Barriers to Civil Rights [Isolated] Flashcards
What was the background for Black civil rights after the Civil War?
After the Civil War victory…
- slavery was abolished in the North
- the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments gave the vote, citizenship and freedom to Blacks
- discriminatory laws were being passed in the south
- civil rights movements rose but failed
What is the line of argument?
The divisions in the Black community were the greatest barrier to the achievement of Black civil rights.
What were the voting qualifications?
They were made to be challenging for Black people to meet. A person from Virginia state government even said that they were created intentionally to stop Black people from qualifying without affecting white voters. They put in place literary tests with the point of proving the voter had an understanding of the clause. There was also the Grandfather clause which meant if your Grandfather was able o vote in 1865 then you had the right to vote. This was unfair as during this year slavery was still active and so Black people did not have the right to vote. Questions would be made up and had to answered to the questioners satisfaction which was extremely unfair as it allowed discrimination. You also had to own land and many black people were sharecroppers so did not qualify. 177,000 Black men lost the right two vote (1900-02) in Alabama and in Louisiana 124,000 lost the right (1896-1900). Exclusion from the vote removed the political voice from Blacks and stopped them from electing people to fight for their rights.
How would you evaluate the lack of political influence?
The loos of the right to vote for Black Americans did reduce the chance of the situation for the Black population changing, but there were still other ways they attempted to achieve civil rights. They formed movements that used separate methods to try and achieve civil rights, meaning although they did not have any political influence, they were still fighting for their rights meaning that the loss of the vote did not limit their efforts and therefore was not the biggest obstacle for the achievement of civil rights. The impact of civil rights movements could have been even greater if there wasn’t the prominent aspect of intimidation from those against Black civil rights that reduced the amount of protests and organisation that could happen.
What did Booker T Washington do?
He was an African American spokesperson who believed that cooperation with supportive whites was the best way to overcome racism due to how outnumbered the Black population was to the White. Washington secretly and substantially contributed to legal challenges against both segregation and disenfranchisement.
What did W E B Du Bois do?
He led the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) which was a group that campaigned the improvement of conditions faced by Blacks. They drew attention to these difficulties - housing, educations, jobs and voting rights. They had limited success in their efforts and therefore it can be said that they were not that impactful on helping Black civil rights.
What did Marcus Garvey do?
He left the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) which took a different approach and criticised white racism and used the need for Black identity and assertion. Garvey argued that racial board would be a challenge to overcome due to how engrained it was into Whites. He was deported in 1925 and UNIA became defunct in 1950.
How do you analyse the division in the Black community?
The leaders of these groups had opposing ideology and methods and therefore could not agree on how tot tackle discrimination and improve Black rights in America. They each held strong negative opinions of one another which pushed them even further from unity. If these groups had been able to look past their differences and realise they were all working for the same thing then their unity would have made them stronger and brought them to their end goal far quicker. Their disagreements and hatred filtered down to the members of their groups which prevented them from joining other groups, this deeply affected UNIA whose members refused to join groups like the NAACP because of this rivalry. These movements were more like competition between Blacks than a fight for Black civil rights.
What were the Jim Crow Laws?
States were given the ability to create their own laws which they used to segregate, proving the lives of discrimination at the time. Common laws created were; no intermarriage, for businesses to keep Black and White workers separate, and for facilities to keep resources separate for the races. The resources for Black Americans were poor and facilities were understaffed and because of this they suffered poor health due to inadequate health care. Not having sufficient education caused them to suffer as it prevented them from registering to vote meaning they wouldn’t become influential in the fight for civil rights.
What was Legal Prejudice?
Legality was established; facilities could be “separate but equal”. This gave segregation the ‘green light’ which caused an increase. Black civil rights were seen as a state issue and not one for the Federal Government and so that left Black Americans helpless as states had the freedom to create their own laws. Blacks were most affected by the Great Depression and President Roosevelt noticed this and tried to help whilst avoiding any possibility of loss of support so he created the ‘Black Cabinet’. They were responsible for ensuring Blacks were not denied the benefits of the New Deal relief programmes that were set up for those affected by the depression. Roosevelt was not willing to do anything more such as challenging segregation or bringing in laws because of how strong support from the South was, and losing it could cost you your position. Due to political leaders fearing loss of support from the South there were very few improvements made for Black civil rights.
How would you evaluate the impact of legal impediments?
Legal impediments greatly challenged the achievement because states were against Black civil rights and this issue was laid down as a state issue not one that should be resolved by Federal Government. Even though this did cause difficulty, it would not have been as big an issue if the influence of the KKK hadn’t been as strong as it was because politicians would not have been so highly controlled by the ideology of the Klan. Losing support of the Klan meant losing office due to their large membership, so if they had a smaller influence politicians would have been more willing to fight for civil rights. Furthermore, if voting qualifications hadn’t been so tough then there would have been enough Black voters to make up for the loss of support from the Klan and therefore politicians would have fought for them as now they could vote for them and the loss of the Klan’s votes wouldn’t have been so significant.
What were the KKK doing?
Between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the second there were 505 lynching recorded. It wasn’t just hanging a person, the KKK were also burning, humiliating, torturing, dismembering and castrating people. They would attack not only Blacks, but Jews, Catholics, immigrants and other minorities too. These lynchings would happen in front of large family crowd to show just how much power white people had. Roosevelt failed to outlaw these as he feared losing support from them. On the other hand, Wilson sympathised with the motives of the KKK and the police even joined in or would refuse to help. Police and court workers were considered to be Klan ‘friends’ so none of these situations were brought to justice, leaving Black people unprotected and not fought for.
What was the KKK’s support like?
KKK members were native born, white, protestant Americans who acted again the right of Black Americans and other minorities. Their large membership and ability to be heard due to their members eligibility to vote prevented Blacks from achieving civil rights because of their methods of intimidation and success in it. Even through they were a big barrier, the Klan peaked for only a short time meaning that their impact wasn’t a long lasting affect and therefore the KKK weren’t that heart of a barrier.
How would you evaluate the activities of the KKK?
The activities of the KKK were impactful in the effort of preventing Black civil rites and they did create a strong barrier, but they would not have had such an impact if it weren’t for the restrictions on the amount of the Black population that could vote. Due to the voting population being vastly WASPs, politics had to appeal to them because there was no one else to appeal to, meaning if they went against the electorate they would have lost support. If Black men could vote there would have been another audience to campaign to and therefore fighting for Black civil rights would have gained them the vote of the Black voters as they are going to vote for someone fighting for them rathe than someone against them. This would have reduced the fear of lost support as for the White voters they lost they would now have Black voters.
What were the housing tensions in the North?
North America recruited Blacks from the South by exaggerating the benefits and glossing over the preexisting hardship and prejudice there. Chicago’s Black population rose by 150% in 1920, but 50% of Blacks remained in the South. Tensions increased with the migration of Black’s in America due to the increase in rent thanks to the higher demand for housing. Rent in Harlem doubled between 1917-27. They blamed Black people for the destruction of the housing stock as housing turned to slums which caused disease and crime to spread. They couldn’t justify their hatred for Black people though as they had been the ones that had lied about life in the North to convince them to move, and now were suffering the consequences in such a large population change. Cousin inequalities were prominent also as rent was more expensive for Blacks than it was for Whites.
