Civil Rights In The USA (1945-74)

Question 1

Cold War context

Answer 1

• Distrust between US and Soviet Union led to the Cold War, Capitalist vs Communist ideals

• Communist governments installed in Eastern Europe, US government thought Russia was trying to take over Europe.

Question 2

Hiss and Rosenberg cases

Answer 2

• Alger Hiss was an important government official who was suspected of being a communist, convicted for lying in caught (perjury), sentenced to 5 years in prison from January 1950

• Rosenberg’s were found guilty of being communist spies, executed on 19th June 1953

Question 3

HUAC

Answer 3

• House Committee on Un-American Activities
• Set up by US governments to monitor extremist groups
• Held public hearings that started in 1947 on the threat the communist party presented to America
• FBI secretly passed intelligence to HUAC

Question 4

FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation

Answer 4

• Directed by J. Edgar Hoover, very strong anti-communist views
• Set up the Federal Loyalty Boards in March 1947, to investigate government employees to find out if they were communists or had links to communism
• Between 1947-51, 3 million investigated, and 3,000 fired or forced to resign
• Passed intelligence to HUAC

Question 5

Hollywood Ten

Answer 5

-10 Hollywood filmmakers that were suspected of spreading communist propaganda in films.

-Were imprisoned for 1 year, most never worked in Hollywood again

-Brought huge publicity to HUAC’s work and increased anti-communist hysteria

Question 6

Methods of McCarthy

Answer 6

• Held private and public hearings, would aggressively question and bully suspected communists, often attacking high profile figures to gain more publicity

• Fabricated evidence, would accuse anyone who spoke bad of him to be a communist

Question 7

Downfall of McCarthy

Answer 7

• Cold war tension had eased after the Korean War, however McCarthy’s accusations grew more extreme

• Media produced more and more articles and programmes about McCarthy’s corruption and bullying

• Accused the army of communist infiltrations which brought his political and public support very far down

• No one was ever convicted of spying from McCarthy’s work

Question 8

Impact of McCarthy

Answer 8

• Caused many people to lose their jobs and damaged many people’s lives due to his unfounded accusations

• Affected the US governments, caused many intelligent and talented employees to be fired

• Added to the nationwide communist hysteria

Question 9

Context of segregation and discrimination

Answer 9

• Jim Crow Laws - segregation in public spaces and rights to vote

• Plessy vs Ferguson - separate but equal

• African American’s wages were generally half a white American’s for the same job

• Black Americans lived in poorer areas

Question 10

Brown vs Topeka causes and events

Answer 10

• Linda Brown was rejected from an all white school in Topeka on the grounds of race

• NAACP helped take it to Supreme Court, who ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional, 17th May 1954

• Supreme Court ordered for desegregation of schools with immediate effect

Question 11

Brown vs Topeka impact and significance

Answer 11

• Limited immediate impact, schools outside the Deep South started to desegregate

• Many African Americans suffered, teachers losing their jobs, good school being closed down

• Great victory for NAACP - National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People

• Showed Supreme Court was pro civil rights and therefore more hunger for justice

Question 12

Murder of Emmett Till event

Answer 12

• 14 year old northerner Emmett Till was murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman in Mississippi

• Four days later he was taken from his great-uncle’s house, beaten, shot and dumped in a river by her husband and half-brother (Bryant and Milam)

• His body was found on 31 August 1955

• Murderers were found not guilty in an hour by an all white male jury

Question 13

Murder of Emmett Till impact and significance

Answer 13

• Public was outraged with the jury and decision especially after Bryant and Milam admitted to the crimes months later in a magazine and couldn’t be brought to justice as they couldn’t get trie twice for the same crime.

• His mother had his body brought back to Chicago for an open casket funeral, which received massive publicity

• Brought more awareness to the extreme racism African Americans were facing in the South

Question 14

Montgomery Bus Boycott causes and event

Answer 14

• Rosa Parks refused to stand for a white man to sit down on a bus in Montgomery on 1 December 1955

• She was arrested, and on the day of her trial (5 December), all African Americans were told to boycott the buses

• Boycott lasted for over a year, African Americas returned to the buses on the 20th of December 1956, and were allowed to sit where they wanted to

Question 15

Montgomery Bus Boycott causes and event

Answer 15

-Regarded a very successful, as it provided a form of protest that worked
-Brought public attention to the work of Martin Luther King
-Only led to change in one area, other facilities in Montgomery remained segregated for many years afterwards.
-Caused intense violent backlash from racists

Question 16

Little Rock causes and event

Answer 16

• 9 student enrolled in all white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas

• Students were met by a violent mob of white people and state troops forbidding them entry to the school

• Situation gained mass media attention causing the govt to step in with the president sending in 1,200 state troops to Little Rock to protect the students.

