SCLC

Question 1

How did the SCLC succeed in getting so many followers?

Answer 1

Black churches an important part of communities, large congregations who can be mobilised, large network of churches, easy to spread messages. Religious and moral questioning of segregation.

Question 2

What year was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer 2

Dec. 1955- Dec. 1956, lasted a year.

Question 3

Why was the Montgomery Bus Boycott a pivotal event for the Civil Rights Movement?

Answer 3

Propels Martin Luther King to the centre of things, creates the SCLC, mobilises the whole community, moral stand against segregation, complete desegregation of buses. Inspired similar boycotts in other communities.

Question 4

What does SCLC stand for?

Answer 4

Southern Christian Leadership Council. Primarily composed of black ministers in the South. Directly impacts the masses.

Question 5

How did the SCLC and the NAACP differ over the goals of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer 5

SCLC wanted humane segregation (not giving up their seats, more black drivers etc.). NAACP wanted complete desegregation. NAACP took the case to the Supreme Court who declared segregation on buses unconstitutional.

Question 6

Who was the president of the local NAACP and how did he contribute to the Bus Boycott?

Answer 6

E.D. Nixon. Also a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Bailed out Rosa Parks who was a secretary at the NAACP branch and was responsible for the legal aspects of the case.

Question 7

Who was Claudette Colvin and why was Rosa Parks selected to become the figurehead of the Boycott?

Answer 7

15, pregnant, was arrested a few months before Parks for refusing to give up her seat, NAACP didn’t want to proceed with her case, not a respectable figure like Parks to rally around. Parks 42, married, well-known in the community.

Question 8

What backlash did participants of the Boycott face?

Answer 8

King and Nixon’s houses were targeted, KKK rally after 9 months, Parks fired and moved away due to death threats, some buses attacked and people injured.

Question 9

What was the MIA?

Answer 9

Montgomery Improvement Association. Nixon, Clifford and Virginia Durr involved in initial plans, Nixon asked King to lead the organisation. NAACP crippled in Alabama by this time, needed someone with a separate association, without enemies. King in the church, more embedded in the community.

Question 10

In the aftermath of the sit-ins and Freedom Rides how important a role did the SCLC play in the Civil Rights Coalition?

Answer 10

No major role, relatively displaced by SNCC/CORE who also advocate non-violence. Desegregation now a legal issue for the NAACP. Some fears within SCLC of it becoming a personality cult around King. Need to get more involved in direct action.

Question 11

What was the Albany (Georgia) movement?

Answer 11

1961. Started by William Anderson who invited SNCC then King. A Federal Court Order had been issued stating Albany had to integrate city parks, Albany closes the parks in protest. Shut down buses to prevent a boycott. Anderson knows King is international famous, wants press attention. King gets arrested 3 times, but police captain Laurie Pritchett reads about King & pre-empts his strategies. Sends activists to prisons throughout the state to avoid them filling up, police brutality only at night away from press. Tension in protestors, some attack police, unsuccessful movement.

Question 12

Why was Birmingham selected in 1963 by the SCLC for their latest campaign?

Answer 12

“Bombingham”, violence rife, people routinely attacked, two day meeting among SCLC, need to overcome the fears of black residents in Birmingham, need to create a crisis to prompt the involvement of the Federal government. Trained 300 volunteers, plan to boycott white businesses, prepared to bring the city to a standstill. King spoke in black churches, deliberately theatrical events, series of speakers. Need lots of volunteers to take the place of those arrested.

Question 13

What were the four stages of non-violent protest?

Answer 13

1) Preparation 2) Agitation 3) Confrontation 4) Reconciliation

Question 14

Why was the Birmingham police commissioner essential to King’s plan?

Answer 14

Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor. On the verge of being replaced but King doesn’t want to face a reasonable man. Plan to provoke Connor into confrontation.

Question 15

How did the situation in Birmingham reach crisis point?

