Unit 1.2 - The Quest for Civil Rights Flashcards

1
Q

What was life like in the South for African Americans?

A
  • African Americans faced legal restrictions at every turn.

- Booker T. Washington advocated the acceptance of segregation which was made popular by better-off Blacks and whites.

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2
Q

What was the impact of the Jim Crow Laws?

A
  • Due to the abolition on slavery southerners felt they needed another way to assert authority over Blacks.
  • By 1917 the South had a large number of ‘Jim Crow’ Laws which segregated every aspect of life.
  • It was called the ‘permanent system’ or the ‘final settlement.’
  • Other states also introduced discrimination against Blacks through subtler means.
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3
Q

What was voting like in the South?

A
  • Voters had to pass a literacy qualification in order to vote (More often then not Blacks were given a harder test.)
  • In many states voters had to be home owners: many blacks were not.
  • Some states held all-white elections to select the candidates for the actual election.
  • Polling stations were surrounded by whites prepared to beat up any Black voters.
  • By 1917 the number of registered Black voters had dropped. In Louisiana it fell from 130,334 in 1896 to 1342 in 1904.
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4
Q

Lynchings?

A
  • Some whites felt that segregation wasn’t enough and took it upon themselves to terrorise blacks into obedience.
  • Between 1915 and 1930 there were lynchings of 65 white men and 579 black men.
  • Southern Lynchings were often advertised beforehand.
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5
Q

What happened to Emmet Till?

A
  • In 1955, 14 year old Emmet Till was lynched.
  • Originally from the North, he was visiting relatives from the south and therefore didn’t understand the Jim Crow Laws.
  • Lynched for conversing with a white woman allegedly asking her out on a date.
  • The lynching attracted a lot of publicity and caused shock even in the South.
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6
Q

Who were the KKK?

A
  • White supremacist organisation revived in 1915.
  • Against any non-WASP organisation but especially Blacks.
  • Members lived all over the USA.
  • By 1925 it is estimated memberships are between 3-8 million.
  • Members were likely to posses real political and social power.
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7
Q

Was there government intervention in the South?

A
  • Black peoples fundamental loss of vote cost them their political power.
  • The government hindered Black equality. Plessy v Ferguson case ruled that segregation was permitted on the premises it was ‘separate but equal.’
  • ‘Separate’ was very seldom and the only way to prove ‘equality’ was to take cases to court.
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8
Q

What were the opinions possessed by Woodrow Wilson and Harding towards Civil Rights?

A
  • Woodrow Wilson (Southerner) had no problem with segregation.
  • Warren G. Harding spoke out against lynching and was in favour of civil rights.
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9
Q

Why were the Presidential opinions of Wilson and Harding ineffective?

A
  • The republican policy of laissez-faire meant that they could express opinions to influence behaviour but wouldn’t enforce it through legislation.
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10
Q

What was the impact of the Depression on the focus of the Civil Rights Movement?

A

The Federal Goverment was so concerned with solving the economic depression that civil rights slid even further out of sight.

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11
Q

What was the Great Migration?

A
  • Mass movement of about 5 million Southern Blacks to the North and West between 1915-1917.
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12
Q

What caused people to move away from the South?

A
  • Discrimination.
  • Jim Crow Laws.
  • KKK and Lynchings.
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13
Q

What enticed people to the North?

A
  • Black people were beginning to have significant political power.
  • Black people were listened to.
  • Powerful, business-orientated Black elite grew.
  • Black people had their own tight-knit communities.
  • Employment (black workers were dislodging white workers.)
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14
Q

What was the impact of the Great Migration on the South?

A
  • Labour force shrank.
  • Farming areas struggled to get by.
  • Southerners saw the migration as a way for Blacks to ‘vote with their feet’ against the Jim Crow Laws.
  • There was tendency to assume that those who stayed accepted the Jim Crow Laws.
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15
Q

What was the impact of the Great Migration on the North?

A
  • Sharp rise in population.
  • Black people were beginning to rise in power.
  • Churches became significant bases for the organisation of civil rights protests.
  • Businesses put pressure on white workers to leave.
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16
Q

Why was there a shift in votes from Republican to Democrat by African Americans voters during the 1930s?

A
  • The Democrats promised a ‘New Deal’.

- The African American vote was a significant factor in the Roosevelt landslide election.

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17
Q

What did Roosevelt and the New Deal do for African Americans in office?
(Positives.)

A
  • Appointed some Black advisors.
  • Executive Order 8802 banned racial discrimination in the defence industry.
  • Black officials in Government protested and advised. Sometimes getting results. Persuaded the National Recovery Admission (NRA) to set the minimum wage at the same rate for black and white people.
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18
Q

What did Roosevelt and the New Deal do for African Americans?
(Negatives.)

