'I have a dream' Pt.1 Flashcards
What was the first event to inspire the civil rights movement?
17th May 1954 Brown Vs The Board of Education
- Unanimous decision in the supreme court, led by Earl Warren, to overturn the Plessy Vs Ferguson decision of “separate but equal” in 1896. Decision had previously been a staple for laws on segregation
- NAACP coordinated legal battles to prove that it violated the 14th Amendment and evidence was used from Sweatt Vs Painter case to show inferiority of facilities for black people
- Led to considerable backlash in the South
What did Brown Vs The Board of Education lead to?
- Brown 2 in 1955 where all public schools were demanded to integrate
- Browder Vs Gayle in 1956 where all segregated public transportation was deemed unconstitutional
- Boynton Vs Virginia in 1960 all segregated bus depots deemed unconstitutional
- Bailey Vs Patterson in 1962 all interstate segregated transportation deemed unconstitutional
- Southern Manifesto in 1956 100 senators/congressmen from the south signed that they opposed any changes to laws
How was federal/presidential intervention used facing early decisions?
- Freedom riders of CORE (Congress of racial equality) needed protection from white violence in 1961 -
- 1957 9 black students attempted to enrol and attend an all white school in Arkansas and Eisenhower deployed 1000 troops to protect them after riots were incited, televised and the state governor openly condemned the students
- 1962 Kennedy dispatched 100s of federal and marshal troops to protect James Meredith as the first black student to attend an all white Mississippi university
- Changes made by the Supreme court could not be implemented without additional support from the President/Congress/Government
How did the Montgomery bus boycott begin and how effective was it?
1st December 1955 Rosa Parks was removed from a bus for refusing to give up her seat to a white person - she was a member planted by the NAACP
- Martin Luther King was the figurehead leader of the following boycott of all Montgomery public transportation, organising the MIA to ensure black Americans could still get to work etc
- Boycott received national coverage, was deemed by the federal court to be unconstitutional and finally it ended on the 21st December 1956 when the bus company banned segregation
What were some of the outcomes of the Montgomery bus boycott?
- January 1957 4 black churches and homes of prominent black Americans were bombed by Ku Klux Klan members. A bomb was defused at King’s house
- Showed the effects of non-violent protest
- Martin Luther King rose to fame through it and became the face of the civil rights movement
- Led to the creation in 1957 of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
Who were the SCLC and what were their aims?
Southern Christian Leadership Conference formed in 1957
- Led by MLK all the way up until his assassination in April 1968
Wanted to:
- Encourage white Americans to participate in the organisation to bring change
- encourage all black Americans to seek justice and reject all injustice
- encourage the use of non-violent protest
- highlighted segregation and civil rights issues in society
What were some of the key effects/events by the SCLC?
- Crusade for citizenship (1958-60) - attempt to double Black American voter registration but was unsuccessful due to poor organisation and limited financial support
- Albany, Georgia protests (1961-2) - attempt to outline racial discrimination in the city but all protesters dealt with nonviolently and little change/media coverage was caused
- Birmingham, Alabama protests (April/May 1963) - peaceful protest for the end of segregation/discrimination. Police chief “Bull” Connor used police dogs and water cannons and mass arrests which was all filmed and televised causing outrage. Made King a further civil rights icon due to his “letter from Birmingham jail”
- March on Washington DC (28th August 1963) - mass protest of 250,000 people where King did his “I have a dream” speech
Combination of efforts led to JFK to announce a civil rights bill and King receiving the Nobel peace prize. Reagan later created MLK day on his birthday
Who were the SNCC?
Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) founded in February 1960
- Started with one of the first sit ins at a lunch counter by 4 Black American university students on the 1st of February
- Led to other similar sit ins up until 18th of April when SNCC was formed as the youth wing of the Civil Rights Movement
- Led to desegregation of restaurants in the South, a major voter registration campaign in 1964 Mississippi and the creation of an integration democratic party
Who were CORE?
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) founded in 1942
- Organised the 1961 Freedom rides where the rules for interstate travel were tested by Black and White Americans, attempting to provoke enforcement of the supreme court’s decisions (Boynton Vs Virginia)
- Riders were assaulted, mobbed, abused in many areas of the South by White Southerners and these events were televised - leading to the federal enforcement of integration on the 1st November 1961
What were the tactics and impacts of Civil Rights groups from 1957-63?
- Provocation of violence by institutions designed to protect and uphold law or by opposition to the civil rights movement - which was then televised to create action
- Publicised and exposed racial inequality and forced a reluctant federal government to act
- By JFK’s assassination the civil rights issue was at the forefront of agendas
