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NAT 5 History > Civil Rights In The USA 1918-1968 > Flashcards

Civil Rights In The USA 1918-1968 Flashcards

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1
Q

Explain why the 1920s were not as fun as they seemed

A
  • Many unemployed
  • lots of poverty - slums
  • Crime soaring - Al Capone
  • Women couldn’t vote
  • Severe racism
  • 1929 Wall Street Crash
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2
Q

Explain why immigrants came to the USA

A
  • Intro steam ships - better source of transport - shorter journeys - 1 week rather than 3 months
  • Good education offered - eg Harvard Uni seemed very attractive - thot help achieve American dream
  • Trying to escape - Jews escaping persecution from E. Europe - Russians escaping communism - pushed out homes
  • Promise of freedom - US promised free speech and freedom to practice own religion
  • Poverty - lack of food/ poor living standards in home countries - by 1920s US boasted highest living standard in world
  • Better jobs - eg Ford motor company attractive- more money in US
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3
Q

Describe the experience of immigrants on Ellis Island

A
  • 3rd class passengers taken to Ellis Island
  • Given a ticket and had to wait many hrs in crowded conditions with no toilets, food, water
  • Then inspected by a doctor

• Marked with chalk
- LCD (loathsome contagious disease)

  • If passed medical exam went through questioning process with translator - if failed put in detention
  • Those who passed given landing card and allowed to enter US
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4
Q

Describe the immigrants’ experience in America

A
  • Language Barrier - not speak English
  • Overcrowding- disease - Spanish flu 1918
  • Religion - WASPs - Ford not empty Jews
  • Poverty
  • Discrimination - couldn’t get jobs, abuse
  • No political rights
  • Settled with own ppl - China Town, Little Italy - confusion + suspicion/ WASPs felt threatened
  • Crime - stereotyped- Wrongfully accused
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5
Q

Describe attitudes towards new immigrants

A
  • Racism - hatred of Jewish race
  • Superiority - white race above all others (Nordic/ Aryan)
  • Fear - govt systems (communism 1917) - religion (Catholicism - Ireland Italy)
  • Disgust - diseases + overcrowding in slum conditions
  • Anger - taking jobs/housing from true Americans
  • Paranoia- language barrier - felt immigrants plotting something
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6
Q

Describe how the US closed its doors on immigration

A
  • 1902 - Law on Chinese immigration - Made illegal
  • 1907 Agreement between US + Japan - stopped immigrantion of Japanese workers
  • 1907 - Dillingham Commission - introduces literacy test for immigrants
  • 1921 Immigration law - only 3% of each nationality living in US would be allowed in
  • 1924 Immigration law - cut to 150,000 per yr
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7
Q

Explain why America closed its doors on immigration

A
  • Economic issues - jobs - stoke breakers - strain on housing
  • Fear of new religions - Jews + Catholics
  • Crime - blames immigrants - Al Capone
  • Nativism- racist attitude
  • Fear of social unrest - aftermath Russian Rev 1917
  • Overcrowding - disease - Spanish Flu 1918
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8
Q

Describe the Jim Crow Laws

A
  • Transport segregated - bus station waiting rooms
  • Eating places segregated - lunch counters
  • Separate education- Black + white school
  • Social places separate - parks, toilets, water fountains
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9
Q

Describe the effect of Jim Crow laws on blacks in the South

A
  • Discrimination of jobs - not law - not employ blacks - thot stupid
  • Lived in Fear/ intimidation - punishments of law not adhered to - KKK
  • Humiliation- blacks had to pay for bus ticket at front, get off, go to back and get on - degrading drew attention
  • Feeling of injustice - in order to vote blacks had to sit a test with impossible questions eg how many bubbles on a bar of soap - felt very unfair - whites not have to sit
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10
Q

Describe the activities of the KKK

A
  • Cross Burning - terrorise, intimidate - symbolised white supremacy
  • Lynching - mob culture - no police/courts - hangings beatings shooting
  • Marches - throughly streets - threatening posters - warnings to leave town - intimidation- Washington 1925
  • Arson - burned down black communities/ schools/ churches
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11
Q

Explain why the KKK was not stopped

A
  • Powerful ppl were members - state officials, policemen
  • Klansmen elected to positions of political power - mayors, judges
  • Bribery/ threats
  • Hidden - hoods - invisible empire
  • Blacks had no say - no votes/ black politicians
  • No black police officers / judges
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12
Q

Explain why people moved to the North of America

A
  • Poverty- American Dream
  • Job prospects- bed spring factories
  • Avoid KKK - escape
  • Join others - family
  • Less segregation
  • Intimidation
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13
Q

