EXTRA EXTRA Flashcards
Why did JFK’s election in give black people a sense of optimism?
- the “Kennedy Effect” = had the look
- liked Kennedy’s forward thinking + idealistic rhetoric
- naively assumed young president knew what was needed for civil rights struggle
(TLN)
Why did black Americans have more substantial reasons for expecting good things from the Kennedy administration?
- Eisenhower declined showing leadership in civil rights struggle + lack of support for Brown decision obvious
- Kennedy publicly endorsed Brown + accepted strong civil rights plank adopted by Democrats in 1960
- undertook major efforts to inc. black voter registration + maximize black turnout on Election Day
- intervened in sit in movement to help secure MLK’s release from jail in Atlanta
(EKUI)
What was Nixon’s record on civil rights prior to 1960?
very good (even better than Kennedy’s)
- had met King on several occasions
- didn’t come to aid in Atlanta fearing he would alienate Southern whites in election
(HD)
How did Kennedy dampen black expectations on civil rights when he first entered office?
- made Cold War his #1 priority
- did not speak passionately about civil rights struggle (more like a technical problem
MD)
What did Kennedy’s refusal to dramatize race problems show?
lack of imagination/empathy
- huge cultural difference between Kennedy + black Southerners
- knew that racial discrimination was a serious problem + needed constant attention
- he treated it though like a minor irritant not major priority
- delegated civil rights responsibilities to Robert
(HKHD)
What did Kennedy know about the civil rights issue when it came to the Democratic Party?
could split the Party in two
- had divided the party already in 1948
- ruled out the passage of civil rights legislation
(HR)
Wy did Kennedy rule out passing civil rights legislation?
convinced it was too much of a political threat to his career
- white Southerners in control of Congress + had power to sidetrack bills + black appointments
- if he pushed for strong civil rights action he knew the rest of his legislative agenda would be derailed
- had no inclination to mount strong stance against Jim Crow (modest civil rights program)
(CWIH)
What did Kennedy’s modest civil rights program rely on?
- executive action to combat discrimination w/in federal gov.
- strong backing for federal court decisions
- litigation by Justice Department to advance black voting in South
(ESL)
What did the Freedom Rides of 1961 show?
civil rights movement could reap huge dividends by provoking white violence
What were the Freedom Rides?
- launched by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) May 4, 1961
- challenged segregation in interstate travel
- most Southern state still enforced segregation in interstate travel despite Supreme Court ruling
(LCM)
What was the concept of the Freedom Rides?
- interracial group of 13 volunteers would board 2 buses in DC purchasing tickets to New Orleans
- blacks/whites would sit together + when bus stopped group would use all facilities regardless of signs
- included bathroom/waiting room etc.
- CORE anticipated serious violence once passengers entered Deep South
- Freedom Riders placing lives at risk to get the attention of Kennedy administration to intervene
(IBICF)
What was the result of the Freedom Rides?
went according to plan
- passengers assaulted throughout South
- thugs forced blacks to sit in the back of the bus
- whites threw firebombs into the stopped bus
- Fred Shuttlesworth organizes extradition back to safety
- bus got to Birmingham but KKK was waiting (Bull Connor assured white mob they could attack)
(PTWFB)
What was Robert Kennedy’s response to the Freedom Rides?
angry + thought they were reckless
- didn’t want them overshadowing John’s foreign policy
- demanded that they stop
- civil rights movement decided to continue Freedom Rides
(DDC)
What was the second Freedom Ride mission?
set out from Nashville + arrested outside Birmingham
- dropped at TN state line but went back to Birmingham to purchase tickets to Montgomery
- Robert Kennedy personally negotiated w/ Greyhound officials to furnish transportation + provide protection
- bus took them out of Birmingham but local police in Montgomery had no intention to prevent mob violence
- three passengers sustained serious injuries
(DRBT)
What forced the federal government to intervene in the Freedom Rides?
