EISENHOWER: CIVIL RIGHTS Flashcards
1
Q
Brown vs Board 1954
A
- Linda Brown, a schoolgirl from Topeka, Kansas. had to cross railroad tracks to get to school rather than attend the nearby white school. Her father challenged this in court
- NAACP decided to support him as they stood a chance since Kansas was a border state
- Supreme Court ruled separate education was psychologically harmful to black students – Chift Justice Earl Warren wanted an unanimous judgemnet to send a clear message
2
Q
Signifiance of Brown vs Board
A
- Inspired African - Americans to further activism
- Removed all constitutional sanction for segregation - gave no date and said nothing about de facto segregation
- Lack of enforcement powers meant implementation varied – 70% of school districts in Washington DC and border states desegregated in a year; remained segregated in the South
- engendered white blacklash - Sothern Manifesto pledged to challenge the ruling, and some closed schools rather than desegregate
- White Citizens’ Councils formed to defend segregation - 250,000 members by 1956
3
Q
Significance of Brown vs Board
A
- Set legal precedent - ‘separate but equal’ was unconstitutional. If this principal could be applied to education, it could be applied to other areas, meaning Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional state authorities in south did all they could to resist
- In February 1956, 4 southern state legislators and Brown had no effect in their state Governor Allan Shivers of Texas sent law enforcement officers to defy court order
- Eisenhower failed to use federal power
4
Q
White backlash to Brown vs Board
A
- State authorities in the south resisted - in February 1956, 4 southern state legislators said it had no effect in their state, Governor Allan Shivers of Texas sent law enforcement officers to defy court order revitalised KKK
- Southern Manifesto pledged to challenge the ruling, and some closed schools rather than desegregate
- White Citizens’ Council formed to defend segregation - 250,000 members by 1956
5
Q
Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955-56
A
- underlying cause was segregated buses & behaviour of white bus drivers
- Rosa Parks was arrested in December 1955 for refusing to give a white man her seat
- NAACP organised a boyott of buses
- Martin Luther King was chosen to lead it
- Lasted over a year
- Most of Montgomery’s 50,000 black population participated
6
Q
Significance of the Montgomery bus boycott
A
- Citizens’ Council used arrests to intimidate leaders
- KKK sent 40 carloads of members though Montgomery’s black community and bombed King’s motel room
- Browder v Gayle ensured desegregation of Montgomery’s buses (only theirs)
- A major new black leader had emerged, along with the idea of ‘non-violent civil disobedience’ and the power of the black dollar
- Gained media attention
7
Q
Little Rock
A
- Nine African-American students attempted to enter Central High School in Little Rock in September 1957
- Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to keep students out
- An abusive white mob surrounded the students
- Riots made Eisenhower fear the breakdown of law and order and he reluctantly sent in federal forces to protect the students
8
Q
Significance of Little Rock
A
- Demonstrated how Supreme Court rulings met tremendous resistance in practice - the students suffered violent attacks wgile attending, Fabus losed all Little Rock’s high schools during 1958/9 rather than intergrate
- Eisenhower demonstrated no clear moral leadership on civil rights - forced into action over the breakdown of law and order, not in support of desegregation
- The power of television demonstrated
9
Q
Civil rights policies of the main parties
A
- Both parties clamied commitment to civil rights in 1952/1956
- Most southern Democrats were opposed, other had become increasingly liberal on race because of the growing importance of black vote
- Most Republicans remained conservative - disliked large-scale federal intervention and respected state rights
- Overall the policies were apparently changing for the better
- Dynamic conservatism - on the social aspect, Eisenhower is less liberal with people
10
Q
High profile cases
A
- Emmett Till- 14 year old boy murdered for fliriting with a white woman, whose murderers boasted about it but went unpunished
- Autherine Lucy- successfully took the University of Alabama to federal court to become its first black student, but was quickly expelled in 1956
- Eisenhower said nothing about the cases until he was forced into action at Little Rock
11
Q
Why was Eisenhower less inclined towards civil rights than Truman?
A
- Born in an all-white town in the south and only met black leaders once
- Opposed to large-scale federal intervention – after attempted desegragation in Manfield, Texas led to mob violence, Eisenhower said it was a local issue
- Political self interest
- Frequently highlighted the ‘great emotional strains’ and possible ‘social disintergration’ of desegregation
12
Q
Eisenhower’s actions
A
- In his first State of the Union address, he spoke out about racial discrimination
- Worked against discrimination in federal facilities and hiring
- His President’s Committe on Government Contracts lacked teeth
- Appointed Cheif Justice Warren and other moderate Republicans who made liberal rulings on segregation
13
Q
Civil Rights Act 1957
A
- 80% southern African-Americans weren’t registered to vote, e.g, only 7000 out of Mississppi’s 900,000 black population
- Southern Democrats worked to weaken the bill, which aimed to ensure black voting rights
- Eisenhower didn’t fight to keep it intact
- Passed as much as weakened act
- Many considered it a sham, but it was the first of its kind since 1875
- King said it was ‘better than no bill at all.’
14
Q
Civil Rights Act 1960
A
- Following the bombings of black schools and churches, he introduced what he considered a moderate civil rights bill
- Southern Democrats diluted its provisions again, but passed as both parties sought the black vote
- Made obstruction of court-ordered school desegregation a federal crime, and established penalties for the obstruction of black voting
- Added only 3% of black voters to the electoral rolls during 1960
- Acknowledgement of federal responsibilities
14
Q
Greensboro sit-ins
A
- February 1960 - 4 black college students spontaneoulsy refused to leave the all-white Woolworths cafeteria
- Other students took up - as many as 70,000 participated
- Woolworths desegragated all its lunch counters by the end on 1961
- Mobilised black students - founded Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
- Shifted focus from litigation to mass direct action
