Civil Rights (JFK)

Question 1

(March 6th, 1961) President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities (predecessor to EEOC)

Answer 1

Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925, which required government contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that all applicants are employed and that all employees are treated during employment without regards to their race, creed, color or national origin”. The President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities was also founded, headed by Vice President Johnson.

Question 2

Albany Movement (Nov. 1961)

Answer 2

Formed on 17 November 1961 led by the SNCC, the Albany Movement conducted a campaign in Albany, Georgia, that challenged segregation and discrimination. It started with protests around the Albany’s bus centre, as despite law making segregation in buses illegal, de facto segregation remained.

Although the Albany Movement was successful in mobilizing massive protests during Dec. 1961 and the following summer, it secured few concrete gains. The Albany movement utilised mass demonstrations, jail-ins, sit-ins, boycotts, and litigation.

MLK jr. was invited to the protests which angered the SNCC, as they wanted it to stay local, and not based on individuals. King was arrested and forced to leave the movement. The Albany movement was seen as a failure, the bus station was desegregated but the SNCC and NAACP weren’t working together cohesively, and other public facilities remained segregated.

Question 3

Ole Miss (1962)

Answer 3

James Meredith, an African American, enrolled at the University of Mississippi but was not allowed to enter. Robert Kennedy (Attorney General and JFK’s younger brother) responded with 400 Federal Marshals, and JFK sent 3,000 troops after the situation turned violent. Ole Miss riots left 2 dead, but Meredith enrolled in his first class successfully.

Question 4

Executive Order 11063 (20th November 1962)

Answer 4

JFK signed this executive order, which prohibited racial discrimination in federally supported housing or “related facilities”.

Question 5

Abolition of the Poll Tax

Answer 5

The poll tax disproportionately affected black people (only for federal elections, but a step in the right direction for voting fairness)

Question 6

Appointments

Answer 6

JFK failed to enact much legislature to further CR, however did make the most black appointments within the federal bureaucracy compared to any previous President.