Social status

Question 1

Topic sentence

Answer 1

The civil rights movement aimed to improve the social status of black Americans.

Question 2

Background

Answer 2

In the early 1950s black people still faced widespread racial segregation, the Southern states implemented de Jure segregation by passing Jim Crow Laws. During the 1950s and 60s the non violent civil rights movement sought to challenge these conditions by employing peaceful tactics to demonstrate the discrimination faced by black peoples to the world.

Question 3

Evidence 1

Answer 3

The National Association for teh advancement of coloured propel (NAACP) was a non-violent group. They cooperated with other groups in an emergent civil rights coalition to challenge segregation of education.

Question 4

Analysis 1

Answer 4

This had a significant impact on improving the social status of black people because it led to the Supream Court issuing the Brown ruling in 1954 which desegregated schools.

Question 5

Evidence 2

Answer 5

Additionally, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) wanted to highlight the brutal nature of white racism. They did this by travelling between Washington DC and New Orleans in 1961 using white only toilets at stopped points, this was known as the freedom rides.
.

Question 6

Analysis 2

Answer 6

This had a significant impact on improving the social status of black peoples because the attention drawn to the nature of white racism led General Robert Kennedy to organise the desegregation of all interstate travel in November 1961.

Question 7

Counter analysis 1

Answer 7

However, events such as Little Rock Arkansas in 1957 and in particular the sight of Elizabeth Eckford being bullied and threatened for attending a white school exemplify that there were gaps in the Brown Rulling and more needed to be done to enforce it.

Question 8

Evaluation

Answer 8

To evaluate, during the 1950s and 60s the social status of black Americans had been somewhat improved as schools were now desegregated due to the 1954 brown ruling and all interstate travel has also been desegregated in 1961. However, it was clear that there were gaps in these rulings and agreements meaning that more needed to be done to enforce it. This is evidenced through the outcome of Martian Luther Kings demonstration in Birmingham Alabama in 1963 when a deal was reached to desegregate shops etc however this took a long time to implement and it was also hard to monitor. Therefore the social status of black people wasn’t improved as much as their political status during this time period because the gaps in legislation meant that they were still discriminated against socially.