Civil Rights: Protest, Progress and Radicalism, 1960-75

Question 1

What was The Greensboro Sit-in (1960)?

Answer 1

• On 1st February 1960, 4 black students were asked to leave a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter
  in Greensboro, North Carolina. They refused and stayed seated (called a sit-in) until closing time.
• The press reported the story and soon thousands of students were holding their own sit-ins across the state. The sit-ins were very well-organised and the students were trained not to react when attacked.

Question 2

Why was Greensboro significant?

Answer 2

• Young people and white people were inspired to join in the protest.
• Sit-ins were a simple but effective tactic and they were hard to ignore.
• It attracted lots of media attention.
• It inspired similar protests across the country.

Question 3

What was the SNCC?

Answer 3

SNCC = Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

In April 1960 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC –
pronounced ‘snick’) was set up to plan student protests in the South. Its ideas
were based on the non-violent protest tactics of CORE and the SCLC.

Question 4

What happened at the event of The Freedom Riders (1961)?

Answer 4

1. In 1961, a group of CORE activists decided to ride the buses from the North to the Deep South to see if desegregation was actually happening. These Freedom Rides began from Washington DC in May 1961.
2. The buses were firebombed in Anniston, Alabama, and in the next city, Birmingham, police chief Bull Connor told the police to let the KKK beat the riders up.
3. More and more people (including SNCC) joined in, determined not to let the racists win. There were over 60 Freedom Rides throughout the summer. Violence usually flared up when they reached cities and the Riders were often arrested for causing trouble. Over 300 went to jail in Jackson, Mississippi.
4. The Freedom Rides ended when the government said it would force disobedient states to desegregate their bus facilities in November 1961.

Question 5

What was The James Meredith Case (1962)?

Answer 5

1. In 1962, the Supreme Court ordered the University of Mississippi to accept black student James Meredith. However, the state governor and several university officials physically stopped Meredith from registering.
2. When about 500 federal officials arrived to help Meredith they were
   attacked by a mob of over 3000. Violence broke out and hundreds of
   people were injured.
3. President Kennedy eventually stopped the rioting by sending in federal troops. When Meredith finally did register, troops stayed to guard him for the whole year.

Question 6

What happened at Birmingham, Alabama (1963)?

Answer 6

1. In 1963, SNCC, SCLC and others began Campaign C (for ‘confrontation’) in Birmingham, Alabama. The campaign included sit-ins, boycotts and peaceful marches. Many protestors were arrested and the local jails became full.
2. The campaigners chose Birmingham because they knew that its police chief, Bull Connor, was easily provoked into using violence. As predicted, Connor ordered the police to use dogs and fire hoses on the protestors.
3. Photos and news reports of the event made the police look bad, and people felt sympathy for the protestors.

Question 7

What was the March on Washington (28th August 1963)?

Answer 7

• After Birmingham, civil rights leaders planned a huge protest march on Washington DC, the location of Congress and the White House. Over 250,000 people (40,000 of them white) took part.
• The protest was peaceful and was broadcast live on TV around the world. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech.

Question 8

What was the significance of the March on Washington (28th August 1963)?

Answer 8

1. It showed there was massive support for civil rights
2. Black and white people protested together
3. MLK’s speech gained more support for the movement
4. Famous people attended, e.g. Bob Dylan
5. It was broadcast live around the world

Question 9

What was the Freedom Summer (1964)?

Answer 9

The Freedom Summer was organised by SNCC and CORE. Volunteers went to Mississippi to work on projects in black communities - there was a strong focus on voter registration because 1964 was an election year. In response, the KKK burned black homes and churches and beat up many volunteers.

Question 10

What were The Mississippi murders?

Answer 10

1. In June 1964, 3 volunteers – Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney – were abducted and shot dead by the KKK. Schwerner and Goodman were white. No one was charged for the murders and the incident became a national scandal.
2. The Freedom Summer was successful in that it raised awareness of voter registration problems. However, of 17,000 black people who tried to register to vote, only 1,600 succeeded.

Question 11

What happened at Selma (1965)?

Answer 11

1. In 1965, groups in Selma, Alabama, invited Martin Luther King and the SCLC to campaign there. Selma had a large black population but only 1% of them were registered to vote.
2. About 600 protestors tried to march from Selma to Montgomery, but the
   state troopers attacked them with tear gas and electric cattle prods. This
   incident – called ‘Bloody Sunday’ - created bad headlines for the USA.
3. There were marches across the country in support of the Selma protestors, and President Johnson ordered the National Guard to escort the marchers to Montgomery (led by Martin Luther King).

Question 12

What was included in the 1064 Civil Rights Act?