- refusal of AL governor Patterson to curb mob violence exposed impotence of federal gov. in embarrassing way
- interstate travel fell w/in federal sphere of responsibility so federal gov. couldn’t back down
- if they failed to act Freedom Riders stood to lose lives in highly public settings
- AL politicians determined to run Freedom Riders out of town
(RIIA)
What happened May 21?
several thousand whites surrounded black church filled w/ those honoring Freedom Riders
- Robert Kennedy took action
- federal marshals kept mob at bay + Robert pressured Governor Patterson to deploy AL National Guard
- Patterson reluctantly agreed
- guardsmen escorted frightened blacks out of the church
(RFPG)
What did the civil rights movement do after the Nashville mission?
kept them going
- went all around the South
- people from all over began to participate
- 328 Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson, MS
- all served their jail time
(WPTA)
How did Robert Kennedy respond to the political pressure created by the continued Freedom Rides?
- instructed Justice Department to prod the ICC to ban segregation + discrimination at interstate level
- ICC devised the ban in record time (became effective Nov. 1, 1961)
(II)
What was the effect of the Freedom Rides?
- forced Kennedy administration to act against their will
- rescued the CORE from insignificance
- transformed it into major civil rights organization
- gave movement confidence they could take action in MS
(FRTG)
How did the government’s dealing w/ white authorities in MS hint at limits to federal support for civil rights?
- Justice Department did nothing to stop Jackson arrests
- Robert ensured by MS Governor Freedom Riders wouldn’t be harmed by mob
- Kennedy agreed to turn blind eye
- civil rights action in MS (1961-64) showed shallowness of Kennedy civil rights policy + white brutality
(JRKC)
Why did blacks feel that MS should’ve been the centerpiece of Kennedy’s civil rights policy?
- seen as most oppressive state for blacks
- had lowest registration of blacks to vote in country
- also had highest potential for black political power
(SHA)
Who was Robert Moses?
- young SNCC staff member
- went in July 1961 to help local NAACP chapter in McComb, MS begin a voter registration project
- voter registration was new undertaking for SNCC + some opposed it
(YWV)
Why did some SNCC members oppose voter registration efforts?
- voter registration been regular practice by civil rights groups since beginning
- feared they would lose uniqueness by doing what everyone else was doing
- was mostly associated w/ nonviolent direct action
- feared SNCC would be drawn into the orbit of the Kennedy administration
(VFWF)
What did Moses tell local MS NAACP leaders who were afraid of direct action?
said sit-ins/demonstrations would fail in MS (cause further repression)
- integrated public accommodations weren’t really relevant to rural blacks (many too poor for restaurants)
- said blacks in MS needed a share of political power above all
- white supremacy would fall when blacks win the franchise
(ISW)
What was the first action Moses took in the voter registration efforts in MS?
- escorted black voter applicants to courthouse in Liberty
- would be arrested + beaten up
EW
What event almost led to blacks abandoning the voter registration project in MS?
EH Hurst (MS state representative) shot black farmer dead Sept. 25, 1961
- coroner ruled the killing was in “self defense”
- frightened blacks to a point SNCC felt compelled to quit
(CF)
What was the effect of SNCC first try at voter registration in MS?
severity of white resistance served to validate Moses
- nobody could any longer doubt voter registration directly attacked black powerlessness
- brought SNCC members face to face w/ death (gave them deeper level of commitment + intense conviction)
- would lead MS to be main focus of SNCC for next 4 years
(NBW)
Who were the main people targeted in the SNCC’s MS campaigns?
ordinary blacks in MS
- did work w/ middle class NAACP activists but regarded black middle class as unreliable
- attempted to identify leaders from voiceless sections of black community (especially poor/young)
(DA)
What was a common occurrence about the civil rights movement in the South?
more black women supported movement than black men
- some explain b/c women were more religious + concerned w/ kinship networks
- women better educated than men
- civil rights movement still very male dominated
- SNCC seen as most open civil rights org. to women at the time (recognized women = untapped potential)
(SWCS)
Who was Fannie Lou Hamer?
