Civil Rights Movement 50s

Question 1

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

Answer 1

1. The Jim Crow laws in the southern states legalised the segregation of black and white people (e.g. education; transport; restaurants
2. Black people were stopped from registering to vote (e.g. only 5% of black people were registered in Mississippi).
3. There was inequality in education (e.g. the best universities in the country were closed to black people).
4. There was inequality in the workplace.
5. They were not equal in the eyes of the law (e.g. many police officers failed to stop attacks on black people, and those guilty were not punished by white juries).

Question 2

What were the name of the laws which legalised 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 Coloured People)

Question 4

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

Answer 4

They used the case of Linda Brown. She had to travel several kilometres to school every day, including crossing a dangerous railway track, instead of attending the nearby white-only school. This was known as Brown v Board of Education.

Question 5

What did the Supreme Court rule in the Brown v 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 Chief Justice Earl Warren order to happen after the success of the Brown v Board case (1954)?

Answer 6

He ordered the southern states to set up integrated schools ‘with all deliberate speed’.

Question 7

Identify two achievements of the Brown v Board case (1954).

Answer 7

1. Segregated education was ruled unconstitutional.

2. Southern states were ordered to integrate schools.

Question 8

Identify two failures of the Brown v Board case (1954).

Answer 8

1. Southern states opposed the integration of education (as shown by the events of Little Rock high school in 1957).
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? (Three stages)

Answer 9

1. In 1957, the Supreme Court ordered the Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, to integrate schools and allow 9 black students attend Little Rock high school.
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. The students were confronted and abused by 1000-strong crowds.