Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas post-1945

Question 1

Historical Issues Facing Indigenous People (2)

Answer 1

1. From the 15th-19th century, indigenous people suffered as result of the European colonialist who brought disease and alcohol
2. They also instituted a corrupt racial hierarchy where natives were treated as inferiors and exploited ($24 worth of beads for Manhattan) while traditions were supressed

Question 2

Land Rights Issues Facing Indigenous People (2)

Answer 2

1. Dawes Act 1887 - reservations were broken up and native people were force to assimilate
2. Exacerbated by the policy of termination (109 terminations up till 1956) as indigenous people lost their sovereignty

Question 3

Social Issues Facing Indigenous People (6)

Answer 3

1. 1970: unemployed 80% on some US reservations
2. Life expectancy of 44 years to nation’s 64
3. 20% live in substandard housing
4. By 1980 average income on reservations was less than $1,000 a year
5. Native peoples were 30 times more likely to be imprisoned
6. Abusive boarding schools in Canada

Question 4

Voting Rights Issues Facing Indigenous People (2)

Answer 4

1. Miguel Trujillo was prevented from Voting in New Mexico while other Southern States had similarly discriminatory laws
2. Bolivian Constitution contained “qualified vote” clause until 1952

Question 5

Non-violent methods employed by Indigenous People (3)

Answer 5

1. Litigation e.g. Miguel Trujillo (1948), Northern Cheyenne of Montana mineral rights negotiation (1973)
2. 1964 Fish In - restored treaty rights in 1966, Marlon Brando’s presence brought media attention
3. 1990 March for Territory and Dignity in Bolivia - 700 walked 400 miles leading to 1994 Law of Popular Participation, empowering tribes with sovereignty

Question 6

Radical methods of protest employed by Indigenous People (7)

Answer 6

1. American Indian Movement (AIM) formed in 1968 - monitored police violence (arrests of Native Americans fells by 60%), Trail of Broken Treaties in 1972 - after raid of BIA office MIA claimed that without BIA, families would be $4000 richer
2. Cochabamba Water War (1999) fought against privatisation of city’s water supply
3. Confrontation at Wounded Knee (1973)
4. Occupation of Alcatraz (1964) - 10,000 visited after 80 occupied the Island, Radio Free Alcatraz
5. Stan Steiner: youth frustrated with older NCAI movement and lack of reform and influence of civil rights movement
6. Sherry Smith: occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 was a turning point
7. Paula Marks: Government activity fed activism rather than diffused it

Question 7

Legislative Achievements of Native American Movements (3)

Answer 7

1. Indian Vocational Training Act (1956)
2. Indian Self Determination Act (1975)
3. Religious Freedoms Act (1978)

Question 8

Reasons for stalling of First Wave Feminism

Answer 8

WW1 had led to female suffrage in US - 1920 (Brazil 1932) but was hindered by the Baby Boom, the return of veterans and the Great Depression

Question 9

Causes of Second Wave Feminism (3)

Answer 9

1. During WW2, 7 million women took up the jobs of men who had gone to fight in the war. Encouraged more women to remain in work. 1940: 19% of workforce, 1960: 50%.
2. Workplace Inequality: 95% of company managers were women while 4% of lawyers and 7% of doctors were women
3. Betty Frieden - The Feminist Mystique, National Organisation for Women (NOW). 40,000 members by 1970s and won $30 million in gender discrimination battles, 50,000 demonstrated in NY for Women’s Strike for Equality

Question 10

Legislative Failures/Achievements of the Feminist Movement (8)

Answer 10

1. Equal Pay Act 1963
2. Civil Rights Act 1964 (Martha Griffith’s amendment outlawed gender discrimination)
3. Nixon vetoed Comprehensive Child Care Act (1972) due to “sovietisation”
4. Pill approved in 1960 but required 1965 Griswold vs Connecticut to make available appeal to all married women and 1972 Eisenstadt vs Baird to prevent a law prohibiting access to other women
5. 1973 Rose v Wade led to legalization of abortions (Jane Collective 12,000 - 1969-73)
6. Title X 1970 - publicly funding family planning
7. Women’s Educational Equity Act 1974
8. Pregnancy Discrimination Act 1978
9. Criminalization of martial rape 1978
10. Equal Rights Act Amendment (1982) defeated by Phyllis Schlafly

Question 11

The Feminist Movement in Canada (6)

Answer 11

1. Female Suffrage 1919
2. First Female MP in 1921
3. 1967 Royal Commission of Status of Women - 167 recommendations e.g. 18 weeks maternity leave, pay equity, the establishment of a maternity leave program and national child care policy, birth control and abortion rights, family law reform
4. In response the government set up the Office of the Co-ordinator, Status of Women (Status of Women Canada) in 1971 and by the 1980s had implemented, at least partially, most of recommendations
5. 1985: Women earnt 72% of men’s average wages
6. Pill legalized in 1969 and abortion decriminalized in 1988

