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HIST 301: African American History > BDC CH. 11 > Flashcards

BDC CH. 11 Flashcards

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1
Q

What started the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

A

Rosa Parks arrest

  • refused to give up seat to white passenger
  • mobilized entire black pop. in AL capital city
  • 50,000 walked to work/gave each other lifts for 381 days
  • astounded the world + ended in victory
    (RMFA)
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2
Q

Why do some people feel that it was white obstinacy not black planning that led to the victory in the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

A
  • blacks never asked for end to segregation on buses just separate but equal
  • had already been bus boycott in LA two years earlier that ended after a week
  • both sides able to come to an agreement on “separate but equal” facilities
  • AL whites refused to give any concessions which prolonged boycott + prompted blacks to demand more
    (BHBA)
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3
Q

Why could the Montgomery Bus Boycott have happened anywhere in the South?

A

black resentment of bus segregation was widespread

  • black protests about bussing increasingly common
  • May 18, 1953 = public bus protests in Richmond, VA by 1000 blacks
    (BM)
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4
Q

Who was Rosa Parks?

A
  • joined NAACP in 1943 (became Montgomery branch secretary)

- attended a school desegregation workshop a couple months before arrest in TN
JA

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5
Q

Who was Edgar Daniel Nixon?

A
  • one of the primary organizers of the bus boycott
  • most prominent black activist in Montgomery
  • idolized A Phillip Randolph
  • stalwart of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
  • served as Montgomery NAACP president rom 1946-50
  • headed state NAACP org.
  • head of Progressive Democratic Association
    (OMISSHH)
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6
Q

Who was Jo An Robinson?

A
  • English professor at AL State College
  • enlisted Women’s Political Council to spread the word after Parks arrest
  • printed thousands of flyers announcing the boycott
    (EEP)
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7
Q

What does the speed + enthusiasm w/ which blacks were organizing the bus boycott underline?

A

blacks were initiating not simply reacting

  • Dec. 2, 1955 = ED Nixon calls meeting to involve black ministers in boycott to announce to pulpits
  • committee formed + resolutions drafted + officers elected that Sunday afternoon
  • creation of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
  • MIA scheduled mass meeting on Monday to gauge support (black leaders across state showed support)
    (DCCM)
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8
Q

Who did they select as president of the MIA?

A

MLK

  • relatively unknown at this point
  • transplant from Atlanta
  • people saw him as a neutral figure who could bridge factions w/in MIA
  • also very articulate/well educated
    (RTPA)
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9
Q

What were the MIA’s demands for public transport changes?

A
  • sought courteous treatment from bus drivers
  • no seats reserved exclusively for race
  • employment of black bus drivers on routes that went through mainly black neighborhoods
    (SNE)
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10
Q

Why did many feel that the MIA’s demands could have been solved much quicker?

A
  • first could be easily obtained through written commitment
  • third was discard MIA willing to part w/ for first two
  • first come first serve seating already operated in AL city of Mobile (did not entail scrapping segregation)
    (FTF)
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11
Q

Why did whites refuse to accept the first come first serve seating arrangement in Montgomery?

A
  • insisted they couldn’t yield w/o violating state/city segregation laws
  • Brown decision hardened white attitudes
  • whites thought abolishment of race based seating would encourage blacks to up demands
    (IBW)
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12
Q

When the last of the negotiations failed in Montgomery what did the city try to do to trick blacks?

A

falsely announced that the issue had been settled

  • plan failed
  • three city commissioners than tried to break up the protest by joining white Citizens Council
  • police began to harass/arrest drivers who operated car pools for blacks for MIA transport system
  • King + Nixon ultimately arrested
    (PTPK)
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13
Q

How did the actions taken by the Citizens Council in Montgomery backfire?

A
  • Kings arrest incensed black people

- convinced MIA to keep pressing boycott w/ such high support for leader
KC

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14
Q

What fateful decision did the MIA take following King’s arrest that transformed the character of the boycott?

A

MIA agreed to challenge segregation laws in court w/ NAACP assistance

  • protest no longer became local affair
  • was now the cutting edge for the struggle for integration in the South
  • MIA knew that it came w/ a big risk as longer the protest more people at risk
  • felt emotion behind protest was so strong it wouldn’t die out
    (PWMF)
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15
Q

How did Southern white tactics to undermine the Montgomery boycott backfire?

