Paper 3 - Civil Rights Flashcards
What was the 1896 Plessy vs Fergusson law?
If the provisions for blacks and whites were equal, it was constitutional to separate them.
What area of the USA was the most segregated?
The south.
What impact did segregated schools have?
Reinforced the views of segregation from a young age.
Lowered self-esteem, confidence and aspirations.
Standard of education was poorer for African Americans.
Less likely to gain qualifications or to attend higher education.
More likely to have a lower skilled/paid job.
Poorer standard of living, more likely to live in poverty.
Couldn’t vote as couldn’t pass literacy tests.
What gave African Americans the right to vote and how did states limit it?
15th Amendment to the Constitution.
Introduced poll tax qualifications and literacy tests, which stopped blacks from voting.
Why did poll tax mean African Americans couldn’t vote?
African Americans didn’t pay poll tax because they were too poor, meaning they couldn’t vote.
Why did literacy tests mean African Americans couldn’t vote?
Many African Americans couldn’t read or write, meaning they didn’t pass the literacy tests that registrars gave them, meaning they couldn’t vote.
Even if an African American passed the test, they could be made to pay a fee to register and pay for every year they had been eligible to vote but hadn’t. They didn’t have the money to do this, as many lived on the poverty line, so couldn’t vote.
How did the NAACP use Linda Brown’s case to challenge segregation in court?
Linda Brown was a young student who had to travel a long journey along a railroad track to attend school, instead of being able to attend the nearest school (a white school). Linda’s case was taken up by the NAACP who tried to challenge the law.
What did the NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, say about segregation during the 1954 Brown vs Board case?
He argued that segregation was psychologically damaging and created low self-esteem.
He said that as schools were equal, children couldn’t achieve equally.
What was the result of the 1954 Brown vs Board case?
After 18 months, on 17th May 1954, the Supreme Court agreed that segregation in education was unconstitutional.
What were the short-term problems of the 1954 Brown vs Board ruling?
The courts didn’t say when schools had to desegregate by - there was no deadline. Some schools desegregated immediately (723 schools and 300,000 black students attended previously segregated schools by 1957), but many, especially in the south, didn’t. 2.4 million black students in the south were still taught in black schools in 1954. President Eisenhower didn’t step in to begin with either.
65% of black parents said they thought their children should remain in black school.
What were the long-term problems of the 1954 Brown vs Board ruling?
Some parents jouned the White Citizens Council (WCC).
The KKK grew in membership.
100 southern senators/congressmen sighted the Southern Manifesto, and passed 450 laws to limit the effects of the ruling in the 2 years that followed.
What were the Jim Crow laws?
Laws that caused segregation.
What happened at Little Rock High School in 1957?
9 black students were allowed to enrol there.
3rd September 1957, they tried to enrol but were prevented by state governor Faubus, who ordered Arkansas State National Guardsmen to block their entry.
4th September 1957, National Guard was removed on Faubus’ order, and the 9 students ran into a vicious white crowd of almost 1,000. At midday, the students went home under police guard.
President Eisenhower had to act, so took control of the National Guard, using them to protect the 9 students for the rest of the year.
Governor Faubus closed every school in Arkansas to prevent integration. Schools in Arkansas only reopened in 1959 following a Supreme Court ruling.
Why was Little Rock 1957 significant?
Involved the president, showing civil rights couldn’t be ignored anymore.
Shows states would be overruled by the federal government if necessary.
Demonstrations were seen on television/in newspapers, and USA was embarrassed to be seen as an oppressive nation when it was criticising communist countries.
Happened when Soviet Union launched sputnik satellite, gave Soviet media the opportunity to claim not only technological, but also moral superiority over the USA.
Many US citizens saw for the first time racial hatred that existed in southern states.
Helped to modify some views held by white Americans at the same time as it highlighted continued racism, particularly in southern states.
Led black activists to realise that reliance on federal courts wasn’t enough to secure change.
When did the Montgomery Bus Boycott begin and why?
5th December 1955
Rosa Parka’s trial was on that day after she was arrested on 1st December 1955 for refusing to give up her seat for a white man.
What happened on 5th December 1955?
20,000 people became involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 7,000 attended a rally led by Martin Luther King.
Rosa Parks was fined $10 for her offence on the bus and made to pay $4 in costs. The MIA decided to continue the boycott until their demands were met. The authorities refused to accept the MIA’s demands.
What happened in January 1956 due to the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
Martin Luther King’s house was firebombed, and other leaders’ homes were also targeted.
What happened in February 1956 due to the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
90 of the leading figures of the boycott (including King and Parks) were arrested for organising an illegal boycott. They were found guilty, but after appeal, no charges occurred. Parks and her husband lost their jobs and moved to Detroit.
What happened in March 1956 due to the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
Membership of the Montgomery White Council reached 12,000 and they used violence against the boycotters.
What happened in summer 1956 due to the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
The MIA took the case to federal court. They said it was unconstitutional to segregate people on buses this way. The federal court agreed but the city officials appealed and it went to the Supreme Court.
What happened on 13th November 1956 due to the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
The Supreme Court also agreed that what was happening in buses in Montgomery was illegal. The boycott had been successful.
When did the Montgomery Bus Boycott formally come to an end?
20th December 1956
What happened in January 1957 due to the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
The KKK sent members to the black areas of Montgomery to intimidate residents. The blacks simply waved at the KKK. Snipers attacked some of the buses and King’s home, and 4 churches were bombed. However, this intimidation did start to fade in Montgomery.