Explain why blacks moved to the North

A
  • American Dream
  • Promise of better jobs
  • Adverts + letters from family
  • Fear of KKK
  • Jim Crow laws
  • Sharecropping
  • Boll weavel infestation
  • Little money spent on education
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14
Q

Describe the experience of blacks in the North

A
  • Poor whites saw blacks as unwelcome job competition
  • Bosses used blacks as strike breakers
  • Seen as uneducated + unskilled - harder to get well paid job = poor
  • Racism - whites felt superior - segregated
  • Race riots demonstrated level of racism - Chicago 1919
  • Better than south - by 1920s some blacks able to prosper in their own communities eg Tulsa Oklahoma - 100s black businesses
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15
Q

Describe the effect of WW2 on blacks

A
  • Blacks served in US Forces and to an extent were treated equally
  • Gained promotion in armed forces (black regiments)
  • Fighting for freedom but didn’t experience freedom at home
  • CORE - Congress for racial equality - 1942
  • President Truman tried to improve civil rights
  • Tried to end segregation in armed forces but remained till 1950s and suggested lunching a federal crime but rejected
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16
Q

Explain why there was a growth in civil rights after 1945

A
  • 1909 NAACP ( National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) - 1st organisation resulted I growing
  • Jim Crow/ inequalities = unfair/anger
  • Lynching - unfair, fear + injustice
  • WW2 - unfair, freedom, irony
  • CORE 1942
  • President - place of power/ support
  • India - inspiration + showed results
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17
Q

Describe the death of Emmet Till

A
  • 1935
  • Sparked movement
  • Death + violence
  • Public display of body
  • Protests
  • Mass funeral
  • One of many who were murdered
  • North + South division
  • 2 killers acquitted
  • Empathy
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18
Q

Explain why the lunching of Emmet Till was important to the civil rights movement

A
  • Violence - shocked ppl- disfigures face - outrage - disgust
  • Killers acquitted- outrage - showed extent of racism in south - anger - reporters/ press
  • Empathy - Northern whites empathetic
  • Support - 50,00 ppl from Chicago went to see body - many joined movement - $ sent to NAACP
  • Embarrassing- Govt embarrassed about level violence South - meant to be most democratic free nation
  • United North + South - Joined together to grieve
  • Popular culture helped distribute the message - shocked ppl everywhere- ‘The Ballad of Emmet Till’ by Bob Dylan
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19
Q

Describe the Montgomery Bus Boycott

A
  • 1955 - blacks were angry that Rosa Parks had been arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man - fed up
  • Black decides to boycott buses as they made up majority of ppl using them - would hurt bus companies
  • Decided to walk everywhere or organised car pools
  • Huge economic impact on bus companies
  • Buses eventually desegregated
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20
Q

Describe the Brown V Topeka Board of Education Case

A
  • 1954
  • Linda Brown had to walk several blocks to black schools
  • Parents protested
  • Challenged Topeka Board Of Education with help of NAACP
  • Court ruled to desegregate schools
21
Q

Describe the events in Little Rock in 1957

A
  • The high school was to be desegregated and NAACP wanted to test the law
  • 9 black kids were sent to the school
  • Orval Faubus (gov of Arkansas) sent state soldiers to the school to stop black kids getting in
  • White protestors formed angry mob around school
  • Elizabeth Eckford - 1st black student to try to enter
  • Met by adults spitting and shouting at her
  • Outraged, the President order Governor to remove soldiers
  • Pres sent 1000 US soldier to escort the black kids to school
  • Stayed for 1 yr to ensure kids were safe in school
22
Q

Explain why the events in Little Rock were important to the Civil Rights Movement

A
  • Frustrated President (who was for civil rights) - no longer willing to have individual states in the US ignore federal law
  • Shocked many ppl
  • Attracted worldwide attention to movement- embarrassing America- midst Cold War Russia, trying to prove they were better than Russia
23
Q

Describe the sit in campgain

A
  • 1 Feb 1960 - 4 black students ordered at a whites only lunch counter in Greensboro but they were refused
  • Following day they went back with more black and white protesters
  • they ‘sat in’ the lunch counter all day even though they were being insulted and attacked
  • By end of 1960 70,000 protestors had taken part in sit ins
  • Summer 1960 - almost all Southern lunch counters were desegregated
24
Q

Describe Freedom rides

A
  • May 1961 - 13 CORE members rode from Washington to New Orleans to see if the 1960 ruling to ban segregation had worked
  • they would try to use whites only wash rooms at stops along the way
  • KKK waiting for them in Anniston, Alabama
  • the 2 ‘Freedom’ buses were stopped and burned
  • KKK best ppl trying to get off bus
  • Student went to Birmingham, Alabama to catch another interstate bus
  • Again bus halted + 8 whites got on and beat the students with sticks and chains
  • Drew national attention
  • US law officers sent to protect students
  • Late 1961 - US govt ordered the desegregation of airports, railroad and bus stations
25
Q

