The USA Conflict Home and Abroad: 1.1 Flashcards
Black Americans in the early 1950s
1
Q
What is a Jim Crow law ?
A
- segregation laws
- nicknamed “Jim Crow” laws, as Jim Crow was a popular VERY RACIST blackface character
[] demonstrates the general attitudes of white people towards black people in the US and how normalised hateful terms like these were
2
Q
Describe the living situations of black people in America in the early 1950s
A
- lived in the poorest areas
- had the worst facilities
- facilities, transport and schooling was often segregated (especially in southern America) and black children had to travel farther for worse schooling than white children
- were often terrorised by white racist groups like the KKK and WCCs
3
Q
What is segregation de jure versus de facto, and where in the US were each most common ?
A
- de jure:
[] segregation by law (jury)
[] most common in the south
[] known as Jim Crow laws - de facto:
[] segregation by custom
[] most common in the north
[] black people having less highly paid jobs due to colour bars and thus being poorer and forced to live in poorer areas like ghettoes is an example of de facto segregation
4
Q
Describe how the law system works in America, on both the levels of state and federal government
A
- generally:
[] the US governmental system is divided into a state government, which governs one particular state, and a federal government, which oversees the entire country
[] each of these governments are divided into three sectors: judiciary (to interpret laws), an executive (to carry out laws) and legislature (to create laws) - federal:
[] can overrule any state law it wishes and is responsible for the upkeep of the law as dictated by amendments etc. in all states as a whole
[] any decisions made in the federal courts are applicable nationallt
[] the legislature is a two-party system, made of Congress and the House of Representatives; bills must be voted in favour in both of these houses before the bill is passed as a law
[] the judiciary is the supreme court
[] the executive is the President, who controls federal troops, can issue Executive Orders which take effect without going through Congress, and is responsible for finding ways to enforce law - state:
[] legislature sector is also a two-party system like in the federal government
[] the judiciary is the state court, which has its own jury and judge, and is the highest order of law within a state
[] the executive is the state governor, who controls state troops, state funds and enforces state laws passed by the legislators
5
Q
Describe attitudes of southern white people towards black people in the early 1950s
A
- disrespectful
[] would not shake hands, as this was a sign of equality
[] would often address black men as ‘Jack’, ‘George’ or ‘boy’
[] would often address black women as ‘aunt’ or “girl” or by their first names
[] used slurs regularly - called anyone who supported black civil rights “white n*****s” and were just as violent to them as they were to black people
- white people typically viewed black people as lazy or inferior
- the majority of southern Christians or politicians or policemen were KKK and WCC members
[] fostered distrust and fear of the government amongst the black community and meant that there were very few people in positions of authority that cared about their issues and their safety - crimes against black people and black on black crimes were dismissed as “negro crimes” and weren’t further investigated or given justice
[] black people were simply addressed as “negroes” in the news, not women or men or people; dehumanisation and extreme racism
6
Q
What effect did WW2 have on (some) white views of black people AND the civil rights movement and why ?
A
- black soldiers who fought abroad for America saw integration and respect across races
[] made them indignant, as there was now no reason as to why America hadn’t had this same progress
[] led to more push for integration of black people in society after the war - although there were segregated units in the US military, many white Americans were made to work with black Americans for the first time
[] challenged prejudicial views of black people being lazy or less dependable than white people
[] led to (some) white people becoming more supportive of civil rights after the war
7
Q
What effect did the Cold War have on the civil rights movement and why ?
A
- led to more pressure being put on the US government to promote the progression of civil rights
[] the Cold War was largely based on ideology, and the USSR(‘s supporters) could use the discrimination and violence against black people in the US to gain support and discredit the US as the supposed “leader of the free world”
8
Q
What is the significance of being able to vote for civil rights ?
A
- having a large enough population of a minority being able to vote means they can influence who is elected
[] forces politicians to include policies that the minority group would approve of in order to get their votes
9
Q
What percentage of black people were registered to vote before and after WW2 ?