Answer 15

King led his volunteers, who were then followed by black bystanders, to City Hall, stopped by Connor and arrested on Good Friday. Put in isolation, his aides tell press Connor is trying to break him. Daily marches on City Hall, Connor there, violent confrontation, King had tipped off the press. Could only work if protestors didn’t fight back.

Question 16

What controversial plan did King use to fill up the jails in Alabama?

Answer 16

Recruited children from local schools. Connor goaded into retaliation, turned on hoses and set dogs on demonstrators. King stayed in touch with the Kennedy administration, didn’t want people to get hurt. Cameras capture the event and prompt government intervention. International support for demonstrators.

Question 17

How did the Kennedy administration react to the events in Birmingham?

Answer 17

King announced in May 1963 a settlement had been reached which would desegregate lunch counters, drinking fountains, public toilets etc. The event convinced JFK he needed a new policy towards Civil Rights. JFK gives a speech announcing his plans. Civil Rights Bill of 1963 - became the Civil Rights Act under LBJ.

Question 18

When was the March on Washington and what effect did it have on the Civil Rights Movement?

Answer 18

1963. Highly publicised event, large attendance. SCLC not the only organisation involved - SNCC chairman John Lewis spoke, A. Philip Randolph (Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters), NAACP Roy Wilkins, Baynard Rustin, James Farmer (CORE) wrote a speech but was arrested so it was read by Floyd McKissick and Whitney Young (National Urban League) among many others. Was seen as a major factor in the passing of the Civil Rights Act.

Question 19

What happened in Selma when King and the SCLC tried to address voter registration?

Answer 19

1965. Planned march from Selma to Montgomery, SNCC didn’t participate, cross bridge state troops on other side with orders from George Wallace to stop the march. Attacked protestors, released tear gas, mounted police beat people, church turned into a hospital. TV networks broke regular programming to show footage, nationwide backlash. LBJ called for a voting right act - “we shall overcome”

Question 20

Why was King under pressure after the passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act?

Answer 20

Turn towards economic issues, riots in 1965 onwards, violence on the streets, reverse racism, backlash, all seems to have gone horribly wrong, look to King for leadership, need new goals. King had talked about retiring but after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1964) feels he needs to rededicate himself to the cause.

Question 21

What happened in Chicago 1966?

Answer 21

Operation Breadbasket, SCLC. Jesse Jackson heads operation in Chicago, national programme, boycott companies that discriminated in hiring practices. King involved in housing projects, takes over a slum building & fixes it.

Question 22

What happened in Cicero, Chicago? How did this effect King’s attitudes towards white moderates?

Answer 22

All white community, march through & try to create a crisis, provoke white violence, King has stones thrown at him, Mayor Daley agrees to SCLC demands to make them leave then fails to keep them. King starts to feel that white moderates were more of a stumbling block to the Civil Rights Movement than the White Citizens Council or the KKK.

Question 23

In 1967 what federal policy did King finally express opposition to?

Answer 23

The Vietnam War. Damages his relationship with LBJ. Thought LBJ should be focusing on domestic poverty not international campaigns.

Question 24

What was The Poor People’s Campaign?

Answer 24

1968. King wanted to bring focus back on poverty issues, planned a camp out in Washington D.C., encourages the involvement of poor people from rural areas and ghettos, wants to make them visible. King was assassinated before this took place, went on in his honour but was a failure.

Question 25

Why did King leave The Poor People’s Campaign to go to Memphis?

Answer 25

Invited by Reverend James Lawson, interracial action, issue on economic equality, strike of garbage collectors after the death of two workers whose families were not compensated, strike in second month Lawson asked King to go. March hard to organise, SCLC not popular in North as South, march turned violent, King taken away, FBI began to create doubt over King’s ability to control protestors.

Question 26

When was Martin Luther King assassinated and what impact did it have?

Answer 26

Went to Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, wanted to speak to the people. In his speech said he was not afraid of death. Next day, April 4 1968, assassinated by white supremacist. Made him a martyr to the cause.