Civil Rights Era

Question 1

Beginning of movement

Answer 1

◦ black equality - significant issue for Democratic Party
◦ WWII fought against racism abroad (black veterans adamant to change, and increasing white Americans condemning segregation)
◦ discrimination in US hurt propaganda battle against communists
◦ Soldiers sent to South to enforce desegregation

Question 2

Harlem Renaissance

Answer 2

◦ an African American cultural movement of the 1920s and early 1930s centered around the Harlem neighborhood of New York City
◦ Great migration - movement of hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the rural, depressed South to the industrialized North (employment opportunities created by WWI)

Question 3

Segregation

Answer 3

◦ late 1800’s sue by African Americans to stop separate seating in railroad cars, states’ disfranchisement of voters, and denial of access to schools and restaurants
◦ Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896 - Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” accommodations were constitutional
◦ WEB Du Bois: 1905 (Niagra Movement), 1909 (NAACP)
◦ Segregation becomes common at the end of the Reconstruction in 1877 (White only and Colored)
◦ Also known as Jim Crow system (after minstrel show character from 1830’s that embodied negative stereotypes of African Americans)

Question 4

School De-segregation

Answer 4

◦ led by Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund challenged and overturned many forms of discrimination.
◦ In May 1954, the Warren Court issued its landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, stating racially segregated education was unconstitutional and overturning the Plessy decision
◦ white southerners shocked by Brown decision
◦ in first years following decision (virtually) no school in South were segregated
◦ Virgina closed public schools
◦ 1957 - Governor Orval Faubus denied a federal order to admit nine African Americans to a school in Arkansas

Question 5

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Answer 5

◦ On December 5, 1955, through the rain, the African Americans in Montgomery began to boycott the buses.
◦ 40,000 Black commuters walked to work, some as far as twenty miles.
◦ The boycott lasted 382 days
◦ The bus companies finances struggled. Until the law that called for segregation on buses was finally lifted

Question 6

Civil rights act of 1964 (July 2nd)

Answer 6

◦ is a landmark piece of civil rights legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination
◦ Racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women.
◦ It ended unequal application of voter registration requirements
◦ It ended racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that served the general public (known as “public accommodations”).

Question 7

Black Power

Answer 7

◦ Black Power is a term that emphasizes racial pride and the desire for African Americans to achieve equality.
◦ The term promotes the creation of Black political and social institutions.
◦ The term was popularized by Stokely Carmichael during The Civil Rights Movement.
◦ Many SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) members were becoming critical of leaders that articulated non-violent responses to racism.
◦ Example: Tommie Smith and John Carlos give the Black Power salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Question 8

Black Panther Party

Answer 8

◦ U.S. African American Militant group.
◦ Founded in 1966 in Oakland.
◦ Led by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
◦ Believed violent revolution was the only way to receive freedom.
◦ Urged African Americans to arm themselves.