Civil rights in the 1950s

Question 1

Segregation and discrimination. Revival of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Answer 1

1)schools segregated as well as public transport (sections) + separate but equal. However it wasn’t really equal

Question 2

The importance of Brown versus Topeka (1954)

(Brown v Topeka board of education - Linda brown tried joining summer elementary school but is denied.Taken to local court but rejected. 1954 NAACP pick up case and take it to supreme court.)

Answer 2

1) -Technically all schools had to be desegregated.
- The SC decision 1954 was to declare segregation in schools illegal

2) -14th amendment required admission of all children on equal terms to state schools.
- It was a 9-0 decision which was also important.

3)It was a legal landmark and proved the tactics of the NAACP worked. End of the doctrine of separate but equal – Plessy V Ferguson which underpinned all Jim Crow – the rest could now be challenged.

4) But…
- Many coloured teachers lost their jobs
- Only some begin to comply.
- fewer than 12% of the 6,300 schools districts in the south integrated

Question 3

death of Emmett Till (1955)

Answer 3

1) Publicity
- Mum insisted on bringing body to Chicago
- Open coffin
- People saw the disfigured body
- tens of thousands came to see body

2) Motivated civil rights movement
- More people joined the civil rights movement
- Inspired + motivated Rosa Parks
- Raised awareness of cruelty

Question 4

key events and significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56)

Answer 4

1) Dec 1 1955 Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat - arrested.
- MIA created carpooling system, boycott lasted 381 days.
- 1956 Browder v Gayle ruled segregation in public transport unconstitutional in Alabama

2) The impact of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
- segregation in public transport unconstitutional in Alabama

White community defiance

• Firebombing and intimidation during the campaign
• King’s home attacked
• 4 black churches bombed

Question 5

Little Rock (1957)

Answer 5

1) 1957 Publicity
- 9 coloured people in Little Rock Central High School
- prevented from entering the school by gov Faubus
- children faced hostile mob
- The press photos were published everywhere

2) Federal support
- Faubus resisted SC Brown vs Topeka outcome
- Eisenhower forced to send federal troops to let 9 in

Question 6

The significance of the Civil Rights Act, 1957

Answer 6

1)The civil rights act from Eisenhower ended up passing as a watered down version of what was initially hoped for. This is because senate leader L.B.J, dixiecrats had blocked these attempts by filebuster (talking non stop).

Established a UC Commission on Civil Rights

• Investigate how the coloured were deprived from voting
• Allowed federal courts to prosecute states who tried to prevent people from voting.

Significant
-federal government acted on civil rights
(more symbolic than actual change)