- had worked as sharecropper her whole life in MS
- SNCC meeting inspired her to seek to vote
- traveled to Sunflower County w/ 17 others to take voter registration test
- Hamer would get evicted from plantation as result
- attended SCLC citizenship school in Atlanta + arrested on bus ride back
- joined SNCC staff + helped to organize MS Freedom Democratic Party + devoted life to racial justice
(HSTHAJ)
How was the SNCC MS campaign growing after McComb?
- staged nonviolent protests against Jim Crow in Jackson
- jail sentences + arrests + lack of older black support ended up killing the protest
- Jackson protests would revive again in 1962-63 to mount boycotts + sit ins + picketing
(SJJ)
Why did the SNCC focus its efforts on the MS Delta?
- center of state’s cotton production + had starkest inequalities between blacks/whites
- blacks majority of the pop. but 5% of white farmers owned 75% of the land
- 2/3 of Delta blacks lived below poverty line but got minimal gov. assistance (mostly food stamps)
- whites pushed disenfranchisement here aggressively b/c they were so outnumbered
(CBTW)
How did the SNCC Delta campaign begin?
- begun by Sam Block starting voter registration drives in Greenwood/LeFlore County
- able to bring mass of blacks together for meetings on voting rights
- eventually took three women + one man to registration office where they took the test
- SNCC began starting up other projects across Delta
- met w/ heavy white opposition
(BAES)
How did whites retaliate the SNCC’s efforts in the Delta?
- broke into SNCC office + trashed it
- county commission cut off surplus commodities programs for blacks (cut off food to poorest families)
- whites attempted to burn any shipped goods from SNCC to Delta blacks
- Block arrested + sentenced to jail
- Jimmy Travis shot
(BCWBJ)
What happened after the Jimmy Travis shooting?
SNCC focused all their efforts on Greenwood, MS
- supported by CORE + SCLC + NAACP
- formed COFO coalition
- held weekly mass meetings + distributed food/clothes + launched intense voter registration campaign
(SFH)
What did the SNCC feel about the federal government + their lack of response to MS situation?
- demanded Justice Department put an end to repression
- Kennedy administration had moral obligation to take action since they helped set up Voter Registration Project
DK
What was the Voter Registration Project (VEP)?
- created in 1962
- distributed $$$ from several philanthropic orgs. to civil rights groups to help voter registration for blacks
- federal gov. enthusiastically backed VEP + made sure it received tax exempt status
- SNCC supported VEP believing Justice Department would take action in future violence/harassment
(CDFS)
What was the response by the Kennedy administration to the SNCC’s pleas for help?
failed to provide assistance
- Justice Department officials in MS but failed to take much action outside of small law suits
- head of Civil Rights Division (Burke Marshall) said system of federalism made law enforcement state issue
- up to the state police to bring offenders to justice
- only under most extreme circumstances would gov. directly intervene
(JHUO)
Why did the federal government not want to get involved in the civil rights struggle in MS?
- Eisenhower’s federal troop incident in Little Rock did more harm than good
- did not want to threaten delicate balance between federal vs state powers
- intervention would be avoided at all costs
- flashbacks of Reconstruction + federal soldier involvement leading to inc. race relation bitterness
(EDIF)
Why did the civil rights movement not support the reasons why the federal government wouldn’t intervene?
- federalism argument made no sense b/c MS police wouldn’t enforce arrests on offenders
- police aided/abetted white mob violence
- disputed claim federal gov. didn’t have constitutional authority (had all the authority under 14/15 amendment)
- disputed claim military intervention was necessary to provide protection
- federal gov. had FBI at disposal to provide protection (J Edgar Hoover refused to help blacks)
(FPDDF)
What actions did the federal government take in MS?
