American History: 1.2 The quest for Civil Rights, 1917-80 Flashcards
On 31 January 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution…
Abolishing slavery in the US
On 9 July 1868, the 14th Amendment made…
All people born or naturalised in the USA, including those who had been salves, US citizens
On 3 February 1870, the 15th Amendment declared that…
All US citizens had the same voting rights
What happened to Fannie Lou Hamer in Rulesville, Mississippi in 1962?
She went to register to vote and was sacked from her job and told that people weren’t ‘ready’ for her to do this because she was black
What was life like for black African Americans after the end of the war?
They still faced discrimination, segregation and violence. They were expected to live in the worst parts of the town. They were “last hired, first fired” and were expected to do low paid jobs.
In 1913, President Wilson even introduced what into government offices and the White House?
Segregation
In 1919, there were about … anti-black race riots, often set off by police injustice, in which hundreds were killed.
25
The worst of these “Red Summer” riots was in
Chicago
…………………….. was a famous black American who advocated accepting separation
Booker T. Washington
What were the Jim Crow Laws about?
Segregation
Examples of Jim Crow Laws
Where to sit on a tram
Where to live
Where to send your children to school
What public facilities you can use
What factors discouraged black people from voting?
Literacy tests
All white elections
Violence from white people
By 1917, the number of black Americans registering to vote had dropped considerably. In Louisiana, it fell from 130,334 in 1896 to what in 1904?
1,342
In 1896, in Plessy vs Ferguson, the Court ruled that segregation was possible as long as it was…
“Separate but equal”
Between 1915 and 1930, there were lynchings of … white men and ….. black men, mostly in the south.
65, 579
Lynching
Not necessarily for committing a crime
Southern lynchings often advertised beforehand
Photos emerged of crowds of men and women happily smiling beside the corpses
Emmett Till
In 1955, 14 y/o Emmett Till, visiting relations from Chicago, was lynched for talking to a white woman and allegedly asking her on a date. He didn’t understand the southern rules.
KKK
White supremacist organisation
Revived in 1915
Against non-WASPS and black people especially
Members lived all over the USA
By 1925, estimates of membership ranged from 3-8 million
In the South, it was more likely to include people with real political and social power
Wore white robes
Tried to conceal identity
Women Klan members rarely took part in lynchings. However, they brought up their children to be white supremacists and created anti-black environments
President Wilson,
A southerner, had no problem with segregation
President Harding
Spoke out against lynchings and broadly in favour of civil rights. He even addressed 30,000 segregated people at the Uni of Alabama on the evils of segregation.
Coolidge and Harding were
Committed to the policy of Lassez-Faire. They could express an opinion and try to influence behaviour but they wouldn’t enforce legislation.
When the Depression hit America, the federal government was
Focused on sorting that out and civil rights issues slid even further out of sight.
Between 1917 and 1932, there was a wave of black migration from the South to the North and East, mainly to cities, which became known as
The Great Migration
By 1920, almost 40% of African Americans in the North were living in…
Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio
During the Great Migration (1917-32), the Eastern cities with the biggest population growth were
New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburg
Apart from being drawn from to the North and East to escape the South, why else did black people move in the Great Migration?
For work
Why did black migration begin?
The USA entered the First World War, producing a rising need for workers in the munition factories in the North. Factory owners advertised in Southern newspapers for workers. They offered housing, free transport North and good wages. Family and friends who had already migrated north also encouraged them to migrate.
What was life like for migrants that moved north in the Great Migration?
Segregation varied from city to city
Low paid jobs
Sometimes replaced by white workers who pushed for higher wages
Accommodation in the most crowded and run down part of the city
Higher rent than for white people
This didn’t apply to all black people!
Impacts of the Great Migration on the North
Sharp population increase of places moved to
More political influence in certain cities e.g. Chicago
Segregation/ increased racial tension
Harlem Renaissance
More workers
Living conditions fell
More money made
White people lost out on jobs
Black people taken advantage if by taking low paid jobs
Impacts of the Great Migration on the South
Black people remaining were even more marginalised Jim Crow Laws enforced more harshly Less workers Farming suffered Economic problems Jobs not done as effectively Racial tensions increased