Explain why SIT INS were important to the civil rights movement

A
  • PUBLICITY- Americans, esp. in North, were able to see the plight of blacks in the south and this created awareness for CRM
  • EMPATHY - Many white Americans not only felt sorry for blacks but understood how much civil rights meant to the campaigners
  • MANY WHITES JOINED - It increased membership and credibility
  • DESEGREGATION- 1955- In some areas in the south eg N.Carolina lunch counters were desegregated so the protest worked
  • SHOWED YOUNG BLACKS HAD ECONOMIC POWER - created a feeling that change can happen through peaceful non violent protests
  • SHOWED MLK HAD INSPIRED NON VIOLENT PROTESTS
26
Q

Describe the march in Birmingham in 1963

A
  • MLK organised march in most segregated city
  • 2nd May - march begins + Bull Connor waits with police
  • 900 kids arrested
  • 3rd May - 30,000 protestors - met with cannons, water hoses, + dogs
  • 4th May - more protestors- Connor orders attack but police + firemen say no
27
Q

Explain why the march in Birmingham in 1963 was important to the civil rights movement

A
  • PUBLICITY- reputation of MLK soared after he was jailed - many thought he was a hero and popularity for the movement grew
  • EMPATHY - TV cameras filmed the violence - Americans shocked + horrified
  • WORLD REPUTATION- US embarrassed at the way its citizens were being treated
  • ECONOMIC POWER - Stores/ lunch counters in Birmingham were desegregated- this was important bc Birmingham was one of the most racist cities in US
  • RESULTS/SUCCESS - Creation of bi-racial committee - helped to improve relations in the community to some extent
  • FEDERAL SUPPORT - The US Government had to intervene - pushed govt to do something more for CR again
28
Q

Describe the march in Washington 1963

A

AUG 28 1963

  • D- demonstrators including MLK marched in capital city in protest for jobs + freedom
  • R - receive publicity for the CRM
  • E - estimated 250,000 protestors were present
  • A - and 50,000 were white = bi-racial march
  • M - memorial had significance as Lincoln had ‘freed’ the slaves in 1863
  • S - speech - “I have a dream” - encouraged, inspired + justified the march
29
Q

Explain why the march in Washington in 1963 was important to the CRM

A

RESULTS - 1964 - Civil Rights Act - No discrimination but didn’t help housing + education

  • mass number involved -250,000 - showed CRM had mass support
  • 50,000 whites - bi-racial - showed wasn’t b v w movement but had white support - gave Many an impetus to join + support
  • March = peaceful+orderly - gained respect for movement & tactics of MLK
  • Million’s watched on TV - gained publicity meaning more ppl understood the cause of CRM
  • Worldwide coverage - peaceful tactics showed southern blacks were respectful - US embarrassed to show whites attacking blacks considering meant to be most democratic superpower
  • MLK ‘dream’ speech - created inspiration + support for MLK + CRM - one of most famous speeches in history
30
Q

Describe the Selma march in 1965

A
  • March organised from Selma to Montgomery in protest about black voting rights
  • 7th March 1965
  • 500-700 marchers
  • Marchers met with fierce resistance- troops with tear gas, cannons etc
  • Marchers refused to turn back
  • 17 marchers were hospitalised
  • Day became known as Bloody Sunday - Churches turned into hospitals
  • King organised another march on 21st March - troops did not stop them
  • Once in Montgomery MLK gives speech but only a few hours later the KKK murdered a young white woman who had protested with the CRM
31
Q

How successful was the Voting Rights Act?

A
  • Mississippi: 1964=4% 1968=59% of black Population registered to vote
  • By the end of 1965 250,000 blacks were now registered to vote
  • Within 3 years most of the black population of the South were registered to vote
  • White protestors now needed black votes to stay in power
  • Some blacks saw an opportunity to become politicians
32
Q

Explain why the Selma march was important to the CRM

A
  • Publicity for violence
  • Embarrassed govt
  • Voting Rights Act
  • By the end of 1965 250,000 blacks registered to vote
  • Changed attitudes - eg some blacks thought they could become politicians themselves - make changes
  • Changed political dynamics - white politicians needed the black vote
33
Q

What were MLK’s aims?

