Civil Rights Movement 1950s - 1960s America

Question 1

Identify five ways black people experienced racism in America in the early 1950s

Answer 1

1. Jim Crow laws in the southern states legalized the segregation of black and white people
2. Black people were stopped from registering to vote
3. Inequality in education
4. Inequality in work places
5. They were not equal in the eyes of the law

Question 2

What were the name of the laws which legalized segregation in southern America?

Answer 2

The Jim Crow laws

Question 3

Which civil rights campaign group challenged the segregation of education in 1954?

Answer 3

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of colored people)

Question 4

What case did the NAACP use to challenge the segregation of education in 1954?

Answer 4

The case of Linda Brown. Had to travel several km to school everyday, including crossing a dangerous railway track, instead of attending the nearby white only school. This was know as Brown vs Board of Education

Question 5

What did the supreme court rule in the Brown vs Board case 1954?

Answer 5

Chief Justice Earl Warren stated that segregated education was not equal, and against the American Constitution.

Question 6

What did the Chief Justice Earl Warren order to happen after the success of the Brown vs Board case?

Answer 6

He ordered the southern states to set up integrated schools

Question 7

Identify two achievements of the Brown vs Board case?

Answer 7

1. Segregated education was ruled unconstitutional

2. Southern states were ordered to integrate schools

Question 8

Identify two failures of Brown vs Board case?

Answer 8

1. Southern states opposed the integration of education

2. By 1968, 58% of black children were still being educated in segregated schools

Question 9

What happened at Little Rock High school in Arkansas in 1957? (Give three stages)

Answer 9

1. In 1957, the Supreme court ordered the Governor of Arkansas, to integrate schools and allow 9 black students
2. Faubus ordered state troops to prevent the black students from attending the school
3. President Kennedy sent in federal troops for six weeks to protect the students and ensure they could attend school.

Question 10

When was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer 10

1955 - 1956

Question 11

Who initially decided to challenge the segregation of Montgomery’s buses in 1955?

Answer 11

Rosa Parks

Question 12

How did Rosa Parks challenge the segregation of Montgomery’s buses in 1955?

Answer 12

She refused to give up her seat to a white man, and was arrested, convicted and taken to court

Question 13

What organisation was formed to help challenge the segregation of buses in Montgomery?

Answer 13

Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)

Question 14

How did the MIA protest against segregated buses in Montgomery?

Answer 14

They boycotted the buses (refused to travel on them)

Question 15

Identify two pieces of evidence which suggest the popularity of the MIA’s boycott of buses?

Answer 15

1. Martin Luther King
2. Integrated buses were shot at
3. Black churches and homes were set on fire

Question 16

What was the outcome of Rosa Parks’ protest and the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer 16

December 1956, the supreme court declared that segregation on buses were unconstitutional

Question 17

Identify an achievement of the Montgomery bus boycott?

Answer 17

Supreme court declared that segregation on buses and all transport services was unconstitutional and some bus services in southern states began to be desegregated

Question 18

Identify one failure of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Answer 18

Many US states did not obey the ruling that segregation on transport services was unconstitutional

Question 19

What type of protest did civil rights campaigners use in the early 1960s?

Answer 19

Non-violent direct action

Question 20

Which three organisations used non-violent direct action

Answer 20

1. Southern Christian Leadership Conference(SCLC)
2. Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee
3. Congress of Racial Equality

Question 21

What was the main method of protest used by SNCC

Answer 21

Sit-ins

Question 22

Describe the sit-ins organised by SNCC

Answer 22

Between February and July 1960, students sat in whites-only seats in restaurants and lunch counters, starting in Woolworth’s restaurant. They refused to leave the restaurants when they were refused service.

Question 23

What were the achievements of SNCC’s sit-ins?

Answer 23

By the end of 1960, lunch counters had been desegregated in 126 cities

Question 24

What was the main method of protest used by CORE?

Answer 24

Freedom Rides on interstate bus services

Question 25

Describe the Freedom Rides organised CORE

Answer 25

CORE aimed to test the supreme court ruling that the segregation of transport was unconstitutional. From May 1961, “freedom riders” rode on buses from northern states to the south, where segregation remained in place in buses and bus station facilities.

Question 26

What were the achievements of CORE’s Freedom Rides?

Answer 26

1. President Kennedy supported the freedom riders, by sending in federal troops to protect them.
2. In November 1961, a law desegregating interstate travel was financially enforced.

Question 27

How did people respond to the Freedom Rides?

Answer 27

When a bus with 13 black and white CORE and SNCC campaigners arrived in Alabama, a white mob attacked and bombed the bus. Police Chief Bull connor did little to protect the activists.

Question 28

What was the main method of protest used by SCLC?

Answer 28

Marches to bring publicity to the civil Rights movement and put pressure on the US government to pass a civil Rights Law.