A
  • Appointed some Black advisors. Was this done out of Tokenism rather than actual desire for help from the individuals.
  • Roosevelt’s need to appease the majority (many of which were against the civil rights movement) hindered the movement.
  • Often restricted the number of Black people on a work project if a donor required this.
  • Executive Order 8802 only done out of necessity?
  • Black people were constantly being moved off Projects to make room for white people.
  • Social Security provisions of New Deal didn’t accommodate Black farmers or those who worked in others homes.
  • The fact that government officials had to ‘protest’, Intensifies Tokenism and the fact that results were only sometimes effective. More often they were ignored.
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19
Q

Why did African Americans protest against the New Deal?

A
  • Black Americans protested about their treatment during the New Deal.
  • Found more support within communist and other left-wing groups rather than from Black rights organisations.
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20
Q

What were the benefits of Black protestors finding solidarity with left-wing and communist groups?

A
  • Found more support than they did with Black rights organisations.
    NAACP rejection of framed rape case in 1931, communist lawyers took it on instead and won.
  • Communists in the North demanded that relief funds should be allocated equally between Blacks and whites.
  • Black press applauded these campaigns.
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21
Q

What were the negatives of Black protestors finding solidarity with left-wing and communist groups?

A
  • The affiliation with Communism gave opposition to the Civil Rights another stick in which to beat the movement.
  • The National Negro Congress (Black civil rights group with communist members.) ended up on the governments list of suspect organisations during the Cold War years.
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22
Q

What was the purpose of Church organisations?

A
  • Established to support Blacks during Depression.
  • More support in Northern cities as there were more churches and donors.
  • Father Divine of the Peace Mission church group set up shops and restaurants selling products at lower rates than white-run stores.
  • Housewives League coined the phrase “Don’t buy where you cant work” starting a campaign boycotting stores.
  • Activism within segregation.
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23
Q

What was the 1935 Resettlement Act?

A
  • Aimed to resettle low-income families and lend money where needed.
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24
Q

What were the limitations of the 1935 Resettlement Act?

A
  • Only helped 3,400 farmers out of the 200,000 requiring aid.
  • Things were so bad, in 1939 2 million. signed a petition asking for federal aid to help them relocate back to Africa.
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25
Q

What was the impact of the Second World War on the lives of African Americans?

A
  • May 1941, A. Phillip Randolph threatened a 100,00 man strong march on Washington unless FDR banned discrimination. Was successful.
  • Despite this, equality was only patchily implemented.
  • As the war progressed the military and factories demanded more people, so Black Americans could push for equality.
  • In 1942 only 3% of defence workers were Black. Two years later 8% were Black.
  • White people began to see Black people as equals.
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26
Q

What was Truman’s opinion on Civil Rights?

A
  • Truman was in support of Civil Rights.
  • Proposed anti-lynching, anti-segregation and fair employment laws in 1954 but failed to push them through to congress.
  • Truman was in favour of Black American’s holding on to the rights they gained during WW2.
  • However his Cold War focus meant his attention was given more to fighting the war rather than for Civil Rights.
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27
Q

Why was it difficult to push Civil Rights measures past congress?

A
  • Almost always blocked by Southern opposition and lukewarm Northern support.
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28
Q

What did Truman set up in 1946?

A
  • The President’s Committee on Civil Rights.
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29
Q

What was the President’s Committee on Civil Rights?

A
  • Called for equal opportunities in work and housing.

- Urged for strong federal support for Civil Rights.

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30
Q

What did Truman issue in 1948?

A
  • Executive Order 9981

- Desegregated the military and all work done by businesses for the government.

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31
Q

What were the various tactics used by Black American protestors during 1917-1955?

A
  • Non-violent protest.
  • Picketing.
  • Boycotting.
  • Sit-ins.
    These methods all drew public attention towards the reality of discrimination.
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32
Q

What was the NAACP membership in 1917, 1919 and 1946?

A
  • In 1917 NAACP membership was: 9000.
  • In 1919 NAACP membership was: 90,000.
  • In 1946 NAACP membership was: 600,000.
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33
Q

What was the Separatist movement?

A
  • Believed Black Americans were never going to achieve complete equality with whites and therefore they should stop fighting a ‘loosing battle.’
  • Instead they should embrace segregation but fight for equal rights and conditions within it.
  • Separatism would mean Black children could grow up feeling proud rather than inferior.
  • Marcus Garvey in the early 1920s even suggested returning to Africa.
34
Q

What was the NAACP?

