who popularised the phrase 'black power' during the meredith march of 1966
32
# black power and the black panthers
the mereditch march
- In 1966 James Meredith planned a march through Mississippi to encourage voter registration
- he was shot and hopistalised by a white man
- Carmichael's SNCC and Kings SCLC took up the march.
- carmichael was arrested for putting up a sleeping tent
33
# black power and the black panthers
significance of the meredith march
- drew national attention to deep divisions within the CRM
- 'black power' was given national prominence
- brought Carmichael to the forefront of the black struggle
34
# black power and the black panthers
stokely carmichael
| book
- his book *black power* **1967**:
1. non violence was foolish
2. black americans should 'close ranks' and reject interracial protest
3. solidarity with anticolonial movements in the less eveloped nations
4. integration only when black americans could be accepted as real equals
35
# black power and the black panthers
the black panthers
1. called for a revolution in American society.
2. founded in **1966** by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale
3. self proclaimed 'heirs of malcolm X'
4. wanted full employment, decent housing, education teaching black history, ending police brutality
36
# black power and the black panthers
black panthers impact
| members, urban chapters
they had 5000 members in 30 loosely affiliated urban chapters in cities such as Oakland, Boston, New Orleans, Chicago, and Kansas.
- their newspaper had a circulation of around 250,000 by 1969
37
# black power and the black panthers
ghetto programmes
- provided practical help
- they had 40 clinics advising health, welfare, and legal rights
- they ran breakfast programmes for thousands of poor black school children and raised awareness of sickle cell anaemia
- **1969** setup a liberation school in berkely, teaching black culture
38
# black power and the black panthers
police brutality
- they tailed police with weapons for self defence in hopes of exposing them, which resulted in violent shootouts
- they had uniforms, and rhetoric 'power to the people' made them strong and unified
- targeted by the police and FBI as a resul
39
# black power and the black panthers
chicago 8
- arrested for conspiring to incite a riot at the DNC in **1968**
- bobby seale was charged in 1969, jailed, and once released left the black panthers in 74
- newton fled to cuba in order to avoid frequent arrest
- seale became a celebrity with his cookbook
- newton was shot dead in 1989 by a gang
40
# black power and the black panthers
evaluating the black panthers
- opposition from nixon and divisions decreased their influence in the early 70s.
- it has been suggested they were little more than a temporary media phenomenon
- popular in the black community
- polls indicated a majroity of black americans sympathised with them
- in contrast, the approval rating of the NAACP dropped from 80% in **1963** to 20% in **1969**
- practical help and assertiveness made the m popular
41
# black power and the black panthers
why did they decline?
- relatively ill defined
- poorly organised
- unrealistic, america wasnt ready for a revolt
- sexist
- lost the white liberal funding that supported the SNCC and the CORE
- hostility from white authorities
42
# black power and the black panthers
significance of black power
- raised black morale
- encouraged college courses on black history and culture
- failed to solve ghetto problems, but they were insoluble given white unwillingness
- violence was portrayed as alienating whites and damaged the previously effective XRM
- played a part in encouraging some white support for affirmative action
- inspired native americans, women, and hispanic americans
43
# the work of cesar chavez
By 1968, how many mexican americans lived in ghettos
80%.
- enduring unemployment, segregation, police discrimination, and poor housing/
44
# the work of cesar chavez
League of United Latin American Citizens?
- middle class mexican americans established in the first half of the 20th c.
- by the early 1960s, they had some victories on segregation, and voter registration, but it didnt gain much media attention, because many were not US citizens or poorly educated and wanted to return to mexico
45
# the work of cesar chavez
san joaquin valley
- rich farming area where migrant mexican-american farmworkers earned the minimum wage or less for planting and harvesting
- bent over, inhaling powerful disinfectants.
- politicians ignored them because they had no protection from authorities
46
# the work of cesar chavez
United Farm Worrkers
- established in **1962**
- 300 mile march to california's state capital with aztec and catholic culture banners
- **1966,** organised a national boycott of table grapes, supported by 17m americsnans including senator robert kennedy
- **1970** the growers agreed to sign union contracts, by the late 1980s, members only harvested 10% of the grapes
47
# the work of cesar chavez
what did the UFW achieve
- contributed to worker friendly legislation in California
- helped galbanise mexican americans and mexican immigrants into activism
- played an important part in stimulating CRMs that inspired mexican americans to a greater ethnic pride
- national gov payed more attention to their needs
48
# the work of cesar chavez
young mesican american activists:
- the students in east LA in 1968 demanded
- college prep lessons
- mexican american history lessons
- billingual education
- mexican american teachers
- mexican food cafeterias
- these were ignored, 10,000 students walked out in protest, ccalling themselves 'chicanos'
49
# the work of cesar chavez
national chicano youth liberation conference
denver **1969**
- followed by the establishment of La Raza Unida Party (LRUP) in May 1969
- won representation on school boards in texan towns crystal city and eagle pass
- demonstrated the increased mexican american activism that owed so much to chavez and the UFW