- requested federal courts to enjoin violence + harassment in case of SNCC worker John Hardy
- sought an injunction against Greenwood in 1963 to stop interference w/ voter registration + allow blacks in
- JD would abandon this injunction only 4 days later after release of 8 SNCC workers
- lack of federal gov. help led to bitter defeat of Greenwood campaign
- led to a lot of SNCC resentment towards federal gov. by 1963
(RSJLL)
What was Kennedy’s position on MS situation?
- as long as there wasn’t a complete breakdown the administration wouldn’t intervene
- MS representatives could severely hurt him w/ national political agenda
(AM)
What did the Kennedy administration do during the James Meredith Ole Miss campaign?
- engaged in long negotiations w/ Governor Barnett to protect Meredith but prolonged situation
- Robert Kennedy tried shifting responsibility to protect Meredith to Barnett but mob formed during talks
- by the time president committed troops Ole Miss had turned into a battleground
(ERB)
How did the 1963 civil rights demonstrations affect the Kennedy administration?
decided to fundamentally revise approach to civil rights
- nonviolent revolt brought national attention to the South
- federal gov. realized segregation was destabilizing the South + embarrassing US
- worried racial conflict might engulf whole nation
(NFW)
What was a trend in the civil rights movement during 1963?
as movement became less middle class difficulties of maintaining nonviolence inc.
- SCLC almost lost control during Birmingham protests
- King warned unless a solution is made blacks will find solace in violent black nationalist rhetoric
- Malcolm X growing in popularity
(SKM)
What did Robert Kennedy know about the race problem following 1963?
only thorough commitment could eradicate discrimination
- enable the gov. to dampen down crisis
- persuade blacks to stop demonstrating
- situation demanded strong legislation + moral leadership
(EPS)
What did JFK say in his June 11 televised address to the nation?
- called for Congress to craft comprehensive civil rights bill
- weeks after was calling several people everyday to get support for the bill
- did not waver in commitment to civil rights despite plummeting support among white Southerners
(CWD)
What did King + other civil rights leaders decide to do as the federal gov. took steps towards civil rights bill?
organize March on Washington
- fulfillment of A Phillip Randolph dream back in 40s
- Randolph assisted by old protege Bayard Rustin
- 250,000 people showed up August 28, 1963
- peaceful rally not militant protest like the SNCC would’ve preferred
- King delivered I Have A Dream speech
(FRTP)
What did the 1963 March on Washington accomplish?
gave civil rights movement national platform
- opportunity to present itself as strong united determined responsible front
- presence of many whites made it visible expression of racial integration
- I Have A Dream expressed optimism + determination of the movement
(OPI)
What was the state of the Civil Rights Bill by JFK’s assassination?
was bogged down in Congress
- administration appeared ready to weaken it drastically to buy off opposition
- LBJ made passage of bill one of top priorities when he assumed presidency
- LBJ urged Congress to pass bill as tribute to JFK’s memory
- refused to water down the bill + even wanted to strengthen it
(ALLR)
How was LBJ well equipped to handle the passing of the civil rights bill?
- played legislative balancing act between Northern liberals + Southern segregationists while in Senate
- refused to sign Southern Manifesto in 1956
- played key role in passing of Civil Rights Bill of 1957
- cultivated Northern liberals while maintaining friendships w/ Southerners
- LBJ could draw upon large reservoir of support to get bill through
(PRPCL)
What was the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
- signed July 2, 1964
- banned discrimination in employment + federally assisted programs + public facilities/accommodations
- empowered gov. to initiate law suits to desegregate Southern schools
- set up Equal Employment Opportunities Commission + created Community Relations Service to mediate issues
- prohibited discrimination not only by color but religion + national origin
- included discrimination on grounds of sex when it came to employment
(SBESPI)
What was the most immediate/obvious effect of the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
integration of public accommodations
- Jim Crow structure of South fell virtually overnight
- white Southerners accepted integration w/ little resistance surprisingly
(JW)
What were some remaining issues following passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964?
