Legal Challenges and Direct Action

Question 1

How much had membership of the NAACP risen?

Answer 1

In 1917, they just had 9,000
By 1946, they had 600,000

Question 2

What was the opposition to civil rights from black people themselves?

Answer 2

There was the ‘separatist’ movement which stated black people were never going to truly be equal to whites and instead should embrace segregation and fight for equal conditions under it (i.e. campaigned for by individuals like Marcus Garvey)

Question 3

What was the limitations of the success found in the 1956 Brown v Board of Education ruling?

Answer 3

The ruling used vague sentences like ‘with all deliberate speed’ regarding when desegregation should be implemented

By 1966, only about 1 black child in every 100 in the south was in some kind of integrated school

Question 4

What was the backlash to the growing desegregation movement?

Answer 4

In 1954, the ‘White Citizens Council’ was established to fight against desegregation, gathering 250,000 members by 1956

Question 5

What tactics had emerged by the 1940’s?

Answer 5

Inspired by individuals like Mahatma Gandhi, protestors engaged in deliberately illegal protesting such as with sit-ins

Led to the creation of the ‘Congress of Racial Equality’ or CORE in 1942 where protestors would dress neatly, be respectful and not fight back, putting themselves in danger to achieve civil rights