A

instead of undermining it they strengthened it

  • blacks learned that white repression could be turned to their advantage
  • were able to maintain tactical initiative + moral advantage in spite of white violence/harassment
    (BW)
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16
Q

What was the situation in Montgomery w/ the indictment of the ministers?

A

115 people + 24 ministers indicted

  • those under indictment decided to turn themselves in
  • MIA leaders marched themselves to police station
  • prosecution of ministers riled up ordinary blacks + grew protest even stronger
    (TMP)
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17
Q

What was another reason besides blacks using their tactics against them that white persecution failed?

A

helped turn Montgomery bus boycott into international story

  • dozens of reporters from across the country came to report
  • MIA flooded w/ letters of support from everywhere
  • checks arrived from abroad as donations
    (DMC)
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18
Q

What happened in June 1956?

A

Browder v. Gayle = three judge federal court ruled city/state bus segregation laws are unconstitutional

  • decision affirmed in November by Supreme Court
  • MIA would end boycott on Dec. 20 when order went into effect
    (DM)
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19
Q

What has been been the NAACP’s argument about the significance of the bus boycott?

A

NAACP resented that the MIA refused to accept its leadership

  • said the lawsuit not economic pressure/mass protest brought about integration
  • several historians agree saying Supreme Court was gonna rule against bus segregation soon anyway
  • bus boycott didn’t end bus segregation through whole South (many Southern cities ignored Court order)
  • MIA would eventually be bogged down by factionalism
    (SSBM)
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20
Q

What did the Montgomery Bus Boycott serve as?

A

the psychological turning point for blacks

  • an absence of violent retaliation on the part of whites (Thurgood Marshall had predicted opposite)
  • unity had brought strength (institutional importance of black church played key role)
    (AU)
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21
Q

What was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

A
  • created Jan. 1957
  • made up of black ministers
  • cemented new union between black church + civil rights struggle
  • nonviolent approach
  • melded black Christianity w/ Gandhi like mass action tactics
  • led by MLK
    (CMCNML)
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22
Q

What was the SCLC attempting to do in the South?

A

fill the void left by the repression of the NAACP

  • AL became SCLC principle base (NAACP has ceased all operation in the state)
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23
Q

What made the SCLC different than the NAACP?

A
  • an indigenous Southern movement (did not have to combat Northern intervention argument)
  • based upon the black church (situated religion above politics)
  • appealed to American values through appealing to religion (made them less vulnerable to repression)
  • loose structure afforded extra layer of protection (no individual members = no members list issues)
    (ABAL)
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24
Q

What did King rely on early on in the organization?

A

Northern advisors

  • was open to outside expertise during bus boycott
  • Glenn Smiley (white man) persuaded King to get rid of armed guards + embrace nonviolence
    (WG)
25
Q

Who was Bayard Rustin?

A
  • former Communist Party member
  • worked w/ Randolph in March on Washington
  • would denounce Randolph for ending campaign too soon + but still close allies w/ him
  • went to prison for two years during WWII
  • went to India after prison became expert on Gandhi
  • gave King practical advice on pacifism + nonviolence
  • raised money + drafted briefs + put King in front of dozens of Northern supporters
    (FWWWWGR)
26
Q

What was the basic idea behind the SCLC’s strategy?

A
  • would promote mass action throughout the South

- encourage bus boycotts + attack segregation/vote suppression
WE

27
Q

What were the SCLC’s view of the NAACP?

A
  • had said publicly were not looking to compete w/ NAACP
  • privately leaders very critical of NAACP litigation strategy (said it’s too narrow + infective)
  • many envisioned it as counterweight to NAACP growing conservatism
    (HPM)
28
Q

What did the roles of Rustin + Ella Baker + Stanley Levison helping King craft the SCLC cause the popular opinion to think?

A

King was being manipulated by Communists

  • trio of New Yorkers were influenced by Communist Party
  • Baker had communist friends but also while part of NAACP supported move to ban Communists in org.
  • Baker more interested in promoting grass roots activism in any way not thinking of political party
  • Rustin was part of Communist Party but resigned when party demanded all out support for WWII
  • Levison regarded Communist Party as decaying shell + irrelevant nuisance
    (TBBRL)
29
Q

Why were critics right to suspect a strain of left wing radicalism in MLK?

A

childhood during Great Depression made him highly anti-capitalistic

  • profoundly influenced by Social Gospel + harsh critic of industrial capitalism
-  supporter of Marx's critique of capitalism + class consciousness 
(PS)
30
Q

Why did King refuse to be bossed around by the New York trio?