• They were finally allowed to attend classes 3 weeks into the start of the year September 1957

Question 17

Little Rock impact and significance

Answer 17

• International level of publicity which damaged USA’s reputation

• Millions of US citizens saw another instance of extreme racism in the South

Question 18

Civil Rights Act 1957 causes and clauses

Answer 18

• Set up the US commission on Civil rights, which began investigation how African Americans were prevented from voting

• Allowed federal courts to prosecute state who tried to prevent people from voting

• Signed by Eisenhower in September 1957, focused on investigating how African Americans were prevented from voting

Question 19

Civil Rights Act 1957 impact and significance

Answer 19

• Little immediate impact, however it was a hugely important first step which showed that congress were willing to do something

• Civil rights activists were disappointed by how little the act did and became even more determined to press for further reform

• Allowed congress to pass another civil rights act in 1960

Question 20

Revival of KKK

Answer 20

• Revived in response to the growing civil rights protests and acts

• Didn’t reach same levels of membership in 1920s

• Targeted civil rights protestors, black or white

• Grew more extreme as civil rights protests grew, methods include beating, lynching, shooting, arson and bombing

Question 21

Sit-ins events

Answer 21

• Organised by colleges students. First sit in took place on 1 February 1960 where four black students sat at a white only cafe in North Carolina and waited to be served

• Sit-ins spread to other town in NC and even other parts of the South, over 70,000 people took part in the sit-ins

• Received support from others civil rights groups like NAACP (National Administration for the Advancement of Coloured People) and CORE (Congress Of Racial Equality)

•

Question 22

Sit-ins impact and significance

Answer 22

• Caused many businesses to desegregate their stores due to a loss of business, by end of 1960, over 120 towns had some desegregated lunch counters due to sit-ins

• Sit-ins were a very visible form of protest which generated huge publicity, even Eisenhower expressed his concern when young Black Americans were being attacked without retaliating

• Start of many to come student processes

Question 23

Freedom riders causes and events

Answer 23

• Supreme Court finally made its decision to desegregate public transport in December 1960

• Planned journeys to show that interstate desegregation laws were not always being followed

• Aimed to cause a violent reaction, and gain a lot of publicity

• Anniston Fire Bombing, 14th May 1961, caused riders to be attacked by an angry mob when they arrived at Anniston Station

Question 24

Freedom riders impact and significance

Answer 24

• Achieved its aim by working up huge media attention

• Embarrassed the US on an international scale

• Caused states to begin interstate desegregation

Question 25

James Merdedith causes and events

Answer 25

• James Meredith was rejected from Ole Miss University on the basis of race, May 1961

• President Kennedy intervened and sent federal officials to escort Meredith to school

• Riots ensued, more troops were sent, Meredith was guarded for a year by 300 federal troops until he graduated

• 2 civilians dead and 300 injured (civilians and Marshalls)

Question 26

James Meredith impact and significance

Answer 26

• Showed that the president would take direct action to enforce Supreme Court rulings if he had to

• African American students were rarely prevented from attending school after this

Question 27

MILK’s background and views

Answer 27

-Middle class family, studies at Boston University
-Christian values and teaching, baptist minister
-Non-violence at the heart of his methods and views

Question 28

Birmingham 1963

Answer 28

• Series of peaceful protest marches in Birmingham, Alabama

• Serious violence against protestors, e.g. use of police dogs and fire hoses

• Footages of the violence generated mass publicity around the world

• Some desegregation in Birmingham occurred as a result of the even

Question 29

March on Washington and Dream Speech

Answer 29

• 28th August 1963, 250,000 people peacefully marched to the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC

• MLK delivered ‘the dream speech’, which is considered the most famous speech in history

• Pressured politicians to pass the 1964 civilians rights bill, brought huge publicity to the cause, as well as cementing MLK as the leader of the civil right movement

Question 30

Mississippi Freedom Summer causes and event

Answer 30

• Low percentage of black Americans in Mississippi due to difficult voting tests and intimidation

• New Democratic Party set up which ran classes to help African Americans to pass voter tests