American Dream - Unit 2: Civil Rights 1955-1980

Question 1

What was the unemployment rate for African Americans in 1955?

Answer 1

Roughly 10%

Question 2

Who was killed in 1955 and what happened?

Answer 2

Emmett Till
Was 14
Accused of whistling at a white woman
Was lynched

Question 3

When did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her bus seat, and what did this spark?

Answer 3

1955

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Question 4

What civil rights organisation did Martin Luther King Jr set up in the 1950’s, and what year was it set up?

Answer 4

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

1957

Question 5

What year did the Little Rock nine attend the Little Rock Central High School, and what happened?

Answer 5

1957
9 Black children attended the Central High School
Elizabeth Eckford entered on her own, some people yelled ‘Lynch her’ at her
The media coverage of this meant MLK got a meeting with Eisenhower
Eisenhower sent in troops to protect the students
Homes of local NAACP leaders were firebombed

Question 6

Montgomery Bus Boycott - Date and events

Answer 6

1955
Over 75% of bus users were black
90% of them took part in the boycotts
Car pools were organised

Question 7

What was the impact of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer 7

Supreme Court 1956, Browder v Gayle
Ruled segregated buses as unconstitutional
CA: Three days later MLK’s home was firebombed and the next local elections favoured segregationist candidates

Question 8

What does NAACP stand for?

Answer 8

National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People

Question 9

Greensboro Sit-in - Date and events

Answer 9

1960
Four black students sat in a Greensboro store at a segregated lunch counter and asked to be served
Around 30 more students joined them the next day
Media covered this, showed black students being dignified while white youths heckled them aggressively

Question 10

What civil rights group was set up in North Carolina in 1960?

Answer 10

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Question 11

What was the SNCC?

Answer 11

Integrated organisation of young people
Nonviolent direct action
Sent ‘field secretaries’ to live and work in the South and to encourage voter registration among racial minorities

Question 12

Freedom Rides - Date and events

Answer 12

1961
CORE and SNCC
Organised by James Farmer of CORE
Rode buses in the South to prove that desegregation of buses was dejure but not defacto
Alabama bus firebombed
3 Freedom Riders were killed in Montgomery
Media covered the shocking violence

Question 13

What does CORE stand for?

Answer 13

Congress of Racial Equality

Question 14

Birmingham - Date and events

Answer 14

1963
SCLC + King led a push to desegregate the entire town
Tactic was to get so many people arrested that the jails were full, which happened by the end of the month
High-pressure fire hoses and dogs were used on protestors, including children, created shocking media images
President Kennedy sent in troops to stop the violence, said he felt ‘ashamed’

Question 15

Birmingham - Impact

Answer 15

Montgomery was desegregated

1962 poll - 4% of people thought race was the U.S.’s most pressing issue in a poll, this was 42% after Birmingham

Question 16

March on Washington

Answer 16

1963
Hundreds of thousands of people
Bob Dylan joined King (support of a famous person would have influenced some people)
‘I have a dream’ speech

Question 17

Freedom Summer - Date and Events

Answer 17

1964
SNCC sent 45 volunteers to the South
To push for more voter registration
6 were murdered
35 shooting incidents
Countless beatings
17,000 Black people tried to register to vote that year and only 1,600 were accepted

Question 18

What did Stokely Carmichael believe, and what slogan did he come up with?

Answer 18

He believed that non-violent protest wasn’t working
Wanted the SNCC (which he was the leader of) and the civil rights movement to radicalise and exclude white campaigners
‘Black power!’

Question 19

Black Panthers - When and what?

Answer 19

1966
Black Power movement group
Organised community projects such as free breakfasts for schoolchildren, campaigning for decent housing and black history university courses
Wore uniforms and carried guns

Question 20

From 1965 what happened the to civil rights movement’s unity?

Answer 20

Became less unified as the black power movement wasn’t a single coherent force and many groups took up different levels of militancy, this meant these movements were much more effective on local levels

Question 21

1964 Riots

Answer 21

New York, Chicago and Philidelphia
Protesting living conditions
Images of African American people rioting helped hasten civil rights legislation (1965 LA Watts district got 18 million in aid after August riots) but brought lots of white backlash

Question 22

Northern Crusade - When and what?

