American Dream - Unit 2: Civil Rights 1955-1980 Flashcards
What was the unemployment rate for African Americans in 1955?
Roughly 10%
Who was killed in 1955 and what happened?
Emmett Till
Was 14
Accused of whistling at a white woman
Was lynched
When did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her bus seat, and what did this spark?
1955
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
What civil rights organisation did Martin Luther King Jr set up in the 1950’s, and what year was it set up?
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
1957
What year did the Little Rock nine attend the Little Rock Central High School, and what happened?
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
Montgomery Bus Boycott - Date and events
1955
Over 75% of bus users were black
90% of them took part in the boycotts
Car pools were organised
What was the impact of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
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
What does NAACP stand for?
National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
Greensboro Sit-in - Date and events
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
What civil rights group was set up in North Carolina in 1960?
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
What was the SNCC?
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
Freedom Rides - Date and events
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
What does CORE stand for?
Congress of Racial Equality
Birmingham - Date and events
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’
Birmingham - Impact
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
March on Washington
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
Freedom Summer - Date and Events
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
What did Stokely Carmichael believe, and what slogan did he come up with?
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!’
Black Panthers - When and what?
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
From 1965 what happened the to civil rights movement’s unity?
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
1964 Riots
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
Northern Crusade - When and what?
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
Northern Crusade - Was it succesful?
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
King’s relationship with the media in the 1960’s
Was souring as he claimed the media would not report on him unless he made militant statements, which he refused to do
Civil Rights Act - When and what?
1964
Banned discrimination in voting, public services and work
Set up the Civil Rights Commission
Voting Rights Act - When and what?
Outlawed discriminatory voting practices e.g. literacy tests
Provided language assistance (helped some Native Americans)
1940-1980: Some African American Statistics
Increase in home ownership
Increase in graduates
1966-1980 - 58% to 60% of black Americans were registered to vote
Minority Quota
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
What is ‘termination’?
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.
What two main issues did NA’s fight for?
Tribal Homelands
Self-Determination
What does BIA stand for, and why were NA’s distrustful of the BIA?
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.
Indian Civil Rights Act
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
What does AIM stand for, and what slogan did they adopt?
American Indian Movement
Red power
What does NCAI stand for?
National Congress of American Indians
Alcatraz Takeover
1969 until 1971
Claimed as NA land
AIM membership and protest
1971
4,500
Violence broke out when they protested white scouts performing ‘Indian’ dances in Kansas
Protests at black hills in Dakota
Trail of Broken Treaties
1972 AIM Protest drive to Washington Occupied BIA building Protesting broken treaties that allowed the government to take over Native lands
Wounded Knee Occupation
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
The Longest Walk Protest
February-July 1978
San Francisco-Washington
Protesting the forced removal of NA’s from their native lands and Congress’s uncooperating attitude
Indian Relocation Act
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%
Nixon Presidency - Impact on Native Americans
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
Indian Self-Determination Act
1975
Contracted health and educational services to help NA tribes
Indian Child Welfare Act
1978
Gave Native Americans more control over NA adoption
