role of pro-civil rights groups

Question 1

non violent groups aiming at integration
National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People NAACP 1909
11 points

Answer 1

1. mostly white liberal activists against lynching and discrimination
2. leadership included Du Bois
3. small membership
4. 50 local branches
5. led public marches but focused on legal challenges to segregation
6. 1917 prevented enforced segregation off AA into separate residential district
7. publicised opposition to lynching
8. legal challenges to restrictions on voting led by lawyer Thurgood Marshall
9. major success Brown v. Board of education 1954
10. local activists influential in supporting boycott against segregated buses in Montgomery Alabama 1955 - gained publicity for NAACP
11. youth branch of NAACP founded in 1958 organised sit-ins to protest against segregated lunch counters

Question 2

non violent groups aiming at integration

Congress of Racial equality CORE founded 1942

Answer 2

1. initially dominated by white members
2. challenged segregation directly
3. introduced Freedom Rides where activists challenged segregation on interstate buses
4. provoked violence - 1961 kennedy authorised desegregation of buses

Question 3

non violent groups aiming at integration
Southern Church Leadership Conference SCLC 1957
7 points

Answer 3

1. MLK strong figure head
2. distinct political philosophy
3. wider aims
4. organised non-violent direct action - SCLC well publicised mass demonstrations culminating in influential march on Washington 1963
5. series of demonstrations - beginning in Albany, Georgia 1961
6. important in gaining attention of national and international media and showing solidarity of AA and white reformers
7. over reaction by local authorities e.g. Connor in Birmingham 1963 = strengthened impact of organised protest

Question 4

non violent groups aiming at integration

2 points

Answer 4

1. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) 1962

2. groups come together to form Council of Federated Organisations in 1962 (CORE, SNCC, SCLC, NAACP)

Question 5

Radical and separatists groups

4 points

Answer 5

1. solidarity
2. UNIA (united negro improvement association) 1914 - Garvey inspirational leader, large membership, radical, separatism
3. NOI (nation of Islam) 1930 - Wallace Fard Muhammad - radical, separatism, inspirational leader
   developed in 1950s by Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad -> led to black power movement
4. Black Power - commonly used after 1966, used by activist Stokely Carmicheal to urge AA to organise, recognise heritage and negotiate from a position of strength

Question 6

high point of groups

2 points

Answer 6

success in achieving

1. Civil Rights Act of 1964 (end discrimination in public places, banned employment discrimination)
2. Voting Rights Act 1965 (voting rights)

Question 7

low point of groups / decline

3 points

Answer 7

1. after CRA (latter part of period)
2. disappointment with low levels of change for AA
3. divisions over how far to take further progress and how much to maintain links with liberal white America

Question 8

5 importance / positives of pro civil rights groups

2 negatives

Answer 8

1. increased confidence in AA to be economically independent
2. challenged discrimination by bringing cases before law
3. showed power of non-violent protest
4. gained national and international publicity in supporting ending discrimination
5. made AA proud of heritage and stressed links with wider African world
6. often needed white political support to effect change
7. more successful in gaining political equality than in ending discrimination and social and economic equality