Civil Rights Movement Flashcards
Explain the events that led up to the Brown vs Topeka case.
1) In 1952, the NAACP bundled all five school desegregation cases together and took them to the court as Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka.
2) NAACp argued that separate was not equal in education, even with equal provision, because segregated schools made black children feel inferior. They argued that it went against the 14th ammendment.
3) 17th May 1954- Supreme court ruled that life had changed since the Plessy ruling. A good education was vital to progress. ‘Separate but equal’ had no place in education and schools had to desegregate.
4) No set time scale for desergregation. In May 1955 however, a second ruling ruled tht segregation should be carried out with all deliberate speed.
What was the immediate significance of Brown?
1) Brown reversed Plessy, so it sparked off more desegregation campaigns.
2) Brown also had varying effects on the position of black Americans in the South.
What were changes in the South like after the Brown vs Topeka case like?
1) The Southern border states and the District of Colombia desgregated schools in the immediate years after the ruling. By the end of 1957, 723 school districts had desegregated.
2) It was a very different story in the deep south. The day of the Brown decision became known as “Black Monday”. Extreme backlash began. Anybody who was black was at threat.
3) Many school boards said that they were making plans to desegregate, but did nothing. Governors of some states did not accept desegregation. Eg Senator Harry F Byrd of Virginia demanded ‘massive resistance’ to desegregation. He also said that he would close public schools that tried to desegregate.
4) White Citizen’s council was set up in July 1954. KKK grew and expanded. Many black people also felt in a worse position.
What was the long term significance of Brown?
1) In the long term, the significance of Brown lay in the constant legal pressure for desegregation in the South ad increased the awarenes of the movement.
2) Integrating schools especially in the deep south was dangerous. Many students, parents and teachers were hostile. Black people’s families were threatened.
Provide some context to do with the events that took place at Little Rock high school.
1) Little Rock had already desegregated its parks, library, university and buses. A plan was made for gradual desegregation starting with Central High school.
2) About 75 black students applied to the school, only 25 were accepted. Opponents threatened the families of the black students with the loss of their jobs and with violence. At the start of 1957, only 9 students were still willing to go. Thse nine were later known as the Little Rock Nine.
What involvement did Orval Faubus have. Who was he and what did he do?
1) Orval Faubus was a key opponent of the plan. He was the governor of Arkansas.
2) When the school term started on Sep 3rd, Faubus sent 250 state troops to keep the peace, stopping the black students going in.
What happened after State Troops were deployed to Central High School?
1) Daisy Bates, the local NAACP organiser arranged for the 9 students to arrive together the next day, but one student, Elizabeth Eckford, missed the message and arrived by bus alone.
2) The mob of waiting white people, many of them women was terrifying. She walked up to the state troopers thinking they would protect her. They turned her back towards the mob that was shouting “lynch her”
Explain why the publicity of the events that took place at Little Rock High school was very significant.
1) On September 4th, more than 250 news reporters and photographers were outside little rock. The outrage, inside and outside the USA was enourmous.
2) It led to people around the world knowing how people in charge were treating black citizens. It also made the USA look extremely bad, and their public image was shattered. It also would have made the Civil Rights Movement gain more support, since people would have been extremely sympathetic towards coloured people.
What did the events that took place at Little Rock lead to?
1) On the evening of Septmeber 24th 1957, President Eisenhower signed a Presidential order sending more than 1,000 federal troops to Little Rock. Faubus’ state trrops were federalised. Knowing that Congress would not agree with his plan, he decided to move quickly.
What was the outcome of the events that took place at Little Rock High School?
1) Troops stayed until the end of term, making sure that the Little Rock 9 got to and from school safely. However, they could not guard them home and could not stop threats.
2) The school year ended in May 1958. Faubus then closed every Little Rock school for the next year, putting off integration again. White parents forced him to open schools the next year in the 1959.
What was the Whie Citizens Council, when was it setup?
1) WCC was set up after Brown ruling in 1954 and grew rapidly. They petitioned and campaigned against desegregation.
2) They threatened the families of children who were signed up to desegregate schools, and even bombed schools.
3) The KKK also carried out bombings and other intimidation, such as threatening phone calls.
Explain some of the Political Oppoition that the Civil Rights Movement faced.
1) On Feb 25th, Senator Harrry F. Byrd of Virginia demanded ‘massive resistance’ to desegregation. He said that he would close public schoos in his state that tried to desegregate. No school did.
2) Massive resistance was ruled illegal in 1959 by state Supreme Court judges and areas began slow, partial integration. Only Prince Edward Countey in Virginia closed its schools. They did not reopen until 1964.
How did some schools resist integration in a more discreet way?
1) They drew up plans for gradual desegregation, a school year at a time.
2) Only allowed a few black children into each year group.
3) They put black and white students in the same school but segregated within it
4) They used examples of violnt resistance such as mobs and riots outside schools, as a reason to exclude black students from schoos, claiming it was ‘for their own safety’
5) Desegregated one or two schools in each area, but left the rest segregated.
How were Black people discriminated against in the North and South?
1) North:
- blacks had the worst jobs
- lived in poorest parts of towns and cities callled ghettos.
2) South:
- Jim Crow laws enforced segregation
- separate restaurants, cinemas, schools
- buses were segregated
- facilities in black schools were very worse as they had less money spent on them.
What was CORE? When was it established and were its main aims and tactics?
1) Congress of Racial Equality was setup in 1942 and it targeted segregation.
2) Many white members used non-violent direct action such as sit ins, boycotts. Members were trained not to react even in the face of an extreme attack.