Question 12

Historiography of the Feminist Movement (2)

Answer 12

1. Howard Zinn - “the right of a women to an abortion did not depend on Roe v Wade.. it was won … by grassroots agitation”
2. Norma Chinchilla - “the struggle by women contributed significantly to the demise of their respective regimes” e.g. Las Madres de Plazo de Mayo in Argentina 1977

Question 13

Problems Facing Hispanic Americans (4)

Answer 13

1. Poor living conditions - 80% lived in urban ghettoes in SW of US
2. No union for farmworkers
3. Corrupt labour contractors.
4. Poor wages for intense work
5. Discrimination e.g. Pvt Longoria’s body (Texas) and signs

Question 14

What was the role of Cesar Chavez in the Hispanic American movement? (7)

Answer 14

1. Chavez formed the United Workers Union in 1962
2. Organized a 5 year boycott of Delano grapes - 17 mill in support
3. Went on a 340 mile march from Sacramento to Delano in 1966. Growers eventually settled in 1970
4. Also went on 25 day hunger strike in 1968. Less successful pesticides fast in 1988
5. However suffered from declining membership (50,000 in 1970s, to 15,000 in 1980s) due to internal conflict
6. Miriam Powell: Chavez “had this indomitable will, incredible determination and single minded focus”
7. Matthew Garcia: “while Chavez accomplished much, I believe his legacy is far more complicated.”

Question 15

The Chicano Movement (4)

Answer 15

1. Latino High School Walkout (1968) - 15,000 students boycotted school in protest of unequal conditions
2. Chicano Moratorium March against Vietnam (197) - 30,000 protesters
3. Raza Unida Party formed in Texas (1970) - received 200,000 votes in 1972
4. Edward J Escobar: “Police violence, rather than subduing Chicano movement activism, propelled that activism to a new level.”

Question 16

Outline the Cause of Youth Protest

Answer 16

1. Baby Boom
2. Rapid economic growth - average income rose by 43% in 15 years up till 1960
3. Election of JFK
4. Expansion of education - pre WW2 average grade: 8, post WW2 average grade: 12. 50% attended college/

Question 17

Impact of Youth Protest

Answer 17

1. Support for civil rights (sit ins, freedom rides and marches), environmentalism (Silent Spring 1962 and 3 mile island disaster 1979), education (critical of depersonalized courses) and Vietnam (1000 Yale students march on NY, teach ins, 20,000 at Berkey protest)
2. Importance of celebrities and music: Jane Fonda, Sexual Revolution, What have they done with the rain, Bob Dylan (Howard Zinn: a phenomenon onto himself), Emmet Till, Summer of love (100,000 hippies)

Question 18

Youth protest in Mexico

Answer 18

1. March of Silence 1968
2. Artists such as Oscar Chavez
3. Tlatelaco Massacre 1968 - 300 killed
4. National Strike council eventually returned to schools

Question 19

Historiography on Youth Protest (3)

Answer 19

1. Russel Duncan: “In 1964, the front edge of the 20 million baby boomers in America turned 18. These numbers created a vast potential for change.”
2. Vivienne Sanders Tet offensive was a turning point rather than youth protest.
3. Terry Anderson: The hippies “significantly altered cold war culture.”

Question 20

Origins of the Civil Rights Movement (7)

Answer 20

1. Emancipation Proclamation 1865; 13th Amendment - abolition of slavery; Reconstruction - promise of “40 acres an a mule” yet most became sharecroppers; 15th Amendment - African Americans could vote, led to 16 blacks elected to congress.
2. Mississippi introduce Poll Tax in 1890, literacy tests and “grandfather clause” to prevent voting. By 1900, only 3% of Blacks in the south could vote. Plessy v Ferguson 1986
3. Booker T Washington - Tuskegee Institute, practical skills,, accommodation, 1901 dinner at white house, by 1900 25% of black farmers owned their land, Atlanta Race Riot 1906
4. Donal Spirey: Washington taught “blacks to remain in their place.”
5. Adam Fairclough: “inspiration to black middle class
6. NAACP - William du Bois founded in 1909; by 1919 Crisis had circulation of 100,000; legal success with 1915 Oklahoma “grandfather clause” and Kentucky residential zoning
7. Great Migration - 350,000; Marcus Garvey - Black star shipping; Phillip Randolph - Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (1925)

Question 21

Impact of WW2

Answer 21

1. 1 million blacks were conscripted, double v campaign
2. Benjamin o Davies was first Black general
3. Establishment of Fair Employment Practices Commission and GI Bill (8 million)
4. NAACP membership rose from 50,000 to 450,000
5. Electoral register rose from 3% (1940) to 12% (1950)