A
  • End segregation
  • End Discrimination
  • End racial violence
  • Use civil disobedience
  • Use passive resistance
  • Gain support for the movement
  • Convince Americans that racial discrimination was morally wrong
  • Black voting
34
Q

Describe the Civil Rights Act of 1964

A
  • First proposed by JFK
  • Discrimination banned (An exception was made for places that served less than 5 people)
  • ‘race, religion, national origin, or sex’
  • The Justice Department was allowed to take any state four to court that discriminated against blacks people
  • Office of Education ( now the Department of Education) creates to assist with school desegregation
35
Q

How successful was the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

A
  • Many politicians that the law had gone as far as it could to support African Americans
  • Yet it did nothing for housing or poverty
  • It didn’t help blacks get the vote
36
Q

Explain why MLK was important to the CRM

A
  • Helped organise car pools and the Montgomery Bus Boycott which achieved desegregation on the buses
  • Although he did NOT TAKE PART in, he INSPIRED the sit ins and freedom rides with non violence
  • Organised the Birmingham March in 1963 - result was desegregation in a year
  • Made one of the most iconic speeches in history at the Washington March for jobs and freedom in 1963: “not be judged but the colour of their skin but by the content of their character… I have a dream one day”
  • Was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Organised the Selma march which eventually resulted in the Voting Rights Act In 1965
  • Assassinated In 1968 so has become a martyr for the CRM
37
Q

Describe the March Against Fear in 1966

A
  • 5th June, 1966 - James Meredith started a solitary march Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson, to protest against racism
  • He was shot by a sniper
  • Civil Rights campaigners including MLK and Stokely Carmichael decided to continue to march in Meredith’s name
  • When the marchers got to Greenwood, Mississippi, Stokely Carmichael Made his famous speech
  • Complete rejection of the values of American society
  • After hospital treatment Meredith rejoined the March Against Fear on 25th June 1966
38
Q

Describe the CRM splits

A
  • During the March Against Fear, the splits between the non violent strategy of MLK and the more militant campaigners became obvious
  • While King and his supporters chanted “freedom now” and encouraged White Americans to join the march, the new leader of the SNCC Stokely Carmichael chanted “black power” and rejected white help
  • The CRM splits because many were disillusioned with the progress of MLK’s peaceful protests
39
Q

Describe the Watts Riot in 1965

A
  • The Watts Riot In 1965 was the first of several riots which broke out between 1965-68
  • The Watts area was in LA and 98% of the population was black
  • Yet the police force was nearly all white
  • One night the police stopped a young black for drunk driving
  • There was an argument and the youth was hit by a policeman
  • A fight broke out which grew into a confrontation between police and black residents of the Watts
  • The riot lasted 6 days and left 34 dead, 900 wounded and 4000 arrested
40
Q

Describe the Northern Race Riots of 1965-68

A
  • During the Summers of 1966, 1967 and 1968 there were riots in LA, Detroit and Chicago
  • Conditions in the black ghettos of Northern cities were very bad
  • Young blacks from the slums took to the street in protest against discrimination
  • Most people who lived in the ghettos didn’t participate in the riots
  • However some of them agreed with the young men that were fighting
  • These riots weakened MLK’s influence as many people were attracted to calls for ‘Black Power’
41
Q

Describe Elijah Muhammad’s views

A
  • Some of this earth for ourselves or else
  • Whites = devils
  • Separation not desegregation
  • Blacks to run own communities + businesses
42
Q

Describe Malcom X and his views

A
  • Non violent is another word for defencelessness
  • A member of the Nation of Islam = desperate black nation
  • Attacked non violent methods of MLK
  • 1964 - Changed his mind - less hatred of whites and left Nation of Islam
  • Assassinated In 1965 by two Nation of Islam members
43
Q

Describe Stokely Carmichael and his views

A
  • Involved in non violent protests of early 1960s
  • 1961 - Joined freedom riders
  • Became leader of SNCC in 1966
  • Mid 1960s he then changed aims - to black separatism and violent protest
  • 1969 - Changed the name of SNCC to Student NATIONAL Coordinating Committee
44
Q

Describe Black Power

A
  • Not rely on Whites to ‘give’ them Civil Rights
  • Build their own school, communities etc without interference from Whites
  • Be prepared to defend themselves, use violence if necessary
  • Develop sense of pride in their own separate identity and culture
45
Q

Describe the incident at the Olympic Games in 1968

A

The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute was a political demonstration conducted by AA athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City

46
Q

Describe the Black Panthers

A
  • Fight to death of attacked
  • Uniform
  • Anti white/ anti police
  • Use violence to her change
  • 10 point programme
  • Set up schools/ kitchens/ health clinics
  • Harassed by FBI
47
Q

Explain why the Black Panthers were popular

A
  • Defence
  • Distrust police
  • Self help programme
  • 10 point programme
  • Propaganda
  • Sportsmen
48
Q

Describe the findings of the Kerner Commission

A

• Set up in 1967 to investigate the race riots of that year and found that:

  • the USA was a divided society; blacks were generally poor
  • White people more prosperous
  • unemployment among black men double the rate for whites
  • 40% of all AA lived in poverty
  • poverty highlighted as one of the main causes of the riots

NAT 5 History (5 decks)

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