The Civil Rights Movement 1965-75 Flashcards
Between 1964 and 1968 how mnay major riots were their?
329 in 257 US cities
How many deaths did the major riots result in?
220 deaths
How many severe injuries did the major riots result in?
8,371
How many arrests did the major riots result in?
52,629
What was the first major riot?
New York City
What happened in July 1964?
The first major riot in New York City
When was the New York City riot?
July 1964
Why did the New York City riot start?
A policman shot a young black man
What conditions set off the major riots?
Ghetto conditions
Most happened in the summer (maybe because of suage starting to smell)
Police violence
Where was the second major riot?
Watts district of Los Angeles
When was the LA riot?
August 1965
Why were ther a lot of major riots?
Police discrimintion
Discrimination by white officials
Poverty
Ghetto conditions
In the 30 months before the watts riot how many black people were shot dead?
65 black people
27 in the back
25 were unarmed
What persentage of the rioters were young black men?
80%
What was a feacher of most riots?
Often tried to cause damaged to store which segregated
More balck people were killed during the riots then white people
What did the watts riot lead to?
More people trying to join black power groups
More attention given to the poor conditions in ghettos
MLK decided that the SCLC must camoaign in the north
LBJ said that the riots convinced himto spend more money on improving ghetto conditions
Which riots happened in 1964?
New York
Philadelphia
Rochester
Which riots happenedin 1965?
LA
Which riots happened in 1966?
Chicargo
Cleveland
Which riots happened in 1967?
Newark
Detroit
What was the general pattern of the riots?
A trigger eg police violence
Minner attacks on properties (usualy who segregated)
Increased violence and looting
State troops brought in to keep the peace and promises of reform made
What happened in 1968
The Kerner Report
When did LBJ order theKerner report?
He set up an enquiary in July 1967
What did the Kerner report say that?
Riots were a result of ghetto conditions and happened because white officaials failed to fix problems which they have been told about - The white commumitiy should listen to the black community.
Police should provide more protection to black communities - and be more fair and less brutal towards black people
During the riots the police often made the situation worse by using violence
Federal momey which was prommised often went towards training and weaponsfor police to supress the black people more
There had been no serious attempt to improve black ghettos
The media sensationalised the riots
What were normally features of ghettos?
Fire brigades were slow to answer calls from ghettos /or didn’t go
Rubish pilled on the street
Increased chardes for goods from white shop owners
High rent from white landlords
What did the CCCO stand for?
Coordinating Council of Community Organisation
What did the CCCO and SCLC work together to do?
Where?
When?
Chicargo
Non-violence campaign for fairer housing in 1966
Which party was James Bevel from?
SCLC
What did James Bevel do?
Helped organise tenants’massociations to fight the Chicargo Real Estate Boards whi were segregating housing and charginf high rent
What party was Jesse Jackson from?
SCLC
What did Jesse Jackson do?
Organsie Operation Breadbasket
What was Operation Breadbasket?
A series of boycotts to preserise white busienss owners to employ more black people
What happened on the 7th January 1966?
SCLC announced plans form a Chicargo freedom movement - King went to Chicargo
What was a problem with the campagin in the north (chicargo)?
Many of the black politions oppsoed the plans
SCLC found it hard to connect with ghetto gangs - King focused on the churches but it wasn’ enoigh to create a movement through the city
Who was the mayor of Chicargo in 1966
Richard Daley
What was Chicargo a challenge for King?
Richard Daley used to word and not weapons to fight King. He seemed to support Civil Rights but did nothing to help them.
What happened before the planned march in Chicargo?
A riot broke out and MLK’s calles for non-violence was ignored.
Bad PR
What happened in the planeed march in Chicargo?
A march theough white neighbourhoods produced a violence responce (which was what they wanted). However the news wasn’t as sympathetic as they hoped and far less supportive.
What did Richard Daley eventualy do?
What happened next?
Richard Daley agreed to have meetings with the Chicargo Freedom Movement and the Chicargo Real Estate Board which produced an agreement for fairer housing practises
Then (feeling their job as done) MLK and SCLC left Chicargo
Why may the Campaign in the North be seen as a sucsess?
Operation Breadbasket kept running
A formal agreement was made
King spoke of it as a sucess
Why may the Campaign in the North be seen as a faliour?
There had been violence on both sides
King couldn’t stop the violence
Daily ignored the agreements
The CCCO couldn’t keep pressure on Daley to force him to make reforms
The governmen didn’t push reforms to happen (maybe because of King’s outsooken opinions on Vietnam)
What were kings oppinions on Vietnam?
What did this lead to?
It wasn’t right
Worsened relations between him and LBJ as he spoke out against it publicly
When was MLK assasonated?
6pm 4th April 1968
Where was MLK assasonated?
Standing on a balcony of a motel in Memphis Tennessee
How mnay riots were there after MLK’s death?
172 across the US
When was MLK’s funeral?
9th April
How mmay people had been killed, seriously injured, arrested and damaged caused by King’s funeral?
32 black people were dead
3,500 were seriously injured
27,000 had been arrested
$45 million in damages
What was King planning whilst he was in Memphis before he was shot?
The poor peoples campaign
What happened to the poor people’s campaign?
It went ahead - a large amount of intergarate people set up camp in DC within view of the Capitol
It failed due to bad weather and arguments
Whi had warned MLK that the poor people’s campaign wouldn’t work?
SCLC leaders
How long did the poor peoples’s campaign last?
A few weeks
What did the 1968 Civil Roghts act include?
Fair housing including rental housing and sales of housing
It gave federal protection to Civil Roghts workers
It made punishments form riots harsher
What were some latter impacts of MLK’s assasonation?
Civil Rights groups lost support
More radical actions from Black Americans switching to power groups
What did SNCC do in 1969?
Changed the n from “non-violence to national”
What were a lot of people arguing about the Vietnam war?
Why shoudk we be getting into forign affairs when Civil Rights arn’t done yet
In the early 1970’s what did the Black Panthers focus on?
Getting their members who they thoight were wrongly imprisioned out of prison
When did Nixon become president?
1969
What was a feature of Nixon’s campain?
Spoke in favor of Civil Rights
What did Nixon do to help Civil Rights?
Set up funding and training for black people setting up busienesses in black areas
Gave tax breaks to white poeple with businesses in black areas
He pressed for “affirmative action”
He made sure there were more black officials in the white house
What was “affirmative action”?
The deliberate choosing of a black person over a white person for a job
Who was James Farmer?
A CORE worker who was given a high level job in the Department of Health, Wealfair and Education
Give an example of who Nixon hired?
James Farmer
Who was Shirley Chisholm?
A black person eho became a teaxher in (1946)
In 1968 - she was the first black woment o be elected to the house of represntatives
She almost got elected for the Democrat candidate to oppose Nixon but she didn’t get the nomination
What happened in 1970?
The foting act was revised to ban state litracy tests
What happened in 1975?
The voting right sact was refised againt to include Hispanics, American Indians and other races
By the 1975 was Civil Rights done?
No although there was intergaration not all black people were treated fairly especialy in indivdual oppinions
