Section 2: The early civil rights acts and southern civil rights campaign 1955-65 Flashcards
1
Q
Who was involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)?
A
- NAACP
- Montgomery improvement association
- Martin Luther King
- black churches
- 85% of Montgomery’s black community participated in boycotting buses
2
Q
What were the aims of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)?
A
- oppose segregation
- christian basis meant it was committed to non-violent methods
3
Q
What happened in the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)?
A
- 1 December 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white man and she was arrested and fined $14 leading to an attack on segregation in Alabama
- NAACP leader E.D Nixon called a meeting of Montgomery’s black leaders establishing the MIA under the leadership of MLK to coordinate a boycott
- campaign lasted over a year
- to sustain the boycott the MIA organised car pooling
- montgomery authorities realised significance of boycott and folliwing a march they arrested king and 156 other black protestors
- the arrest backfired and drew more attention to the campaign
- king proclaimed that he was proud of his crime and only served two weeks of his sentence
- boycott hit companies hard- majortiy of bus company’s passengers were black and consequentially lost 65% of revenue
- 21 December 1956 Montgomery bus company desegregated their buses
4
Q
Where was the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)?
A
5
Q
When was the Montgomery bus Boycott?
A
1955-6
6
Q
What was the significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956)?
A
- showed the economic power of black citizens
- the boycott had financially crippled the bus companies thereby highlighting the importance of black cutomers
- demonstrated the power of uniting popular action with an NAACP legal campaign
- highlighted the significance of media involvement - tv reports portrayed the injustice of segregation to a national and interntaional audience
- demonstrated mlk leadership qualities brought him to national attention
- showed the lengths to which white authorities would go to defend segregation
- showed the supreme court was willing to over turn plessy v ferguson
- led to the establishment of the SCLC which aimed to keep the spirit of the montgomery protest alive
7
Q
Who was Martin Luther King
A
- speaking ability- delivers speeches in the finest tradition of black southern oratory
king philosophy:
- it was God’s will that they campaign for justice. those of faith must not just affirm it but act upon it. called by god to play role in the emancipation of african americans that could lead to hard and dangerous times
- black people must not accept their lot as ordained by God and resign themselves to rewards merely in an after life
- justice could be achieved within the american system. the american traditiion of freedom enshrined in the bill of rights which guaranteed equality and the right to vote. hope that with federal help they could triumph in their campaign. a just cause.
- believde in the ‘land of freedom and promise’ developped in 18th century this prmise just needed to be extended to the black community
- non-violence-. similarly to other movements such as Gandhi, no retaliation despite provocation. fair minded people more likely to support the cause if protestors retained moral high ground so it was presented in simple terms of good and bad
- advocated civil disobedience -prepared to break what they believed were unjust, unconstitutional laws
- solidarity
8
Q
What happened in the Browder v. Gayle court case?
A
- the montgomery bus boycott did not change the segregstion laws
- april 1955 aurelia browder was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a whit eperson
- browder appealed against her conviction
- with the support of the NAACP the case went to supreme court
- 20 december 1956 the court outlawed segregation of buses
9
Q
Who was involved in the Little Rock Campaign?
A
- local governor Orval Faubus
- National guard
- President Eisenhower
10
Q
What were the aims of the Little Rock Campaign?
A
- de facto desegregation of education
- spped up school desegregation by enrolling 9 black students into Little Rock’s all-white Central High School/
11
Q
What happened in the the Little Rock Campaign?
A
- Ovral Faubus opposed enrolllment and ordered the National GUard to prevent the nine student entering th school
- 3 September 1957 the National Guard, backed by a white mob, refuse the students’ entrance
- Eisenhower ordered Faubus to withdraw the National Guard
- The US Department of Justice gained a court injunction forcing the the governor to withdraw the National Guard
- Faubus complied but student were still prevented from enrolling due to white racist mob
- unrest prompted Eisenhower to take the National Guard under presidential control to protect black student
- 25 september the students escorted by the national guard enrolled at Little Rock Hight School
- Faubus did not admit defeat
- backed by racists in the arkansas legislature passed a law giving him the power to close local schools in order to avoid desegregation
- 4000 students, black and white, were forced to seek education elsewhere
- the NAACP went to court in Cooper v Aaron case 1958 and supreme court ruled that it was illegal to prevent desegregation
- june 1959 schools in Little Rock reopened and had to accept bkack students
12
Q
Where was the Little Rock Campaign?
A
Little Rock, Arkansas
13
Q
When was the Little Rock Campaign?
A
1957
14
Q
What was the significnce of the Little Rock Campaign?
A
- tested the effectiveneness of testing supreme court rulings ensuring de jure change led to de facto change
- the campaign forced Eisenhower to intervene to support desgregation in this way the campaign gained the authority of the president
- the opposition of the state governor, the Arkansas legislature and the protestors showed the extent to which white southerners opposed integration
15
Q
Who was involved in the Greensboro sit-ins?
A
- SNCC
- SCLC
16
Q
What were the aims of the the Greensboro sit-ins?
A
- de facto desegregation of public places
17
Q
What happened in the Greensboro sit-ins?
A
- february 1960 four local students entered woolworth’s store in Greensboro and sat on whites only seats at the counter, refusing to leave until they were served.
- the protest escalated;
- 27 students came on the second day
- 300 by the fourth
- end of week the store closed temporarily in order to halt the sit-ins
- within a week similar protests had occured in six towns in North Carolina
- within a month sit-ins were taking place in six more states
- activists staged wade-ins, read-ins, watch-ins
- people black and white took part
18
Q
Where were the the Greensboro sit-ins?
A
initially greensboro, noth carolina