A

knew it would seriously damage movement if it was perceived to be run by Northern radicals

  • insisted flamboyant Rustin remained in background
  • ultimately dropped both Rustin + Levison from the org.
    (IU)
31
Q

How did King come to dominate the SCLC?

A
  • was the org. only president during lifetime
  • board of directors acted more as rubber stamp
  • King almost always had last word
  • org. promoted a King personality cult
    (WBKO)
32
Q

Why did Ella Baker begin to become critical of the SCLC?

A

thought it was too dependent on King’s personal achievements not mass action

  • also found it difficult to work w/ black ministers (pompous/sexist)
  • SCLC most male dominated civil rights org. at that time
    (AS)
33
Q

How did faith play a part in King’s civil rights message?

A

thought he was an instrument of God’s will

  • certain divinity around him
  • exploited role as persecuted Christian to the max whenever he got into trouble
  • caused black popularity to soar every time
  • redemption through self sacrifice lay at the heart of Christian theology
    (CECR)
34
Q

How did the SCLC’s lack of internal democracy also reflect the structure of the black church?

A
  • baptist preacher never answered to bishop
  • ministers authority seldom questioned
  • minister was a Jesus like figure to be obeyed/adored
    (BMM)
35
Q

How did Montgomery reinforce what King already sensed as a minister?

A

uncomfortable w/ all the praise he received but knew the symbolic value of his leadership

  • people needed to rally around a unifying figure
  • knew the success of the SCLC highly depended on his own prestige/image
    (PK)
36
Q

How was the SCLC’s dependence on King also its greatest strength?

A
  • King’s rhetoric allowed him to connect to both Southern blacks/whites better than any other black leader
  • praised for leadership shown during Montgomery
  • oratory evoked adulation that translated into support for the civil rights movement
    (KPO)
37
Q

How was the SCLC more of a hope than a reality between 1957-60?

A
  • lacked funds so had no full time staff
  • coordinating church based affiliates extremely difficult
  • wave of bus boycotts failed to materialize
  • Montgomery victory had allowed black in other Southern cities to get integration thru only lawsuits
  • org. shifted focus to voting after passing of 1957 Civil Rights Act
    (LCWMO)
38
Q

What did the 1957 Civil Rights Act do?

A
  • empowered the Justice Department to sue biased voter registrars
  • created a Commission on Civil Rights to investigate complaints of discrimination
    (EC)
39
Q

What was the result of the SCLC’s attempt to mount a regional voter registration drive?

A

failed mostly

  • called the “Crusade for Citizenship”
  • evoked only patchy local activity
  • Ella Baker said most problems stemmed from org. not using mass resistance
    (CEE)
40
Q

What was King doing during the SCLC struggling years between 1957-60?

A

spreading the message of nonviolent action

  • Montgomery proved nonviolent direct action could unite blacks + disarm whites
  • argued litigation alone couldn’t reform the South
    (MA)
41
Q

What were some of the nonviolent protests exhibited by blacks during the 50s?

A
  • boycotts on downtown merchants in Tuskegee
  • bus boycott in Tallahassee/Shreveport
  • successful NAACP Youth Council sit ins in OKC
    (BBS)
42
Q

How did the NAACP fail to capitalize on the success of nonviolent direct action?

A

had little faith in its efficacy

43
Q

What role did the SCLC play in the 60s?

A

helped popularize/legitimate nonviolent direct action as dominant strategy for civil rights movement

44
Q

What event sparked the student sit ins?

A

four Greensboro, NC students ordered coffee at Woolworth’s counter (did not serve blacks at time)

  • students were active in civil rights movement
  • encouraged by the advice of several older people
  • occurred Feb. 1, 1960
  • was well rehearsed before hand (had arranged for newspaper reporter to be there)
  • refused service by black waitress + refused to get out of seat
    (SEOWR)
45
Q

What was the effect of the Greensboro sit in?

A

evoked immediate response by fellow Greensboro students at NCAT

  • 29 students did sit ins the following day
  • students occupied 63 of the 65 available seats on 3rd day
  • protests involved more than 300 students by day 5 + spread to nearby Kress store
  • both Woolworth + Kress closed their doors that Saturday
    (TSPB)
46
Q

How did the Greensboro sit ins spread nationally?

A

became the main topic of discussion at black universities nationally

  • began happening in states across the South
  • about 70,000 participated in total in 1970
    (BA)
47
Q

How did the sit-ins differ symbolically from the bus boycotts?