A
- before = 3%
- after = 20%
[] still not a lot, but a considerable deal more than before
[] signified a shift in ideology in the black community and the will to further the civil rights movement through politics
10
Q
How did white people oppose black voters ?
A
- white gangs would stand outside of poll stations on voting days and physically stop black people from entering
[] some would even beat them up etc. - white employers would threated to fire black people if they voted
- state governments passed laws making it harder for black people to vote
[] poll taxes are an example of this; many black people were poor on account of bad education and colour bars in high-paying jobs
[] literacy tests were also an example of this and were rigged against black people, giving them harder tests than white people so they couldn’t pass and thus couldn’t vote - some political parties declared themselves as “private organisations” who could choose their members and weed out black voters
- black people who tried to vote or went to court to defend their right to vote after being opposed faced extreme violence and even murder
[] discouraged black people from trying to vote out of fear
11
Q
Describe seven main reasons for the growth in the civil rights movement in the 1950s
A
- television becoming more popular
[] news and videos of transgressions and violence against black people reached more people on the daily and spread awareness for the need for improvement in civil rights - WW2
[] black people saw integration and opportunities abroad that they weren’t being offered for the first time and made them push for improvement in civil rights back home
[] white Americans’ views of black Americans improved when they worked with them for the first time - education
[] better education for black people in the north meant there were more black skilled professionals
[] when these people moved south, it helped to shift white southern perspectives on the work ethic, intelligence etc. of black people - the Cold War
[] made the US government sensitive to international criticism
[] US looked hypocritical as leaders of the “free world” whilst treating its own citizens with disrespect and enforcing segregation - migration
[] (educated) northern black people moved south
[] in response, racist white people moved north (white flight)
[] the population of more southern towns and cities became more heavily black, helping to shift the demographic of the voting population and forcing southern politicians to employ more black-friendly policies (though the opposite was true initially) - growth of southern cities
[] new industries arose, giving more job opportunities to black people
[] colour bars in employment were thus more heavily protested - new research and ideas
[] new research disproved scientific racism
[] research done by organisations like the NAACP showed that segregation was actively detrimental to the mental health of black people, especially children
12
Q
What was the NAACP ?
A
- National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
- fought for civil rights via the courts and legal system
- mainly operated in the south
- in 1940, set up the LDF (legal defence fund) which provided lawyers to wrongly convicted or charged black people
[] the LDF initially worked within the system of “separate but equal”
[] beating up black people to get them to confess to crimes they hadn’t done was disgustingly common - in 1950, LDF lawyers made a switch to not only fighting racism in court, but segregation
[] collected court cases to prove that separate fundamentally was not equal
[] did research on how segregation affected the mental health of black schoolchildren
13
Q
What was CORE ?
A
- Congress of Racial Equality
- est. 1942
[] during the war
[] demonstrates how WW2 shifted white ideas of black people and led to a promotion of fighting for civil rights amongst white people - operated mainly in the north and, unlike many civil rights groups at the time, had a member-base of largely white and middle class people
- had little impact in the south initially due to its distance
- popularised non-violent direct action, pioneered by smaller black church-based civil rights organisations
[] trained many other civil rights groups in non-violence
[] non-violent direct action was CRUCIAL for the advancement of the civil rights movement, as it accurately demonstrated black people as victims of racist abuse, and gave white people nothing to use against them to justify the racism
14
Q
What is Plessy v. Fergusson ?
A
the original court case that gave a basis for legal segregation
[] ruled that segregation was allowed if it was “equal” in facilities, opportunities etc. as there was nothing against this in the constitution, just against unequal rights
[] despite this, segregated coloured facilities etc. were significantly worse than the white versions 99.99999% of the time
it was vital for Plessy v. Fergusson to be overturned in order to make any real legal progress in civil rights
[] the NAACP did this with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case ruling in 1954, then solidified it with the ruling of Brown II in May 1955
15
Q
What was the importance of black churches to the civil rights movement ?
