Misc. Flashcards
What did Jim Crow laws entail?
Legal segregation, poll tax laws, literary tests for voting
Jim Crow enforced by systematic violence
What verdict was reached in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)?
Supreme Court ruled its okay as long as equal facilities are available to both race, encourages segregation
How did Jim Crow laws come about in the South?
Backlash against Reconstruction in the South, growing white supremacism (e.g. KKK, lynchings etc.)
How did African Americans respond to Jim Crow laws?
Not passive to this, vocal and powerful debates, resistance throughout the 1890s onwards, provide a background for the Civil Rights Movement
What influence does the Great Depression have on the Freedom Struggle and which group benefitted?
Gives strength to the Communist Party who appeal to the working classes, say working class whites have more in common with working class blacks than middle class whites. Create unions, sponsor interracial marches etc.
What was the original plan to march on Washington D.C.?
Proposed by A. Philip Randolph in 1941 to protect blacks in the war industry, end discrimination in housing and end segregation in the army. Many sign up to the march and it draws attention to discrimination. FDR preempts the march by passing Executive Order 8802. Randolph calls off the march.
What was Executive Order 8802?
Passed by FDR 1941, 8802 is against discrimination in employment, created an investigative committee (Fair Employment Practice Committee), suspends government contracts to those who don’t comply. Army remains segregated however Randolph agrees to call off the march. Also ends segregation in Washington D.C.?
What was the Double V Campaign?
Freedom on two fronts, racism contradicted U.S. principles in WW2, opposing Nazism yet discriminating against African Americans at home. International coverage of U.S. racism embarrasses the country and exposes their hypocrisy.
What was Executive Order 9981?
Passed by Truman it ended segregation in armed forces. Passed in 1948 it was not in place during the Korean War, the first desegregated war was Vietnam.
What was the Mississippi Freedom Democrat Party?
- Rival party to the Mississippi Democrats - argue they’re not voted democratically as African Americans are denied the right to vote. Send a delegation of the party to New Jersey for the Democrat convention. King supported the party. LBJ worried about white Southern vote, still waiting to be re-elected.
What is the Backlash Theory?
Michael Klarman - need opposition for success in a Movement. Without confrontation, violence, police “oversight”, disorder - there would have been no federal intervention. JFK & LBJ need to be seen taking control of a situation, why Civil Rights legislature couldn’t be passed before?
When and why did the White Citizens Council form?
1954 after Brown v. Board of Education. Pro-segregation organisation. Hope to create hysteria about Brown. 1956 organisation becomes national. Some members Klansman. Stress non-violence. Oppose Civil Rights through four committees - 1) Education & Information (propaganda) 2) Membership & Finance 3) Political Committee 4) Legal Committee (oppose NAACP on cases)
What did the Dixiecrats hope to achieve?
The Dixiecrat Revolt was first in 1948 and opposed Truman’s election promises to introduce desegregation measures. In 1954 Dixiecrats aimed to make Brown unenforceable.
What were the main arguments for segregation? (6)
1) In the constitution (historical figures Washington, Jefferson & Lincoln), 2) State v. Federal law, 3) Growth of Conservatism/historical order works, 4) Science & Evolution/Eugenics, 5) Religion, 6) Communism (civil rights movement a communist plot trying to break up the southern way of life)
What year was the Little Rock crisis and who was the governor who opposed desegregation?
- Orval Faubus - had spoken out against lynching, desegregated colleges in the area, was approaching re-election, more conservative opponent, accused of communist sympathies, circles Little Rock with the National Guard & is re-elected.
What was the Southern Manifesto?
- Drafted by Strom Thurgood in reaction to the Brown decision. Calls desegregation in school unlawful, 14th Amendment makes no mention of education so it couldn’t be used in Brown. Brown overturned Plessy & 50 years of legal precedence. Supreme Court acknowledged their overruling of Plessy due to new psychological evidence. State v. federal.
Prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act what other civil rights legislation had been passed? (9)
1) 13th Amendment 1865 (ends slavery)
2) Civil Rights Act 1866 (citizenship, property rights, legal rights)
3) 14th Amendment 1868 (no state can abridge rights without due process of law)
4) 15th Amendment 1870 (certifies right to vote)
5) Civil Rights Bill 1875 (outlaws discrimination in public facilities - instituted because of Jim Crow laws)
6) Executive Order 8802 1941
7) Executive Order 9981 1948
8) Civil Rights Act 1957
9) Civil Rights Act 1960 (penalties against those who obstruct attempts to register to vote)
What did the 1964 Civil Rights Act do?
Banned discrimination in employment, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Title II banned discrimination in public accommodations & facilities, Attorney General empowered to initiate lawsuits, Community Relations Service. 1964 Act doesn’t fully address voting, sets minimum standards for voting.
What did the 1965 Voting Rights Act do?
LBJ landslide majority. His own legacy. Disallows literacy tests, federal registrars could replace local registrars who did not comply, end of Jim Crow era, narrows the gap of blacks & whites registered to vote over the decades, changes the political landscapes of Southern states, old white candidates e.g. Strom Thurgood have to appeal to black voters, African Americans getting elected
Who founded The Black Panthers?
- Bobby Seale & Huey Newton.
