Civil Rights 1955-1980 Flashcards
Little Rock, Arkansas 1957
Little Rock a High School: Preparing to gradual integration of black and white students- 9 students to integrate
Opposed by state governor Orval E. Faubus, argued threatened safety of the High School by allowing negroes
He called the National Guard to maintain order- directly challenged state authority so Eisenhower ordered the US Army to enforce the law and allow integration to occur
Faubus refused to back down, created private school system t avoid integration
Eventually Little Rock closed
Emmett Till
28th August 1955 14 year old Emmett Till lynched in Mississippi after flirting with a white woman
Beaten, mutilated, shot and dumped in a river
Directed attention to the rights of African American rights in the south of USA
Rosa Parks:
1st December 1955: Refused to give up her seat on the bus
NAACP defended her in court, was fined and arrested
Led to beginning of civil rights movement- Montgomery Bus Boycott
Remember Claudette Colvin who did this prior 9 months before Rosa Parks
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Four days after Rosa Parks was arrested, African Americans refused to use city buses
Lasted for 381 days until December 1956- Montgomery city desegregated buses after this due to needing African Americans to ride buses for economy
One Leader: Martin Luther King
The Greensboro Sit-In: February 1960
Four young African American students- Joseph McNeil, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair and David Richmond not served at Woolworths white only lunch counter
Manager asked them to leave, stayed on stools till close
Next morning the four were backed by 20 other peers
Third day 60 students
Fourth day 63-66 seats at the lunch counter took by African Americans and final three waitresses. White youths abused the black students during sit in- covered by media
Caused a ripple effect over 30 cities
The Freedom Rides: 1961
CORE and SNCC carried a series of freedom rides in the south
Test whether or not restrooms in bus stations in the south had been d-segregated=no
Rides organised by James Farmer, leader of CORE and ‘Big Six’ CRM activists
First two buses attacked and beaten, one firebombed
!Media used again!
Protests in Birmingham, Spring 1963
MLK organised civil rights march it the city and openly segregationist
Theophilus ‘Bull’ Connor saw King’s movement as direct challenge to city authority
Connor used fire hoses and police attack dogs against CRM
Images shown around the world= media again
JFK claimed Bull Connor had done more for the civil rights than anyone else.’ 42% said race most pressing matter prior to 4% 1962
Birmingham riots catalyst for major social and legal change
Civil Rights Act: 1964
Singed by Lyndon B. Johnson, banned discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex or national origin
Ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, workplaces and public facilities
Voting Rights Act 1965
26th Amendment signed by LBJ during the height of the CRM 1965
Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the 14/15th amendment to the US Constitution, secured voting rights for racial minorities, throughout the country, voting rights for racial minorities, especially south
Act considered most effective piece of civil rights ever enacted in country
Federal Intervention for Civil rights
August 1957: Civil Rights Commission gave federal justice Department more rights to supervise voter registration.
May 1960: Law passed to make it a federal crime to obstruct federal orders.
November 1962:JFK’s Executive Order 1106 banned discrimination in the allocation of housing.
July 1964:Civil Rights Act bans discrimination universally.
August 1965: Voting Rights Act bans attempts to stop people voting.
May 1970:Emergency School Aid Act gave funding to schools to assist with desegregation.
April 1971:Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education upheld the policy of busing children out of poor areas to desegregate schools.
June 1973:Education Amendments Act gave funding to inner-city schools for improvements.
MLK
Martin Luther King became the face of the CRM.
MLK’s home was fire-bombed during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he pleaded for non-violence from the protesters, media informed of events.
MLK media conscious, and refined non-violent protest, best possible impression in the media.
One of his strategies was to get arrested publicly, and then write articles and give interviews about the Civil Rights cause while in jail.
He also accepted as many white people as possible onto protests to give the impression of wide-spread white support. He also met with many white officials.
