CIVIL RIGHTS: Focus of Study Flashcards
NAACP.
Founded in ‘09 in response to lynchings in Illinois.
Gained Publicity after protesting against KKK film ‘The Birth of a Nation’.
SCLC
Formed ‘57 Atlanta from Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Local, grassroots led by MLK.
CORE.
Non-violent + initially targeted segregated businesses + sit-ins.
Beliefs and aims of MLK.
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”
Racism + poverty can only be beaten through non-violence.
Achieve love + equality.
Criticisms of MLK.
Non-violent brought slow change.
Intolerant of views of others like Malcolm X.
Beliefs and aims of Malcom X.
Nation of Islam - less radical after pilgrimage to Mecca.
Black nationalism + self-determination.
Let white + black people control their own politics/economy.
Empower blacks to control own fate - moral tactics can only succeed w a moral system.
Reconnect Blacks w heritage.
Criticisms of Malcom X.
Too militarist, violent - no support from white
people.
KKK.
Reformed after Brown v. BOE.
‘25 - 5 million members.
Spread across country - police + courts on their side.
White Citizens Council.
Pamphlet: “We will not be integrated! We are proud of our white blood…”
Membership peaked at 250,000 in ‘57.
Educated, professional, middle-class people.
Portrayed blacks as sexual predators, savages + unintelligent .
Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man + was arrested and fined.
Lasted 13 months - small economic impact.
Browder v. Gale - buses shouldn’t be segregated as it’s unconstitutional.
Importance of boycott.
Well organised - MIA met to discuss boycott + put MLK as their chairman.
Committed to success - continued despite threats (told they would be fired from jobs).
Well publicised - through church meetings + local newspapers.
Bus company financially hurt - majority of riders were AA - lost money running empty buses.
Desegregation of Little Rock High School.
NAACP + CORE hand picked students - high achievers, well behaved, dressed nicely - disagreeing w stereotypes.
Kids met with riots - yelling abuse + death threats.
President Eisenhower calls National Guard -secure them into/around school each day.
Eisenhower makes speech of National Guard - speech about how bad they look.
Brown v. Board of education - overturned Plessy v. Fergusson.
Conservative Backlash - Brown II - “with all deliberate speed.”
Prince Edward county Virginia stopped funding schools - closing them until 1964.
Impact of Little Rock.
Loss of black teachers (loss of role models), excluded from advanced programs.
One student finished the year out of 9.
Publicity internationally - intervention by Eisenhower.
‘60 - 5 states still segregated.
KKK membership increased.
Freedom Rides.
Despite the Supreme Court desegregation of state transport (Bus Boycott), bus station facilities like toilets + waiting rooms were segregated.
CORE activists planned to ride buses from North to Deep South to test desegregation.
SNCC determined to not let the KKK/WCC win so they recruited their own Freedom Riders - co-operation between civil rights groups.
Violence rife - bus drivers didn’t want to drive them.
Impact of Freedom Rides.
Attorney General changed laws in order to stop segregation on interstate level
Alabama - Kennedy sent troops to protect buses
Black + White people worked together on buses.
International attention + news reports.
Police prepared to be in breach of law to stop desegregation.
SNCC took over for second wave showing violence wont stop them.
March on Washington.
Designed to commemorate 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation + would pressure on Kennedy to pass promised civil rights legislation.
NAACP, CORE, SCLC, SNCC organised the peaceful protest.
Significance of March on Washington.
Size - showed huge support w 2,500,000 people w 40,000 of them being white.
Broadcasted live around the world - MLK made his famous “I have a Dream”.
Kings speech powerful as people saw him as the leader of the CRM.
Support from all classes - famous people attended.
Freedom Summer.
A voter registration drive sponsored CORE + SNCC - aimed at increasing black voter registration in Mississippi.
Freedom Summer workers included black Mississippians + 1,000 out-of-state white volunteers.
Many white Mississippians saw the campaign as an invasion.
Reactions of Freedom Summer.
The KKK carried violent attacks against the activists, including arson (37 black churches), beatings (locals + volunteers), murder of 3 people.
WCC fired workers from jobs for trying to register to vote.
About 17,000 black people attempted to vote that summer, only 1,600 succeeded.
Assassination of MLK.
MLK was in Memphis to support 1,300 striking black sanitation workers.
Stepped onto balcony + shot by James Earl Ray.
Significance of assassination of MLK.
Shocked world - riots/vandalism/fire-bombing broke out in 100 cities - 35 people killed/
“This is America’s answer to the peaceful, non-violent way” - James Meredith.
Rioting led to white flight.
Criticism of MLK - communist pushing too hard and fast + not his place to talk about war in Vietnam.
Black Power.
Soul music: mix of gospel and R&B; James Brown ‘Say it Loud’ - became an anthem of civil rights.
Slogan ‘black is beautiful’.
Less imitating white styles - women wore hair naturally.
Black fashion linked to heritage as African-style clothes.
By ‘68 courses in Black History began to appear.
Civil Rights Act.
Outlawed segregation (schools, theatres, etc.) + discrimination in employment.
Laid the groundwork for social change.
Supplemented by LBJ’s Voting Rights Act of ‘65.
Attitude of Truman to CRM.
Ended discrimination in armed forces + put a black judge on the federal court.
Somewhat far-sighted and liberal - Measures took a long time to appear due to opposition + the fact that he needed congress support in the Korean War.
