African American Revision Flashcards
African American flashcards, thematicised.
What were the achievements of Lincoln?
1861-1865
Abraham Lincoln
Republican - 1863 - Emancipation Proclamation - 1865 - 13th Amendment - abolished slavery - Struggled against war and attitudes
GOOD
What were the achievements of Andrew Johnson? 1865-1869
Andrew Johnson
Democrat 1868 - enacted 14th Amendment - citizenship. 2AA senators elected - Impeached for vetoing every Bill that furthered Reconstruction - Granted Pardons to Southern rebels, rich planters asserted their authority
BAD
What were the achievements of Ulysses S. Grant?
1869-1877
Ulysses S. Grant
- Republican*
- Promised support for AA civil rights, however scandal and support in the south weakened
- 1870 - enacted the 15th Amendment - right to vote - first AA in Congress
- 1871 - Enforcement Acts banned the KKK
- Financial Scandal, economic crisis, post-war recovery and attitude overall hindered progress
What were the achievements of Rutherford B Hayes?
1877-1881
Rutherford B Hayes
- Republican*
- Only elected through a commitment to the end of Reconstruction
- Too weak to prevent Southern Democrats repealing Acts supporting the franchise of AAs
- Post war and attitudes hindered.
What were the achievements of James A Garfield?
1881 (Assassinated)
James A Garfield
Republican
- Appointed AAs to important posts - Douglass (recorder of deeds in Washington), Blanche K Bruce (register to the Treasury)
- Tried to weaken Southern Democrats
- Unfortunately, killed
What were the achievements of Chester A Arthur?
1881-1885
Chester A Arthur
Republican
- Too distracted with rebuilding the nation post-war to care
- 1883 - Too weak to stop Congress removing the 1875 Civil Rights Act
Hindrance
What were the achievements of Grover Cleveland?
1885-1889 & 1893-1897
Grover Cleveland
Democrat
- Apathetic to AA Civil Rights - allowed racism to continue
- Did not support NAACP or Niagra Movements
- Boasted he’d never share a table with an AA
- Failed to follow up Reconstruction
- Allowed lynching to continue - refused to support Ida B Wells
Hindrance
What were the achievements of Benjamin Harrison?
1889-1893
Benjamin Harrison
- Republican*
- Tried and failed to protect AA Civil Rights, get better education, stop lynching and support groups
What were the achievements of William McKinley?
1897-1901
William McKinley
Republican (Assassinated)
- Didn’t focus on AA Civil Rights
- Let racial violence continue
- Appointed AAs to low paid jobs
- Bystander, too occupied with the war in Spain from 1898
Hindrance
What were the achievements of Theodore Roosevelt?
1901-1909
Theodore Roosevelt
Republican
- 1901 - Appointed Booker T Washington as an advisor, entertained him at dinner (first AA to dine with a president) - considered an empty token by many
- Supported AA education
- Spending on education was unequal
- Appointed some AA to Federal Offices
What were the achievements of William Howard Taft?
1909-1913
William Howard Taft
Republican
- Endorsed Booker T’s policy of education
- Believed Civil Rights were an issue of States’ Rights
- Allowed violence to continue
What were the achievements of Woodrow Wilson?
1913-1921
Woodrow Wilson
Democrat
- Racist
- Allowed Jim Crow to flourish
- Left States to address race alone
- Filled administration with Southern Democrats
- Encouraged official segregation
- Supported KKK
- Refused to grant poverty stricken AA benefits
Hindrance
What were the achievements of Warren G Harding
1921-1923
Warren G Harding
Republican
- Believed the South had a deeper understanding of racial problems
- 1921 - Birmingham, first President to openly advocate civil rights
- Anti-lynching Bill - Dyer bill
What were the achievements of Calvin Coolidge?
1923-1929
Calvin Coolidge
Republican
- KKK lost influence during this term - refused to appoint known members
- Spoke out in favour of Civil Rights and AA
- Appointed AA to Federal Offices
- Called for anti-lynching legislation
- Declared the rights of 12 million AA as ‘sacred’ as everyone elses
- Achieved nothing - Congress overruled
- 1928 - Oscar De Priest elected to Congress, first in 20th Century
What were the achievements of Herbert Hoover?
1929-1933
Herbert Hoover
Republican
- Received lots of AA support in election
- Used ‘race’ card to win democrat votes
- 1930 - attempted to appoint a racist Supreme Court judge, stopped by NAACP
- Thought AA would naturally educate themselves and assimilate
- Lost the confidence of the people
What were the achievements of Franklin D Roosevelt?
1933-1945
Franklin D Roosevelt
Democrat
- Personally sympathetic to the AA
- Snubbed Jesse Owens, even after winning 4 gold medals
- New Deal - 30% of AA on relief
- Depended on Southern Democrats - could not do more for AAs in the New Deal - told Walter White (NAACP secretary) that he had to keep on S. Democrat side
- Denounced lynching as ‘a vile form of collective murder’ but wouldn’t push for anti-lynching legislation in case his lost S. Democrat support ·
- 1941 – signed an order forbidding racial discrimination in employing defence workers ·
- Struggled with poor economy and war plus attitudes of S. Democrats
What were the achievements of Harry S Truman?
1945-1953
Harry S Truman
Democrat
- Created the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, October 1947
- 1948 - Executive Order desegregating the army and navy
- 1948 - Executive Order made racial discrimination illegal when applying for civil service positions
- Supported anti-lynching
- Refused to bow to Southern Democrats
GOOD
What were the achievements of Dwight D Eisenhower?