A

passive not assertive confrontation w/ segregation

  • students put bodies directly in the way of Jim Crow
  • did so w/ no reassurance federal courts would back them up (stores private institutions unlike pub. trans.)
  • not very clear if Brown decision applied to private institutions
  • students were challenging sanctity of private property (sacred American value)
    (SDNS)
48
Q

How did the sit ins also entail a struggle over public space?

A
  • black students backed sit ins by picketing stores + staging marches
  • boldly challenged unwritten rule that Southern streets belonged to whites not blacks
  • public demonstrations by blacks virtually unheard of ten years earlier
  • black students now unafraid of known police brutality that would come w/ actions
  • legality of their demonstrations cloudy (1st Amendment unclear on public demonstration freedoms)
    (BBPBL)
49
Q

What was the response by whites to the sit ins?

A
  • many showed violence towards demonstrators
  • encouraged by police to act
  • police would forcefully break up protests + arrest demonstrators
  • about 3600 arrested in total in 1960
    (MEPA)
50
Q

Why did the sit ins not evoke support from older blacks at first?

A
  • many parents not supportive of children putting themselves in harms way
  • black university presidents expelled some black student leaders due to pressure from white politicians
  • many feared protests would lead to repercussions for black universities
    (MBM)
51
Q

How did the position of older blacks change as the sit ins continued?

A

many began to rally behind students

  • adults raised bail money + backed sit ins by supporting boycotts of downtown stores
  • many black college presidents did support students
  • NAACP viewed sit ins as unwelcome challenge to organizational hegemony still helped
    (AMN)
52
Q

How did the NAACP support the sit ins?

A
  • urged members to support through picketing + boycotts
  • Thurgood Marshall endorsement especially significant (despite strong reservations about direct action)
  • Marshall praised students + condemned presidents who expelled them + came to legal defense of arrested
    (UTM)
53
Q

What was the white support shown for the sit ins like?

A
  • Northern press reports of sit ins overwhelmingly positive
  • students nonviolent discipline + middle class values impressed both liberals/conservatives
  • Northern university students helped by raising money + picketing north branches of Woolworth +moral support
    (NSN)
54
Q

What was the most striking fact about the moral effect of the sit ins?

A

reached some whites Southerners

  • many politicians unable to criticize moral justice behind their actions (cost them in future elections)
  • some white Southerners even took radical step of joining civil rights movement
  • white students in Greensboro/Tallahassee/New Orleans picketed + were arrested
  • whites joined the CORE + SNCC
    (MSWW)
55
Q

How did the sit ins create a massive dent in the structure of segregation?

A
  • Deep South still had too much repression to integrate lunch counters
  • upper South though saw sit ins prove effective
  • disruption caused by sit ins + economic effect of boycotts hurt the dime stores
  • downtown merchants as a whole suffered
  • May 16, 1960 = San Antonio becomes 1st southern city to desegregate lunch counters
  • 1961 = big victory when Atlanta agreed to integrate
  • 1962 = New Orleans agrees to integrate lunch counters
    (DUDDMNN)
56
Q

What occurred from April 15-17, 1960?

A

200 black students organize at Shaw University to discuss significance of sit ins + how to capitalize

  • organized by Ella Baker + SCLC provided principal funding
  • some expectation that if students formed new org. it would connected to the SCLC
  • Baker believed subjecting students w/ older leadership would stifle their momentum
  • Baker urged students to develop group centered leadership not leader central (dig at King)
  • led to establishment of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
    (OSBBL)
57
Q

What were the characteristics the SNCC?

A

Southern + mostly black

  • prided itself on informality + lack of hierarchy + looseness of structure
  • liked to arrive at decisions through consensus + discussion not voting
  • abhorred factionalism + politicking
  • deplored cult of leadership around King + SCLC
  • remained mostly youth oriented
  • much less male dominated (Ella Baker)
    (PLADRM)
58
Q

What was the view about nonviolence shared by members of the SNCC?

A

viewed it as a practical necessity + useful tool for protest

  • did not abjure self defense in any circumstances
  • believed like the SCLC that confrontation/direct action was the best way forward for the movement
  • unlike SCLCC did little to disguise hatred for NAACP + litigation strategy
    (DBU)
59
Q

How had the Civil Rights Movement leadership changed by 1960?

A
  • NAACP no longer dominant over strategy
  • King had become most influential black leader in the South
  • SNCC on the cutting edge of the civil rights movement
    (NKS)

HIST 301: African American History (14 decks)

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