Civil Rights in America Flashcards
1
Q
The Emancipation Proclamation.
A
- 1863
- Meant slaves were willing to fight for the north.
- Not for the South
- Impact on victory - War is about emancipation (not just fighting to keep the Union together)
2
Q
What amendments were introduced after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation?
A
- 13th Amendment: End Slavery (1865)
- 14th Amendment: Equality (1868)
- 15th Amendment: Right to vote (1870)
+ Civil Rights Act (1866) gave blacks Civil Rights
+ Military Reconstruction Act (1867) aimed to give blacks political and legal equality.
3
Q
Why were the new amendments not followed?
A
- Loopholes in the Constitution
- Local government juristiction
- No economic aid to the recently freed slaves
4
Q
Economic position of blacks during and after reconstruction.
A
- Reconstruction failed to bring economic gains to blacks.
- Blacks had gained freedom of movement but lacked the wealth to develop a succesful lifestyle.
- Most remained trapped in poverty, working as farmers in the south.
5
Q
Political position of blacks during and after reconstruction.
A
- Lincoln’s Republican party acquired the black votes having advocated the equal voting rights for some time.
- Blacks were elcted to local and state office however there was no black, Southern governor during Reconstruction.
- Only two black US senators both from Mississippi.
6
Q
Why were blacks unable to dominate Southern politics during reconstruction?
A
- Lacked education, organisation and experience
- accustomed to white leadership and domination
- Black community was divided
- Ex-slaves resented free-born blacks who saw themselves as superior - Blacks were a minority in most states
- The Republican Party usually put forward white candidates in the hope of attracting more white voters.
7
Q
How and why was black voting stopped by the 1890s?
A
- Southern whites depicted the reconstruction as a period of black rule, rape, murder and arson.
- They used this excuse to disfranchise blacks.
- White supremacist groups used violence to stop blacks.
- Southern states introduced income and literacy qualifications for voting - penalised more blacks than whites.
- Illiterate whites were allowed to vote through the ‘grandfather clauses’
- A man could vote if it were proved that an ancestor had voted before Reconstruction.
8
Q
Blacks and the Supreme Court
A
- SC did nothing about the Jim Crow Laws that legalised segregation.
- Seperate but equal laws were not against the 14th.
- The SC also failed to uphold the 15th - meaning that southern states followed the SC rather than the Constitution.
9
Q
Plessy vs Ferguson
A
- 1896
- Homer A. Plessy sat in a ‘white only’ train carriage
- He thought the SC would protect him under the 14th.
- BUT SC decide intentions of the amendment here not to allow for comingling
- “Seperate but equal”
- Used as justification for 20 states to implement legal segregation
10
Q
What was the Civil Rights situation in America by 1914?
A
- Segregation by education (whites = 10x more funding)
- KKK
- “Seperate but equal”
- (Campaigns against) lynching
- Advocacy groups
- Migration to the north
- Minimal Political rights
- Segregated Armed Forces (Harlem Hell fighters)
11
Q
The two political parties and their opinion on Civil Rights in the 19th + 20th Century.
A
Democrats:
- Pro-Slavery
Republicans:
- Anti-slavery
HOWEVER:
- Roosevelt = Democrat
- Pro Civil Rights
12
Q
Eisenhower and his Chief Justice
A
- President has power to appoint new SC Chief Justice
- Earl Warren appointed Chief Justice (Life tenure)
- Ends up being a Liberal Appointment
13
Q
Brown vs Topeka Board of Education
A
- 1954
- Oliver Brown argued that segregation in Education is not equal.
- Thurgood Marshall: Brown’s Lawyer
- NAACP
- First African-American Judge on SC - SC votes 9-0 in favour of Brown
- Declared unequal
- Unequal funding / teaching resources
- Violates 14th - Eisenhower does not support Brown
14
Q
Reaction to Brown vs Topeka
A
- Brown II
- Desegregate all with deliberate speed - Southern Manifesto
- Over 100 signatures
- Backed by Politicians
- Violating 14th
- Going against SC ruling
- Prevent desegregation of schools and stop further desegregation
15
Q
Massive Resistance
A
- Ends in 1959
- Deemed unconstitutional
- By 1964, still only 5% attended with white children
- ‘Little Rock Nine’ introduced
16
Q
The ‘Little Rock Nine’
A
- Selected to attend Little Rock Central High School for School Year beginning 1957.
- “Blood would run in the streets if black students attempted to enter LRCHS”
- Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas - Faubus sends state troops to stop students
- Eisenhower sends Federal troops
- Passive defence of students - Elizabeth Eckford
17
Q
Other cases
A
- Moore vs Dempsey (1923)
- Asked for the freedom of 12 supposedly innocent on the grounds of biased court rulings
- 6-2 in favour of Moore - Terry vs Adams (1953)
- Whites-only primary was unconstitutional
- Federal enforcement was ineffective - Smith vs Allright (1944)
- Outlawed attempts to prevent blacks from voting in primary elections - Morgan vs Virginia (1946)
- Prohibited segregation on interstate transport - McLaurin vs Oklahoma State University (1950)
- Upheld the rights of black students to recieve equal Higher Education
18
Q
Social position of blacks up to 1954
A
- Blacks stigmatized against in media
- Birth of a Nation (1916)
- Film portraying blacks as rapists, violent and uncivilised. - Harlem Renaissance (1930s)
- Pride and celebrated celebrities - Whites felt threatened of the blacks becoming equal
- Many supported legislation that explored loopholes in the constitution
- People became increasingly willing to join extremist groups such as the KKK - Great Migration: Ghettos
- Lynching still prevalent until Dyer Bill (1954)
- Civil Rights groups
- NAACP (National Association for the advancement of Coloured People)
- NUL (National Urban League)
- UNIA-ACL (Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League) - Elaine Massacre (1919)
- 300 blacks arrested, 122 charged with crimes
- 12 tried and convicted of murder
- Moore vs Dempsey - Blacks portrayed as rapists to promote lynching.
- Army desegregated
19
Q
Economic position of blacks up to 1954
A
- 700,000 blacks to find work in war factories
- Unemployment of blacks fell by 85% during the war
- Black wages were still lower
- Trade Unions that campaigned for better working conditions
- BSCP (Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters)
- FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Committee) - 1929 and 1932: Black unemployment reached 60% in some cities.
- In the South, the average wage was less than half of the North.
- In the North, black Americans were not accepted by Trade Unions
- Forced into worst and lowest paid jobs
20
Q
Causes of the Montgomery bus boycott
A
- Rosa Parks sitting in a white-only section of a bus
- Arrested 1 December 1955
- E.D. Nixon: Lawyer
- Clifford Durr