1953-1961
Dwight D Eisenhower
Republican
- 1953 - appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren
- 1954 - outlawed discrimination in D.C.
- 1957 - intervened to stop Governor Faubus in Little Rock
What were the achievements of John F Kennedy?
1961-1963
John F Kennedy
Democrat
- Released MLK from Birmingham jail, supported the march on Washington
- Worked on the Voting Rights Act
- Supported integration
- Tried to avoid civil rights
- 1962 - reluctantly supported Meredith with 3000 troops
- Intervened in Birmingham and Alabama
What were the achievements of Lyndon B Johnson?
1963-1969
Lyndon B Johnson
Democrat
- 1964 - Civil Rights Act, outlawed segregation - broke a S Democrat filibuster
- 1965 Voting Rights Act - secured the AA right to vote
- 1965 Higher Education Act - gave AA better quality education and opportunities
- Elected Thurgood Marshall as Supreme Court Justice
- Occupied with Vietnam, fell out with MLK
What were the achievements of Richard Nixon?
1969-1974
Richard Nixon
Republican
- Desegregated school bussing
- Did not approve of black panthers
- Rejected Ralph Abernathy’s demands for social reform
- Tried to win S. Democratic vote
- Affirmative Action - positive discrimination
- 1972- Equal Rights Amendment
*
What were the achievements of Gerald Ford?
1974-1979
Gerald Ford
Republican
- Worked with Civil Rights leaders
- Appointed first AA transport secretary - William T Coleman
- Did not look for AA votes
What were the achievements of Jimmy Carter?
1977-1981
Jimmy Carter
Democrat
- Inexperienced in federal politics
- Appointed 37 AA judges - x2 previous appointments
- Did not have the support, economic stability of liberal SC to bring civil rights
What were the achievements of Ronald Reagan?
1981-1989
Ronald Reagan
Republican
- Opposed civil rights legislation in the 1960s
- Administration ‘colour-blind’ - tried to resist affirmative action
- Economic slump led to Reagan cutting benefits - AAs got caught in a cycle which increased bifurcation
- Appointed a Conservative Justice to the Supreme Court, cautious with civil rights
- Tried to veto the Civil Rights Restoration Act, 1988
What were the achievements of George H W Bush?
1989-1992
George H W Bush
Republican
- Only 6.9% of his appointments were from racial minorities
- Spoke against black crime
- 1990 - Vetoed a civil rights Bill because he opposed affirmative action
- 1991 - Appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, a black, conservative, Republican lawyer
When was the Freedman’s Bureau created?
1865
When was the 13th Amendment ratified?
1865
When was the first Civil Rights Act passed, and what did it contain?
- Passed in 1866
- Should have guaranteed legal equality but they feared in could be declared unconstitutional
When and what was the Military Reconstruction Act?
- 1867
- Divided the South into 5 military zones, must agree to civil rights before forming state governments
Who were the notable radical Republicans, and what did they believe?
- Thaddeus Stevens
- Charles Sumner
- AAs were vital to US economy, and must be given citizenship
How many AAs were elected to Congress?
House of Representatives: 20
Senate: 2
When were the Force Acts brought in, and what did they try to do?
Introduced in 1870, aimed to increase access to franchise for AAs
When did the Freedman’s Bureau lose its funding?
1872, leading to its closure. Support for education fell dramatically
What did the 1871 Civil Rights Act do?
Protected AAs from the KKK
What did the 1875 Civil Rights Act bring?
An attempt to stop de facto segregation that had developed - not enforced
Name one type of vote restriction imposed through legislation in the South, which continued post-1877
- Grandfather Clauses: The legislation suggested that only those with enfranchised grandparents had the right to vote
Did Congress support the measures of Ida B Wells?
No
How many AAs were in Congress or state legislatures in 1915?
None.
Why was Oscar De Priest signficant?
Oscar De Priest was the first AA to be elected to Congress since 1900 (he was elected in 1928)
During the 1920s and 1930s, who dominated Congress?
Southern Democrats
When was Adam Clayton Powell elected to the House of Representatives?
1945, challenged de facto segregation
Who opposed the 1957 Civil Rights Act, and why?
Southern Democrats - LBJ had to water down the bill in order to secure its passage. Initially planned to expand the Civil Rights Commission in the Justice Department – very weak
What did the 1960 Renewed Civil Rights Commission do?
Encouraged senior posts to be allocated to the AA. Made bombing and mob action a punishable crime
What did Attorney General Robert Kennedy do?
Forcefully implemented favourable Supreme Court decisions - e.g. Federal intervention to get Meredith into university
What did the 1964 Civil Rights Act bring?
Banned all racial discrimination, established Fair Employment Practice Commission
What did the **1965 Voting Rights Act **bring?
The abolition of all voting registration requirements that penalised AAs.
When did Congress become distracted by Vietnam first?
1966
When and what did the fair Housing Act bring?
Racial discrimination in house sales made illegal - passed begrudingly
What did the Equal Opportunity Act bring?
Equal Opportunity Act, 1972 - affirmative action, gave the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission more power
When was Andrew Young elected to Congress?
1972
When was the Voting Rights Act renewed?
1982 - strengthened with stricter rules against discrimination
When was Martin Luther King Day introduced?
1983
How many AAs were elected into Congress in 1992?
36 AAs
What did the 1873 Slaughterhouse Case confirm?
1873 Slaughterhouse Case
- States controlled civil rights
What did **1876 US vs Cruickshank **conclude?
Federal government had no power over individuals, only states. 100 men dropped of the murder charge
What did the 1896 Plessy vs Ferguson case conclude?
1896 Plessy vs Ferguson
Separate but equal.