A
- were the centre of most black southern communities
[] most people of all ages attended church regularly
[] it was easy to spread messages and ideas to organise protest within churches because of this
[] black priests and church leaders had extensive networks they could call upon to organise protest - championed non-violent direct action as a result of their Christian beliefs
- urged black people to forgive violent and racist white people, not just to have no reaction to their violence like CORE suggested
- activists who worked in the church could freely protest and vote without fear of losing their jobs because were paid by the black church
- activists who worked in black churches were educated and highly respected amongst the black community
16
Q
What were the different white attitudes to black churches in terms of civil rights ?
A
- positive:
[] white politicians believed that black churchmen were easier and more rational to negotiate with, and easier to get rid of by promising reform and doing nothing about it
[] black churchmen were more likely to be respected by white people because of their education, training in speaking and their status in the black community
[] white people tolerated black church activists as they worked for reform within the segregated system - negative:
[] fear of black churches due to their high organisation and interconnection with all other black churches
[] this fear from white people caused many attacks and racism to be directed towards black churches
17
Q
What were the aims and attitudes of black church-based civil rights groups ?
A
- non-violent direct protests only
- black community should rely on each other to further civil rights, not wait for white people to do it for them
- should work to improve the rights and lives of black people within the segregated system, not to overturn the system entirely
18
Q
Describe the work of smaller northern civil rights groups centred around protests in universities
A
- protests on desegregated university campuses were common
[] the black university students involved were educated and gave the black civil rights cause an educated, respected voice which massively helped the white opinion of it
[] these black students were likely to move to the south and start businesses and organisations to help poorer black people once they graduated, so improving their rights and lives indirectly improved the southern situation as well
19
Q
Who were the KKK ?
A
- Ku Klux Klan
- racist white supremacist group
- attacked Jewish people, Catholics and anyone who wasn’t white
[] left burning crosses in front gardens, sent death threats, used bombs, arson and murder to terrorise people they didn’t approve of - many white southerners belonged to the KKK
20
Q
Which people were murdered in Mississippi in the early 50s and what was significant about all of these cases ?
A
- Emmett Till (August 1955)
- Reverend George Lee (1955)
- Reverend Lamar Smith (1955)
- NONE got justice; Till’s murderer’s were cleared by a white jury and the shooting/murder of both reverends was written off as a car accident
21
Q
Describe the murder of Emmett Till and the aftermath, with significance
A
- 14 years old, Till lived in the north of the US
- went to visit his uncle and cousins in the south in August 1955
[] he told his cousins about the relative racial acceptance in the north, and his white girlfriend
[] the cousins dared him to go into Roy Bryant’s shop and talk to his wife, Carol Bryant
[] Till went in, bought some sweets and went out - VERY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME PASSED
[] Carol Bryant said that Till had wolf-whistled at her (true) and sexually harassed/assaulted her (untrue - time too short for anything to have happened)
[] she told her husband Roy her version of events
[] the next night, Roy Bryant and his half-brother went to Till’s uncle’s house and kidnapped Till
[] they beat him, shot him then threw his body into a river with a weight wrapped around his neck with barbed wire - Till’s body was uncovered three days later at the bottom of the river
[] Till’s mother demanded her son’s body be brought back to Chicago
[] had an open casket viewing and the damage done to Till was plain and clear, including the bloating due to the water
[] attracted MASS MEDIA - Till’s murderers were acquitted by an all-white jury, and even got rich off of selling their story to the media ADMITTING TO THE MURDER
[] caused mass uproar in the black community and their allies and demonstrated exactly why black civil rights were so important
22
Q
How did racist politicians block civil rights laws from being passed ?
A
- filibusters
- denying rulings of state judges on lawsuits in favour of civil rights
23
Q
Who were Dixiecrats ?
A
- extremely racist southern democratic politicians who had tried to break off and form their own white supremacist party in 1948 when President Truman proposed a civil rights bill
- enough of them were present in Congress that politicians had to appeal to their ideas or else risked losing votes
24
Q
What was a WCC ?
A
- White Citizens’ Council
- very racist
- politicians often joined them
