8.10

Question 1

James Meredith

Answer 1

• (1962)
• An African American Air Force veteran, attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi. A federal court guaranteed his right to attend. Kennedy sent in troops to control mob violence and protect Meredith’s right to attend class.

Question 2

Alabama

Answer 2

(1963)
- Governor George Wallace tried to stop an African American student from entering the University of Alabama. Kennedy sent troops to the scene, and the student was admitted.

Question 3

Civil Rights Movement

Answer 3

• Civil rights activists and freedom riders traveled through the South registering African Americans to vote. Integrating public places were met with beatings, bombings, and murder by White extremists.

Question 4

Martin Luther King Jr.

Answer 4

• The nationally recognized leader of the civil rights movement. Remained committed to nonviolent protests against segregation.
• 1963 - MLK and some followers were jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, for what local authorities maintained was an illegal march. Milestone because people considered it unfair.
• “Letter from Birmingham Jail” - Argued for nonviolence and a future of equality. Moved President Kennedy to support a tougher civil rights bill.
• Peaceful marches in North (Chicago) didn’t work.

Question 5

March on Washington

Answer 5

• (1963)
• King led about 200,000 Black and White people in the peaceful March on Washington in support of jobs and the civil rights bill.
• “I Have a Dream” speech - Appealed for the end of racial prejudice and ended with everyone in the crowd singing “We Shall Overcome.”

Question 6

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 6

• Johnson passed. Made segregation illegal in all public facilities, including hotels and restaurants, and gave the federal government more power to enforce school desegregation.
• Also set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to end discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin.

Question 7

24th Amendment

Answer 7

• (1964)
• Abolished the practice of collecting a poll tax, one of the measures that, for decades, had discouraged poor people from voting.

Question 8

March to Montgomery

Answer 8

• (1965)
• A voting rights march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery in March. Protestors were pushed back with beatings and tear gas. Johnson sent troops to help MLK. Televised pictures of the violence proved a turning point in the civil rights movement. (Also known as “Bloody Sunday”).

Question 9

John Lewis

Answer 9

• SNCC organizer. Badly injured during march. Called “conscience of Congress” for his leadership on civil rights as a member of the House of Representatives.

Question 10

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 10

• Result of March to Montgomery. Ended literacy tests and provided federal registrars in areas. Largely impacted Deep South.

Question 11

Division

Answer 11

• Voting and Civil Rights Act were improvements but some African Americans saw the change as too slow.

Question 12

Black Muslim

Answer 12

• New cultural identity based on Africa and Islam.

Question 13

Elijah Muhammad

Answer 13

• Black Muslim leader that preached Black nationalism, separatism, and self-improvement.

Question 14

Malcolm X (Malcom Little)

Answer 14

• Prisoner that was converted into a muslim. Considered the most controversial voice in the Civil Rights Movement. He criticized King as “an Uncle Tom” (subservient to Whites) and advocated self-defense—using Black violence to counter White violence. He eventually left the Black Muslims and moved away from defending violence. Assassinated by Black opponents in 1965.
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Testimony to one man’s development from a petty criminal into a major leader.
  Radical ideas influenced organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Question 15

Stokely Carmichael

Answer 15

• Chairman of SNCC. Denied nonviolence and advocated “black power” (especially economic power) and racial separatism.

Question 16

Black Panthers

Answer 16

• (1966)
• Organization created by Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and other militants as a revolutionary socialist movement advocating self-rule for American blacks.

Question 17

Watts Race Riot

Answer 17

• The arrest of a young black motorist by White police in the black neighborhood of Watts in Los Angeles sparked a six-day race riot that killed 34 people and destroyed more than 700 buildings.

Question 18

Summer of 1968

Answer 18

• Race Riots in black neighborhoods of major cities, with increasing casualties and destruction of property.
• Rioters shouting slogans like “Burn, baby, burn” and “Get whitey” made Whites suspect that Black extremists and revolutionaries were behind the violence.

Question 19

Kerner Commission

Answer 19

• (1968)
• Investigation on the cause of race riots. Concluded that racism and segregation were chiefly responsible and that the United States was becoming “two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.”

Question 20

De facto vs de jure

Answer 20

The US changed from de jure (rightfully) segregation practiced under the law in the South to de facto (by fact) segregation and discrimination caused by racist attitudes in the North and West.