Answer 12

• Banned segregation in public places
• Banned discrimination in voter registration tests
• Set up an Equal Opportunities Commission to deal with job discrimination

1. The act made big changes in theory, but it did not stop discrimination in practice.
2. Schools and businesses still found ways around desegregation, and many black people were too scared to report their complaints to the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Question 13

What was included in the 1965 Voting Rights Act?

Answer 13

• Made it illegal to prevent certain races from voting
• All states had to have the same voting registration requirements. Discriminatory literacy tests were banned
• In states where voter registration was below 50%, federal (government) officials were sent in to help

1. By the end of 1965, 79,593 voters had been registered with help from the government officials.
2. However, many areas still didn’t want black people to vote. Black people became more and more frustrated about how much the civil rights campaign had actually improved their lives.

Question 14

What were The Roles of Kennedy and Johnson?

Answer 14

• Presidents Kennedy and Johnson both supported civil rights, but at the same time they had to keep ordinary people and Dixiecrat politicians happy.
• Therefore, they generally got involved in civil rights when things got out of hand.

Question 15

What was the role of Kennedy (1961-63)?

Answer 15

• Appointed the first black Cabinet
  member (Robert Weaver)
• Pushed for civil rights law but was
  assassinated before it was passed (1963)
• Used executive orders to intervene,
  e.g. in the James Meredith incident

Question 16

What was the role of Johnson (1963-69)?

Answer 16

• Appointed first black judge (Thurgood
  Marshall) to the Supreme Court
• Passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and
  1965 Voting Rights Act
• Used executive orders to intervene,
  e.g. in Selma 1965
• Pressed Southern politicians to support civil rights laws (he was from
  the South himself)

Question 17

Who was Malcolm X?

Answer 17

Malcolm X was a campaigner who belonged to the Nation of Islam (NOI).

Question 18

What were the beliefs of Malcolm X?

Answer 18

• The Nation of Islam had very radical beliefs. They were against integration and believed that a separate state was needed for black people. Malcolm argued that non-violent action didn’t work.
• In 1964 Malcolm left the NOI and started his own group. His views
  softened and he became more willing to work with white people to achieve integration. He set up the Organisation of African American Unity and began to work with other civil rights groups.

Question 19

How did the Assassination of Malcolm X happen?

Answer 19

• The NOI were angry at Malcolm for changing his beliefs. In February 1965, three NOI members shot him dead while he was making a speech in New York.
• After his death, people tended to focus more on his earlier beliefs about black self-defence than his later change in attitude.

Question 20

What is Black Power?

Answer 20

1. From 1963, more and more black people were disagreeing with non-violent direct action.
2. ‘Black Power’ was a slogan used by black groups with more radical beliefs:

• They encouraged black people to be proud of their culture
• They rejected help from white people
• They were against forced integration
• They used militant (violent) language
• They were influenced by Malcolm X

Question 21

How did the Black Power movement grow?

Answer 21

1. Slow progress:
   The Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts had not solved segregation. Non-
   violence seemed to have done as much as it could.
2. Continuing problems:
   Discrimination continued and ghetto conditions were getting worse.
3. Pride:
   Black Power taught black people to be proud of their race.
4. New protest issues:
   Attention was turning away from civil rights to new issues such as Vietnam, poverty and employment.
5. Results:
   Black Power groups often got results in their local areas.

Question 22

Who was Stokely Carmichael?

Answer 22

Stokely Carmichael set up a party to represent black Americans, and he
became chairman of SNCC in 1966. He had previously believed in non-violent direct action, but changed his views and began to bring more Black Power campaigners into SNCC.

Question 23

What was The March Against Fear, 1966?

Answer 23

1. The March Against Fear was a protest march through Mississippi, led
   by James Meredith, Martin Luther King and Stokely Carmichael. King spoke in favour of non-violence, but Carmichael’s speeches were more
   militant.
2. As CORE and SNCC became more radical, they lost many of their original members.

Question 24

What happened at The Mexico Olympics, 1968?

Answer 24

At the 1968 Mexico Olympics, American athletes Tommie Smith and
John Carlos gave the Black Power salute as they received their medals.
This was very controversial and inspired many young people to join the movement.

Question 25

Who/what were The Black Panthers?

Answer 25

• The Black Panthers were one of the biggest Black Power groups. They were set up in 1966.
• The Panthers believed that white police and officials did not support the black community – they wanted black officials to work for their communities. Unlike many Black Power groups, they were willing to work with white people who shared their beliefs.
• The Panthers had a list of aims called their ‘Ten Point Programme’, and wore a black uniform.

Question 26

What did the Black Panthers do?

