Kennedy Civil Rights from p 92 - 95 Flashcards
March of Washington
27 August 1963
200,000 marchers descended on Washington DC as the largest Civil rights rally
Who were MOW creators?
Envisaged by Phillip Randolph and Barnard Rustin
Co-organized by the Big Six
James Farmer of CORE
Roy Wilkins of the NAACP
John Lewis of SNCC
MLK od SCLC
Whitney Young of the Urban League
Randolph of Brotherhood of sleeping car porters
What was the goal of the march?
To further increase pressure on the Kennedy administration to press ahead the civil rights legislation but also to highlight the economic prejudice AA have faced
Kennedy feelings towards the march
He endorsed it but also put in 19000 troops around the suburbs incase anything broke out,
at the end, no marches were arrested
The ‘celebrity factor’ of the March
Singers such as Bob Dylan performed
Baseball stars Jackie Robinson and Actors such as Marlon Brando were all in attendance
MLK significance during the march and after
He made his famous I Have a Dream speech, drew on both biblical and constitutional texts very famous speech
MLK was named Times Magazine Man of the Year in 1963 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964
What did the Civil Rights Commission estimate in 1960?
That 57% of black housing was substandard quality
Black life expectancy was 7 years below white life expectancy
Infant mortality rate was twice as high for AA
Even though progress of CR was made what remained?
A vicious cycle of poverty was maintained through poor schooling poor housing and local disenfranchisement
How did Malcolm X critics MLK?
He called him a ‘chump’ and called the march of Washington the ‘Farce of Washington’
Who were the opponents to Civil Rights
The general population
White Citizens Council
Ku Klux Klan
Dixiecrats
How did the general population oppose CR?
Hazel Massery, shouting abuse at Elizabeth Eckford during the Little Rock Crisis
Willian Zantzinger whose murder of black waitresses was immortalized in the Bob Dylan song, The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.
Varying degrees of racism in the South.
How did the White Citizens Council oppose CR?
Were informally known as ‘Country Club Klan’
Formed in Mississippi in July 1954
Within a few years, membership rose to 60,000
Members were middle-class local business men, journalists, and bank managers who took their careers as an initiative to oppose CR and spread propaganda around the nation
How did the Third Ku Klux Klan oppose CR?
Was directly responsible for a number of deaths including the NAACP organizer Medgar Evers in Mississippi in 1963 and the bombing of the 16th street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama also in 1963
How did the Dixiecrats oppose CR?
Most powerful opponents of Civil Rights
This included filibustering, savaging bills in committee and in the state themselves, and rousing popular sentiment against desegregation.
Senetors eg, Strom Thurmond South Carolina and Harry Byrd Virginia
State governors Ovral Faubus Arkansas, Geogre Wallace in Alabama, Ross Barnett in Missisippi
Why could JFK not pass the Bill?
Early November the bill moved to Virginia Dixiecrat Howard W Smiths Committee. Smith made it clear that he would do anything to delay the bill Kennedy was shot during this time (JFK died on 22 Nov 1963)
