Civil Rights Activism 1955-1965

Question 1

What sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, when did it begin, and for how long?

Answer 1

The arrest of Rosa Parks sparked the boycott, which started in December 1955 and ran for 381 days

Question 2

What group organised the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer 2

MIA or the Montgomery Improvement Association

Question 3

Why was the Montgomery Bus Boycott a turning point?

Answer 3

• Showed non-violent protest as an effective alternative to the NAACP method of litigation
• Effectively was the start of the Civil Rights Activism that emerged in the 1960s
• Brought Martin Luther King to the front of the movement

Question 4

What group did Martin Luther King form as an offshoot of the MIA?

Answer 4

The SCLC

Question 5

How many southern cities held similar boycotts inspired by the one in Montgomery?

Answer 5

20

Question 6

How much did businesses lose as a result of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and what impact did this have?

Answer 6

Businessmen lost $1 million and, as a result, some businesses in Montgomery started working against segregation.

Question 7

When was the SCLC founded and what made it different to previous civil rights groups?

Answer 7

January 1957

It was more focused on the moral and religious element of segregation

Question 8

Write everything you know about the start of the SNCC

Answer 8

• Organisation made up of students who were impatient with the slow rate of change
• Used sit-ins to achieve real desegregation
• Began with a sit-in of four students in at an all-white Woolworths counter in Greensboro; the protest attracted over 300 students within just a few days.
• 70,000 participants in sit-ins by August 1961, and 3,000 arrests

Question 9

When did the Freedom Rides take place and who organised them?

Answer 9

They were organised by CORE in 1961

Question 10

What ruling sparked the Freedom Riders movement?

Answer 10

Boynton v Virginia (1960) which ruled that segregation in public transport was illegal

Question 11

What did the Freedom Riders hope to achieve and were they successful?

Answer 11

They hoped to force government intervention, expecting to be met with violence. This did happen, with Kennedy being forced to act to protect them.

Question 12

Why can King’s protests in Albany (1961-62) be considered unsuccessful?

Answer 12

The police were strictly controlled and told not to overreact, so he did not get any real media coverage, or generate much momentum

Question 13

When was the Birmingham March held?

Answer 13

April 1963

Question 14

Why did King and the SCLC pick Birmingham, Albany for their protest?

Answer 14

The police chief, Bull Connor, was a notorious racist so they knew he would overreact to the protest.

Question 15

What did King say was the key to everything?

Answer 15

Federal commitment

Question 16

What was the response to the Birmingham March and how many protestors and children were arrested?

Answer 16

Water jets and dogs were used on the protestors, many of whom were also beaten by police.
2000 protestors and 1300 children were arrested.

Question 17

What was the response of the Kennedy administration to the Birmingham March?

Answer 17

• They sent delegates to mediate between King and the local authority, reaching the agreement that desegregation would happen within 90 days (though it didn’t really until July)
• Kennedy made an impassioned speech on civil rights in June 1963, and asked congress to pass a civil rights act.

Question 18

Write everything you know about the Washington March

Answer 18

• Organised by A P Randolph. King and the SCLC decide to join the march.
• Took place in August 1963
• 250,000 people went
• The site of King’s famous “I have a dream” speech
• Grudgingly supported by Kennedy, though he was worried congress, who were currently debating his civil rights act, would react negatively
• Covered by over 3,000 members of the press

Question 19

When was the Selma March held and why?

Answer 19

March 1965
Johnson did not want to keep pushing Civil Rights so King wanted to force his hand.
The march was a protest about disenfranchisement

Question 20

How many African Americans were registered to vote in Selma?

Answer 20

353 out of 15,000 African Americans living there.

Question 21

What was the end result of the Selma march?

Answer 21

Johnson responded by getting the Voting Rights Act bill passed soon afterwards.

Question 22

Who was the governor of Alabama in 1965, and what did he do?

Answer 22

George Wallace

He tried to ban the Selma march

Question 23

How can the Selma march be seen as evidence of divisions in the Civil Rights movement?

Answer 23

King and the SNCC disagreed on whether to go ahead with the march before or after the federal court ruling on whether Wallace’s decision to ban it was constitutional or not. The SNCC marched on March 7th and were met with fierce resistance, whilst King marched on March 21st, after the federal court ruled in favour of the march.

Question 24

How many people took part in the rally at the end of the Selma march?

Answer 24

25,000