The USA Conflict Home and Abroad: 2.4

Question 1

Between 1964 and 1968, how many major riots were there in the US ?

Answer 1

329

Question 2

What were the long-term causes of riots from 1964-68 ?

Answer 2

• police brutality
  [] police were quick to shoot (often unarmed) “suspects”
• schools were underfunded and underequipped, providing poor education
• black people living in ghettoes were 2x as likely to be unemployed than white people and those living outside of ghettoes
  [] meant that the black community in ghettoes were poorer than most and couldn’t afford to buy their own houses or have good shoes/clothing/furniture, and had trouble raising enough to pay their extortionate rents
• landlords often gave cramped housing which was run down and dysfunctional, with VERY high rents
• white city officials ignored frequent complaints about bad conditions from people living in the ghettoes

Question 3

Describe the pattern of the northern riots between 1964 and 1968

Answer 3

• trigger incident (usually involving police discrimination or brutality of some sort)
• minor violence against white property like landlords’ properties or discriminatory white businesses
• violence escalates into shoot-outs, looting etc. (usually at night)
  [] more black people die than white due to police shootings
• state troops brought in to calm violence
• promises of reform made by city officials; peace restored

Question 4

Describe the significance of the 1964-68 riots

Answer 4

• drew publicity and attention to the problems that people faced in the ghettoes
• convinced King and the SCLC to campaign in the north to help the people in the ghettoes
• Johnson said that the riots convinced him to put more money into improving ghetto conditions

Question 5

Describe the findings of the Kerner Report in 1968 (set up by President Johnson)

Answer 5

• the riots were a result of ghetto conditions, segregation and discrimination
• police made the riots worse by using violence
• the police needed to fix their discriminatory and often brutal treatment of black people
• riots came after the failure of white city and state officials to improve conditions in the ghettoes after black people had pointed them out
• the black community of cities and states should be involved in making decisions about improvements to the ghettoes
• federal aid given to states following riots was usually spent on police training and equipping the police with more weapons, not on fixing ghetto conditions
• there was no serious attempt made by states or officials to improve conditions in ghettoes, gain the black community’s trust or work with the black community
• the media had often sensationalised the riots

Question 6

Describe the lead-up to King’s campaign in the north, January 1966

Answer 6

• Coordinating Council of Community Organisations (CCCO) from Chicago invited SCLC to join non-violent campaign for fairer housing
• SCLC helped CCCO to organise tenants’ associations to fight Chicago Real Estate Board’s segregated housing and high rents
• SCLC helped to organise Operation Breadbasket (boycotts of white businesses to pressure into hiring more black people)
• 7 January 1966, SCLC announced plans for a Chicago Freedom Movement (CFM) and King went to Chicago
• King called meetings + demonstrations
  [] King + SCLC garnered some support but not enough
  [] even Chicago’s black politicians disagreed with the campaign
• SCLC found it hard to connect with ghetto gangs due to the SCLC’s message of non-violence, which was less popular than Black Power in the northern cities, and relied mostly on church attendance which the cities didn’t have

Question 7

Describe the events of King’s campaign in the north and their significance

Answer 7

• CFM planned marches through white neighbourhoods in Chicago to get white violence and thus publicity
• before the marches could start, a riot broke out
  [] King was there, but his appeals for calm were ignored
  [] Richard Daley (Chicago’s mayor) blamed the SCLC for inciting the riot, and thus made the protesters seem more violent
  [] state troops were called in to calm the riot
  [] this shows the difference between the respect for King’s non-violent methods in the south vs. the preference for self-defence and militancy in the north
• the marches went ahead and produced the expected violent white reaction, which was publicised
  [] publicity in the north for the protesters was less supportive than in the south however - likely due to the riots prior to the marches
• Richard Daley organised meetings with the CFM and the Chicago Real Estate Board to negotiate fairer pricing of rent as well as an improvement in housing conditions
• King and many of the SCLC felt their job was done and left, without keeping up pressure on Daley DESPITE BEING WARNED BY THE CCCO THAT THE MOVEMENT WOULD LOSE TRACTION WITHOUT KING AND THE SCLC BEING THERE TO KEEP PRESSURE ON DALEY TO MAKE LASTING CHANGES

Question 8

Why did King see his campaign in the north as a success ?

Answer 8

• Operation Breadbasket kept running after he left
  [] produced the desired result; black employment
  [] became a key protest organisation in Chicago going forward
• there had been peaceful demonstrations that led to political talks and a final agreement with Daley and the CREB

Question 9

Why was King’s campaign in the north widely seen as a failure ?

Answer 9

• Daley ignored his agreements with the CFM as soon as King and the SCLC left Chicago and housing board policies didn’t change at all
  [] the CCCO had warned King of this and found it hard to keep pressure on Daley alone
  [] Johnson didn’t enforce the agreement either, as relations between King and himself were strained due to King’s public opposition of the Vietnam War
• there had been violence on both sides during the protests
• King could not stop the riots prior to the march, which reflected badly on the whole campaign from the media’s point of view

Question 10

When and where was Martin Luther King assassinated ?

Answer 10

• 6pm, 4th April 1968
• balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee

Question 11

What were the short-term impacts of King’s death ?

Answer 11

• riots causing $42 million damage and 32 deaths by the 9th of April broke out in 172 cities and towns across the USA
• King’s Poor People’s Campaign went ahead as planned before he was killed
  [] integrated, large group of poor protesters marched on Washington and set up camp near the Capitol
  [] King had been warned that the campaign would likely fail and it did; SCLC leaders argued, it poured with rain and the camp broke up only after a couple weeks
• the 1968 Civil Rights Act was quickly passed
  [] gave federal protection to civil rights workers
  [] made punishments for rioting more harsh
  [] included a section about fair housing, both in terms of rental housing and housing for sale

Question 12

Describe the long-term impacts of King’s assassination

Answer 12

• membership of national civil rights groups fell, especially in terms of white people
  [] white people related most to King
  [] white people got increasingly unwelcome in civil rights groups due to the growth of the Black Power movement
  [] after the passing of the 1964, 1965 and 1968 Acts, many white people felt that their jobs in terms of legal equality were done and stopped making active efforts to campaign for civil rights
• civil rights groups leaned more towards militancy and Black Power
  [] in 1969, SNCC changed the ‘N’ from meaning non-violent, to national and lost almost all of its original members
• as a result of the increasing militancy and drop in white support for civil rights, conflict became more common

Question 13

Describe the nature of black protest from 1969-75

Answer 13

• local groups:
  [] often protested segregation, unequal employment, unfair rent and other community-based issues
• larger groups:
  [] tended to protest larger issues, which drew in non-black protest groups also
  [] the Black Panthers held a massive protest nationally for the wrongful imprisonment of some of their members
• many black people protested against being forced to go and fight in the Vietnam War, saying they didn’t want to go and fight for a country that denied them their basic human rights

Question 14

Describe progress to civil rights under Nixon

Answer 14

• marketed progress in civil rights to white people as being likely to decrease riots so that he would gain more support for these initiatives both in the north and the south, AS WELL AS the black vote
  [] set up funding and training for black employees and entrepreneurs
  [] gave tax-breaks to white-owned chain businesses that set up in black communities and employed black people
  [] pressed for affirmative action (employing a black person over a white person)
  [] made sure there were more black officials in the White House

Question 15

what did the 1970 and 1975 Voting Rights Acts do ?

Answer 15

1970 - banned state literacy tests for voting
1975 - revised to include American Indian, Hispanic and other people from ethnic minorities who were discriminated against