Answer 22

1966
After 20 major riots in city slums MLK announced a ‘Northern Crusade’
Focused on Chicago, campaigned for better working conditions and improving slum areas by setting up tenant unions

Question 23

Northern Crusade - Was it succesful?

Answer 23

MLK claimed it made significant gains
No permanent change was actually made as it was harder to get political support for social issues in comparison to segmentation issues

Question 24

King’s relationship with the media in the 1960’s

Answer 24

Was souring as he claimed the media would not report on him unless he made militant statements, which he refused to do

Question 25

Civil Rights Act - When and what?

Answer 25

1964
Banned discrimination in voting, public services and work
Set up the Civil Rights Commission

Question 26

Voting Rights Act - When and what?

Answer 26

Outlawed discriminatory voting practices e.g. literacy tests

Provided language assistance (helped some Native Americans)

Question 27

1940-1980: Some African American Statistics

Answer 27

Increase in home ownership
Increase in graduates
1966-1980 - 58% to 60% of black Americans were registered to vote

Question 28

Minority Quota

Answer 28

This idea of a ‘minority quota’ meant many employers would not be interested in hiring from minority groups beyond a quota and some white co-workers would accuse minority workers of not being hired on merit, but rather because of the quota

Question 29

What is ‘termination’?

Answer 29

A policy by which Native Americans were free of federal control and protected and policed by US federal and state law, but also meant that tribal lands once held in trust for NA’s by the government could be sold.

Question 30

What two main issues did NA’s fight for?

Answer 30

Tribal Homelands

Self-Determination

Question 31

What does BIA stand for, and why were NA’s distrustful of the BIA?

Answer 31

Bureau of Indian Affairs
The BIA from 1893 onwards had set up Indian Boarding School’s where Native American children were only taught English as a language, dressed in non-native clothing and told to give up their native customs and practices.

Question 32

Indian Civil Rights Act

Answer 32

1968
Banned tribes from restricting the civil rights of tribe members
Did nothing to address issues that Native Americans endured because of the Federal Government

Question 33

What does AIM stand for, and what slogan did they adopt?

Answer 33

American Indian Movement

Red power

Question 34

What does NCAI stand for?

Answer 34

National Congress of American Indians

Question 35

Alcatraz Takeover

Answer 35

1969 until 1971

Claimed as NA land

Question 36

AIM membership and protest

Answer 36

1971
4,500
Violence broke out when they protested white scouts performing ‘Indian’ dances in Kansas
Protests at black hills in Dakota

Question 37

Trail of Broken Treaties

Answer 37

1972
AIM
Protest drive to Washington
Occupied BIA building
Protesting broken treaties that allowed the government to take over Native lands

Question 38

Wounded Knee Occupation

Answer 38

1973
AIM occupied the village of Wounded Knee and declared independence as the Oglala Sioux Nation
Gov sent in US marshals and state police, siege lasted 71 days
AIM only withdrew when the government agreed to investigate their demands and grievances

Question 39

The Longest Walk Protest

Answer 39

February-July 1978
San Francisco-Washington
Protesting the forced removal of NA’s from their native lands and Congress’s uncooperating attitude

Question 40

Indian Relocation Act

Answer 40

1956
Part of the ‘Voluntary Relocation Programme’ which began in 1952
Encouraged NA’s from 18-35 to move to specified towns and cities to work
BIA estimated that by 1961 roughly 30% had returned, some figures showed this to actually be over 50%

Question 41

Nixon Presidency - Impact on Native Americans

Answer 41

Rejected termination and forced assimilation
Brought bills to Congress regarding NA autonomy
1972 - Indian Education Act - Funds for tribal schools
1974 - Indian Financing Act - Lent tribes funding

Question 42

Indian Self-Determination Act

Answer 42

1975

Contracted health and educational services to help NA tribes

Question 43

Indian Child Welfare Act

Answer 43

1978

Gave Native Americans more control over NA adoption