Answer 26

1. The Black Panthers had a routine to carry out to help the Black community:

• They patrolled the streets in black communities
• They pressured local authorities to improve facilities
• They carried guns for self-defence
• They ran courses on black history
• They ran breakfast clubs for poor black children

2. The Panthers helped to improve living conditions in black ghettos
   – however, they also provoked the police and some of their funding came from criminal activities.
3. Their leader Huey Newton was charged with murder in 1968. This led to a massive ‘Free Huey’ campaign which encouraged more people to join.

Question 27

What were The Riots of 1964-7?

Answer 27

• Between 1964 and 1968 there were 329 major riots in cities across America, caused by the problems that black people faced in city ghettos. They took place in the summer, when the heat made ghetto conditions worse and tempers short.
• The biggest riots were in the Watts area of Los Angeles (1965), Chicago (1966) and Detroit (1967).

Question 28

Why were there riots?

Answer 28

1. Unemployment:
   Black people mostly had low-paid, unskilled jobs. They were twice as likely to be unemployed.
2. Government discrimination:
   City officials did little to tackle issues in black ghettos.
3. Police discrimination:
   The riots were usually sparked by a police shooting or violent arrest of a black person.
4. Poor education:
   Schools were rundown, badly equipped and poorly funded.
5. Poverty:
   Black people often lived in cramped, poor-quality and over-priced housing

Question 29

What were the Impacts of the riots:

Answer 29

1. More people joined Black Power groups
2. Some white people became more against equality
3. They drew attention to problems in the ghettos
4. President Johnson put more money into improving ghettos
5. Martin Luther King decided to campaign in the North

Question 30

What was The Kerner Report (1968)?

Answer 30

President Johnson set up an enquiry into the riots. The Kerner Report said:

• The riots were caused by poor ghetto conditions, which were the result of discrimination
• White officials should do more to solve problems in black communities
• The police often made things worse, and needed to change how they treated black people
• The riots had been exaggerated in the media.

Question 31

What happened at King’s Campaign in the North (1966)?

Answer 31

1. Following the Watts riots, Martin Luther King wanted to show that non-violent direct action could still work. In 1966 he took the SCLC to campaign in Chicago.
2. The campaigners helped tenants to fight segregated housing, and Jesse Jackson organised boycotts of white businesses (Operation Breadbasket). The SCLC organised marches in the city, but there were a number of problems:

• Many of Chicago’s black politicians were against the campaign.
• The SCLC struggled to connect with the ghetto gangs in Chicago. Churches were not as influential in northern city communities as they were in the South.
• Riots broke out before the marches began, and King’s appeals for calm were ignored.
• The publicity was not as great as expected.

3. Chicago’s Mayor, Richard Daley, sounded supportive in discussions but
   did very little. When he agreed to enforce fairer housing standards, King felt his job was done and left Chicago.
4. King spoke of the campaign as a success - but:
   - There had been violence on both sides
   - Daley ignored the agreement he had made about housing

Question 32

What happened at King’s Assassination (1968)?

Answer 32

Martin Luther King was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4th 1968. In the following weeks:

• The ‘Poor People’s Campaign’, which he had been working on at the time of his death, went ahead. It was a failure.
• There were riots in cities across America.
• The 1968 Civil Rights Act was passed. It included fairer housing and protection for civil rights workers.

Question 33

What were some Long-term impacts of King’s Assassination (1968)?

Answer 33

• After King’s death, white opposition increased. He was the person who white people most related to.
• Many black Americans became more radical. SNCC changed its ‘N’ from ‘non-violent’ to ‘national’.

Question 34

How was Progress during 1969-1975?

Answer 34

In the late 1960s protest began to change. The Vietnam War became the biggest issue. Many black Americans were angry that civil rights had still not been achieved, yet they were expected to fight for America. The boxer Muhammed Ali famously refused to fight in Vietnam.

Question 35

How did President Nixon (1969-74) encourage progress?

Answer 35

1. He encouraged black people to set up their own businesses and own their own homes.
2. He encouraged ‘affirmative action’ – choosing a black person for a job over a white person.
3. He put more black people in government, e.g. James Farmer (founder of CORE)
4. In 1970 the Voting Rights Act was edited to ban literacy tests altogether.
5. In 1975, it was edited to include other minorities (e.g. American Indians, Hispanics).

Question 36

Was there really progress in Civil Rights and Blacks treatment?

Answer 36

Although progress had been made since the 1950s, equality had still not been achieved by 1975:

• Many black people still lived in ghettos
• Black people were still harassed by the police
• Most black Americans were paid less than white people
• Desegregation was not always beneficial to black people