BP2- Civil rights Flashcards
After WW1 was racism more extreme in the South or North?
The south (especially the deep south). Black americans were expected to live in their own part of town, shop there and school there.
They were on a last hired, first fired basis and expected to do the lowest paid jobs.
What was Woodrow wilsons stance on civil rights?
introduced segregation in government offices in the white house.
He had no problem with segregation and as he was dedicated to laissez-faire he did not enforce legislation.
What laws were introduced in the south? Why?
Southerners felt less in control of the black population the south with slavery gone and so they enforced Jim Crow laws into every aspect of life.
What type of things did Jim Crow laws include?
There were laws about where to sit on public transport, where to live, separate public facilities, discriminated workplaces e.g different staircases.
How did black people vote after ww1?
Voters had to pass a literacy qualification to vote and in some places black people were given a harder passage to read. In many states, voters had to be homeowners and many black Americans were not. Polling stations were surrounded by white people waiting for a black person to beat.
Between 1915 and 1930, how many lynchings of black men were there? How many of white?
579
65
Why was lynching introduced?
Black people felt white people needed terrorising into obedience.
Who was Emmet Till?
Emmett till was visiting relations in Chicago (the south) when he was lynched for talking to a white woman. This attracted a lot of publicity.
Give an example of a white-supremacist organisation who targeted black people?
The Ku Klux Klan.
When did the KKK revive? How many members were there on estimate?
- between 3 and 8 million.
What did Plessy V Fergurson say?
Despite the 14th amendment, segregation was possible if provision was separate but equal.
When was Plessy v Fergurson?
1896.
What was the 14th ammendment.
Said all people born or naturalised in the USA are US citizens.
What occurred between 1917 and 1932?
A wave of black migration (the great migration) from the south to the north and east.
Give some examples of places african americans were drawn to as a result of the northern migration. Why?
Chicago, detroit, Cleaveland etc.
They had increased industrial work as well as a way to escape the south.
Why did black americans migrate when the USA entered ww1?
The need for industrial workers rose and so factory owners advertised in the North. They advertised free housing, good wages and free transport.
What did black americans actually find when they entered the North after the northern migration?
They found a level of segregation that they had not expected.The jobs were low paid, sometimes replaced with white workers and the accomondation was crowded. There were some exeptions and some black people did very well for themselves.
Impact of northern migration on south workforce?
The labour force shrank and the farming areas struggled.
During the 1930s, how did the voting style of black americans change?
Voting shifted from republican to democrat.
Positive impact of new deal on black americans.
-When war broke out, FDR issued Executive Order 8802 which banned racial discrimination in the defence industry. This was an attempt to get as many people into work as possible.
-Roosevelts ND was supposedly colour blind.
-Mary Mcleod Bethune- first Black woman to direct a federal program (the National Youth Administration) which provided work and education for young men and women as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
-Slightly increased black people in politics.
Negative impact of new deal on black americans.
-TVA barred black americans from higher-paying construction and management work.
-Black farm workers sacked during agricultural reforms.
When was the National Association for the advancement of coloured people set up?
1909
What does NAACP stand for?
National Association for the Advancement of Coloured people.
How many americans moved during the northern migration?
6 million
What was roosevelts stance on civil rights?
He did little on civil rights as he needed the support of everyone including people who were against civil rights.
He did issue an executive order 8802 though which banned racial discrimination in the defence industry.
Why did Roosevelt issue executive order 8802?
Because in 1941 a successful protest threatened a 100k strong march on washington unless discrimination was banned. Led by A.Phillip Randolph
Who set up support systems for black citizens during the depression?
Black church organisations.
Who led the 1941 protest by railway workers which threatened march on washington?
A. Phillip Randolph.
As ww2 went on what happened to black americans?
Military and factories needed more black people. Migration was still occurring. There were still outbreaks of racist violence from white people angry about sharing a workplace with black people.
How did ww2 help to ease racism in some ways?
Many white Americans were still racist but the fact that black Americans had to be employed during the war and white Americans saw they could do the work well meant that they could be friends in some cases.
What was president truman’s stance on civil rights?
Truman supported civil rights and proposed anti-lynching, anti-segregation and fair employment laws in 1954 but failed to push through congress.
Civil rights measures were always difficult to pass due to southern opposition.
What did Truman set up in 1946?
The presidents committee on civil rights.
What did the presidents committee on civil rights call for?
Equal opportunities in work and housing. Also urged federal support for civil rights.
What event meant that truman focused less on civil rights?
The cold war and fighting communism.
1917-55, what were some examples of tactics used to fight for civil rights?
Picketing
Boycotting
Sit-ins
Legal challenges.
After both wars, NAACP membership rose by how much?
from 9k in 1917 to 600k in 1946.
What was the seperatists movement?
Suggested that black americans were never going to have true equality with white americans so they should stop fighting for it. They felt that they should embrace segregation and fight for equal conditions within it. This would mean that black children would grow up without feeling inferior.
Some believed they should just go back to Africa.
What was the NAACP’s aim?
To gain equal rights.
How did the NAACP take legal cases to court? What did they argue?
The NACCP took cases of segregation to court which were tough to fight as Plessy v furgerson had said that segregation was permissible if it was separate but equal. A tactic was to argue that that is wasn’t equal in attempt to overrule the supreme court.
NAACP legal success statistic.
The NACCP won some legal cases in the 1930s and 40s and won every case in the 50s.
Was the NAACP’s legal success a gain to the civil rights movement?
Yes however the Supreme Court did not enforce its rulings and did not set time limits for desegregation.
What was CORE?
The Congress of Racial Equality.
What did the NAACP’s tactics shift to after legal challenges did not seem to be working?
They took a different approach as legal cases were not working well. They were more influenced by local protests like those of Ghandi in India. There were boycotts of shops and sit ins (organised by CORE)
What were the NAACP’s laws on non-violent protests?
-demonstrators had to be as well dressed as possible.
-they could not be abusive or loud.
-they could not fight back if attacked.
-tried to show white people the evils of segregation
-tried to show they supported the government
When was the montgomery bus boycott?
1955