Why did Rosa Parks as a figurehead mean the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful?
She was well-known in the community, was the secretary of the NAACP, was involved with voter registration, so more people likely to join the boycott.
NAACP didn’t want to use 15 year old Claudette Colvin as a figurehead as she got pregnant out of wedlock when they were looking at her case.
Parks was a married, middle-aged woman, respectable, been trained how to behave during peaceful protests.
This all made a difference because it influenced both black and white people to be sympathetic to the cause.
Why did good preparations mean the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful?
Thousands of leaflets were printed, encouraging people to boycott the buses.
The weekend before the boycott, local civil rights activists (such as E.D. Nixon, Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King) became involved, and began to plan a rally for the evening of the trial and the local NAACP started preparing its legal challenge to the segregation laws.
MIA was established to oversee the boycott. Just involved to stop African Americans standing when white seats were available.
This meant the boycott could continue and succeed. It also gained more publicity.
Why did the MIA’s support mean the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful?
Black taxi companies were charging only 10 cents per ride, however, a law was passed that required the minimum fare to be 45 cents.
MIA met with church groups and organisations to set up carpools (began 12th December 1955) and had around 300 carpools.
Fundraising by the MIA and persistence shown meant it grew in publicity.
This meant that the boycott could continue and succeed, and gained more popularity.
Why did the support from people in Montgomery mean the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful?
Boycotters persisted even though they lost jobs/loans, were threatened, firebombed and put in jail.
Thousands of leaflets were printed, encouraging people to boycott the buses.
20,000 people were involved in the 5th December boycott.
7,000 people were involved in the rally.
This was important as it proved perseverance despite opposition from the Montgomery White Council (12,000 members). It showed the steps people were willing to take for change, how many people would get involved and the importance of publicity.
Why did Martin Luther King as a leader mean the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful?
He was new in Montgomery, so had no enemies. He was a clergyman (respected), paid by the church, so couldn’t be fired by white business - faith won him supporters.
Well-educated - believed in blacks and whites working together (non-violent), inspired by Ghandi.
Helped organise carpools.
Inspired others.
He was important as he increased supporters, set up SCLC (January 1957) to increase voters, inspired through speeches, aimed to unite blacks and whites in America through non-violent means.
Why did the Federal and Supreme Court’s support mean the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful?
1st February 1956 - Browder vs Gayle, NAACP filed that segregation on buses was a violation of the 14th Amendment, and MIA then decided to demand desegregation.
11th May 1956 - went to trial in Federal Court, bus company appealed to the Supreme Court.
13th November 1956 - upheld verdict that segregation on buses was unconstitutional.
17th December - 2nd appeal rejected.
20th December - boycott ended, integrated services began next day.
This was vital as it supported Brown vs Board, turning point in desegregation, showed benefits of peaceful approach and perseverance. Paved way for 1957 Civil Rights Act.
What were the aims of Martin Luther King’s SCLC, which was set up in January 1957?
Encouraged black Americans to ‘seek justice and reject all injustice’.
Promoted King’s philosophy of non-violence regardless of the provocation.
Encouraged white Americans to help their fellow black citizens to challenge racism.
Their motto was ‘not one hair of one head of one white person shall be harmed’.
What was the 1958 ‘Crusade for Citizenship’ and did it succeed?
The SCLS organised a pilgrimage which marched to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC in 1958. It aimed to increase the number of black voters and hoped to force President Eisenhower to speak out on civil rights. However, the march failed to attract widespread support.
How did President Eisenhower react to the SCLC’s ‘Crusade for Citizenship’?
Eisenhower refused to be drawn into the debate over civil rights.
What did the 1957 Civil Rights Act do?
Established the US Commission on Civil Rights - its first project was to look for evidence of racial discrimination in voting rights in Montgomery, Alabama.
Emphasised the right of all people to vote, regardless of colour or race.
Allowed the federal government to intervene if individuals were prevented from voting.
Stated that all people had the right to serve on juries.
What were some problems of the 1957 Civil Rights Act?
It didn’t win the full support of many Southern Democrat Party members and their opposition led to the watering-down of the contents.
Many black Americans were against the Act as it didn’t go far enough.
What were some positives of the 1957 Civil Rights Act?
It was supported by President Eisenhower (although, he’d always stated that it was impossible to change people’s minds by introducing laws).
It was hoped that the Act would increase the number of black American voters.
Some black Americans thought it would be the foundation for more wide-reaching acts in the future.
What did the second Civil Rights Act (1960) do?
It renewed the US Commission on Civil Rights from the 1957 Civil Rights Act, and stated that people would be prosecuted if they obstructed someone’s attempt to register to vote or someone’s attempt to vote.
What was the Ku Klux Klan?
Identified themselves as White Anglo-Saxon Protestants and saw themselves as superior to other races, especially African Americans. They were also anti-communist, anti-Jews, anti-Catholic, and against all foreigners.
Their leader was known as the Imperial Wizard, and officers were known as Klaliffs, Kluds, or Klabees.
How did the KKK dress and why?
Klansmen dressed in white sheets and wore white hoods. This outfit was designed to conceal the identity of Klan members, who often attacked their victims at night. The white colour symbolised white supremacy. Members carried American flags and lit burning crosses at their night meetings.
What did members of the KKK do?
Carried out lynchings of black people and they beat up and mutilated anyone they considered to be their enemy. They stripped some of their victims and put tar and feathers on their bodies.