- white school boards stubborn to integrate even w/ lawsuits
- whites refused to give up economic benefits of job discrimination
- voting portion of act was so weak it did little to give blacks franchise
(WWV)
How did the passing of the Civil Rights Act affect blacks in MS?
not very much at all
- few able to enroll children in white schools
- those who could were harassed
- very small number of blacks succeeded in voting but not enough to make political difference
- Act failed to guarantee basic voting rights + failed to protect people from racist violence
(FTVA)
What was the state of the civil rights movement in MS by 1963?
was at a stalemate
- collusion between police/vigilantes still major threat to SNCC workers
- white violence inc. dramatically w/ rebirth of the KKK
(CW)
What did Robert Moses suggest in 1963 to overcome the violence in MS?
suggest massive community organization campaign (MS Freedom Summer)
- heart of plan was to recruit Northern white students to assist in campaign
- would import thousands + they would stay for two months
- thought abundance of students traveling from North would make it clear this wasn’t an issue to be ignored
(HWT)
Why did many SNCC members express opposition to the Freedom Summer Plan by Moses?
- majority black staff feared consequences of so many Northern whites coming South
- believed students would disrupt relationships w/ the local communities
- worried local black people would be awed by Northern whites (would upstage them)
- some members were developing anger towards all whites in general
(MBWS)
How did the issue of white participation in Freedom Summer intertwine w/ a debate over nonviolence + self defense?
- many blacks in MS already armed (didn’t need whites for help)
- SNCC began to flirt w/ guns
- few SNCC workers clung to nonviolence ideals by 1964
- knew nonviolent sacrifice did little to affect racist white Southerners
(MSFK)
What did Moses hope to accomplish w/ the Freedom Summer?
- presence of so many white students would focus national attention on MS
- pressure the Johnson administration to act
- federal gov. would not put the children of prominent rich national figures in harms way
(PPF)
What was LBJ’s response to the MS situation?
just as reluctant to send federal troops as Eisenhower
- still commanded FBI to investigate civil rights related murders + hunt down Klansmen
- added KKK to the COINTELPRO target list
(SA)
How did the fact that the Freedom Summer was taking place during an election year add an additional political impact?
- Freedom Summer mounted statewide campaign of political mobilization
- led to the establishment of a “shadow” political party
- organized a freedom registration + arranged election of delegates to district/state conventions
- set up MS Freedom Democratic Party
(FLOS)
What were characteristics of the MS Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)?
- overwhelmingly black but open to whites
- intended to expose racist + undemocratic character of Democrats + challenge right to represent MS Dem. Party
- thought w/ support from Northern liberals it could gain official recognition from National Democratic Party
(OIT)
How did LBJ react to the MFDP?
angry
- thought they were upstaging his moment at the National Convention
- thought it could ruin his prospects for winning the election
- already knew MS + AL lost causes but knew if MS left convention they would lose every Southern state
- whites in the North already growing more upset about party’s inc. position on civil rights
(TTAW)
How did Johnson work to stymie the MFDP challenge?
- instructed FBI to spy on MFDP delegates
- to Hubert Humphrey to settle dispute
- enlisted union workers to apply pressure to civil rights leaders
- ordered political leaders to undermine support for th MFDP
(ITEO)
What compromise did LBJ give to the MFDP?
approved a four point compromise that gave two seats to the MFDP as “delegates at large”
- would welcome rest of delegates as honored guests
- required MS regular delegates to sign oath of loyalty
- revise party’s rules to eliminate racial segregation in the selection of delegates
- MFDP would reject compromise
(WRRM)
What was the effect of the rejected MFDP proposal on the SNCC?
were done w/ Democratic Party
- felt they couldn’t trust anyone anymore
- Fannie Lou Hamer especially upset
- felt sacrifices made during Freedom Summer came to nothing
(FFF)