Question 22

Impact of Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Answer 22

1. Earl Warren declared “separate but equal” to be unconstitutional yet no plan of implementation.
2. Brown II (1955) called for “all deliberate speed” but relied on federal courts which were susceptible to intimidation and corruption
3. Eisenhower was unsupportive: selecting Earl Warren as chief justice was the “biggest damn fool decision I ever made” (Douglas Reed: most important)
4. In response to the ruling, the South launched the Southern Manifesto (1956) and implemented ability groups and complex admissions procedures to limit integration. White Citizen’s Council.
5. Mary Dudziak: Brown was unimportant

Question 23

What was the significance of the Little Rock Nine (1957)?

Answer 23

1. 9 students were blocked by a mob of 100 white citizens outside Central Highschool, highlighting the extent of opposition to Brown
2. However Eisenhower sent in 1,200 paratroopers to restore order, signifying the importance of government intervention. (Douglas Reed: Eisenhower’s actions were very important)
3. In Virginia less that 5% of black students attended integrated schools by 1965

Question 24

What was the significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott? (1955-56)

Answer 24

1. Typically, 30,000 black citizens of Montgomery travelled by bus to work. The boycott resulted in the companies losing 75% of their customers as black demonstrators relied on car pools. Boycott lasted 381 days and segregation on buses ended
2. Highlighted the importance of non-violence as an effective tool for change.
3. Established Martin Luther King J.R as the face of the civil rights movement. Led him to form the Southern Leadership Christian Council
4. Troy Jackson “Boycott preceded King’s arrival in the city… even the emphasis on love and nonviolence would have emerged as a dominant theme without King’s presence”

Question 25

African American non-violent resistance (7)

Answer 25

1. Sit ins (1960)- 70,000 students
2. Freedom Rides (1961) - 400 US Marshalls
3. Failure of Albany (1961)
4. Project Confrontation in Birmingham (1963) - 3,000 arrested, Bull Connor, Children’s Crusade, fire hoses and police dogs, 1962 4% thought civil rights was most important issue, 1963: 42%
5. March on Washington (1963) - government control - Wednesday, dress, whites - 250,000
6. Selma March (1965) - Dallas County: 1% of black voters registered, Bloody Sunday (50 million viewers), 600 attacked, Johnson sent 2,000 troops, 3,000 marches, 25,000 arrived in Montgomery, 1965 - 60% of Blacks registered, 35% in South 19164, 65% by 1969
7. Stephen Oates: Selma was the moment’s finest hour

Question 26

Factors that contributed to the passing of the Civil Rights Act (4)

Answer 26

1. March on Washington (1963) - lots of support
2. Johnson Treatment - promise of water project, Dirksen given spotlight, 15 years of experience as Texan Senator
3. Assassination of Kennedy - grief
4. Manning Marble: economic factors were the most important reasons for passing of the Act

Question 27

Impact of the Civil Rights Act (6)

Answer 27

1. Virtually wiped out Jim Crow Laws
2. Set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - permanent watchdog agency to investigate claims of racial discrimination
3. Withheld federal funding to ensure support - by 1965, 88% of school districts in the South had complied
4. Higher Education Act 1965 - 400% black college students by 1960s
5. 2/3 of cities in Alabama and Mississippi had desegregated their public accommodation by the end of 1965
6. Little change in ghettoes of LA and New York
7. Francoise Hamlin: the movement wasn’t enough, it had to be enforced by laws.

Question 28

Cause of rise of Black Power and Radical Protest

Answer 28

1. Frustration with slow pace of change e.g. Brown vs Topeka (11 yrs), failed Albany campaign, MFDP conference.
2. Ineffectiveness and risks of non-violent protest e.g. Freedom Summer (1964) 6 killed, 1,600 adults registered, 3,000 children education, Poor People campaign demanded $30 bill but achieved little
3. Prominence of Black Power Leaders: Malcolm X - Nation of Islam, Organisation of Afro-American Unity; Stokely Carmichael - set up Lowdnes Country Freedom Organisation, Deacons for Defense and Justice, whites excluded from CORE, Meredith March (1966) - armed protection, 350km, yet Student Democratic Society and left in 1967, Watts riots - 4,00 arrested, $40 mill in damages. Huey Newton: Black Panthers: free food programmes, Free Breakfast, monitor police
4. Peniel Joseph: scholars have presented Black Power as the civil rights movement’s “evil twin,” h
5. William Van Deburg: Black Power enabled “Black Americans came to understand themselves better” leading to an outburst of creative work in art, music, literature and fashion.
6. Clayborn Carson: “black power militancy led to decline in influence”