A
  • Established in 1910.
  • Aimed to gain Black Americans their legal rights.
  • Began by mounting their campaign against lynching.
  • NAACP took segregation cases to court but it was virtually useless due to 1896 ‘Plessy v Ferguson’ case.
  • Provided lawyers to defend black people on trial who it felt had been unjustly accused.
35
Q

What were the successes of legal challenges during 1917-1955?

A
  • NAACP won some cases during the 30s and 40s and every case in the 50s.
  • They were getting legal support.
36
Q

What were the weaknesses of legal challenges during 1917-1955?

A
  • Supreme Court didn’t enforce its rulings.
  • Supreme Court didn’t set time limits for desegregation. Instead used phrases such as “with all deliberate speed.”
  • Legal support was useless unless they were practiced properly.
37
Q

What was the 1926 Sweet Trial?

A
  • Doctor Ossian Sweet and his family move to a predominantly white neighbourhood in 1925.
  • House is surrounded by angry mobs for 2 nights running.
  • On the second night property is damaged and out of fear of an attack a shot is fired at a young white man by one of the Sweet’s friends.
  • All men within the Sweet household are put on trial for murder.
  • NAACP lawyers take up the case and win.
  • Establishes a legal defence fund to fight segregation.
38
Q

What was the 1936 Murray v Maryland case?

A
  • University of Maryland’s law school desegregated.
39
Q

What was the 1938 Gaines v Canada case?

A
  • Supreme Court order the University of Missouri to take black students.
40
Q

What was the 1946 Morgan v Virginia case?

A
  • Supreme Court overturns a state law segregating buses and trains that moved from one state to another.
41
Q

What was the 1948 Shelley v Kraemer case?

A
  • Bans regulations that bar black people from buying houses in an area in any state.
42
Q

What was the 1950 Sweatt v Painter and McLaurin V Oklahoma cases?

A
  • Desegregates graduate and professional schools in Texas and Oklahoma.
43
Q

What was the 1954 Brown V Board of Education of Topeka case?

A
  • Desegregates schools.
    First use of evidence that, as well as unequal provision, segregation is psychologically harmful to Black schoolchildren.
44
Q

Why did the NAACP and other organisations step up direct actions in the 1940s and 1950s?

A
  • Saw their membership grow.
  • Saw that legal rulings alone were not enough.
  • Influenced by Mahatma Ghandi’s peaceful protest methods.
45
Q

What type of direct action did CORE take and what was the reason for this?

A

Held a series of sit-ins in Northern cities:

  • Chicago 1942
  • St Louis 1949
  • Baltimore 1952
  • Goal was to desegregate public facilities.
46
Q

What did CORE and the Fellowship for Reconciliation do in 1947?

A
  • Went of the ‘Journey of Reconciliation’.
  • Rode inter-state busses through the South in order to desegregate them.
  • Thousands of Black people took it into their hands to be the fist to move into all-white housing blocks or business districts.
47
Q

What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

A
  • December 1st 1954, NAACP Member, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested.
  • Boycott began on December 5th and lasted for 380 days.
  • Gained mass publicity and the Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional on 13th November 1956.
48
Q

What was Little Rock, Arkansas?

A
  • In 1957, 9 children were selected to attend the preciously all-white Central High School.
  • On the 4th of December Faubus sent in the National Guard to prevent the children attending school for their ‘safety’.
  • MLK met with Eisenhower and urged federal intervention.
  • Federal troops were sent in to guard the children.
  • Central High School became integrated.
49
Q

What were the Greensboro Sit-ins?

A
  • February 1st 1960.
  • 4 Black college students went to Woolworth’s and waited until closing to be served at the lunch counter.
  • The movement spread across America and the first national sit-in was on February 13th.
  • By March the sit-ins had spread to 55 cities in 13 different states.
  • Lunch counters were eventually desegregated
50
Q

What was the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)

A
  • Set up on 15th April 1960.
  • Racially integrated organisation of young people.
  • Believe in non-violent direct action.
  • Trained in how to deal with violent reactions.
  • Sent field securities in to dangerous areas in the south.
  • Looking to see an increase in voter registration in the south.
51
Q

What were the Freedom Rides?

A
  • Organised by CORE and James Farmer.
  • Wanted to test the weight of the legislation regarding the desegregation of transport on busses.
  • Experienced no trouble in the North but as they moved deeper south they were met with violence.
  • Incident involving the KKK: set a bus alight and barricaded the doors shut in an attempt to kill the riders inside.
52
Q

What happened in Birmingham?

A
  • Most segregated city in America.
  • MLK and the SCLC planned to desegregate the whole town.
  • Plan was to get arrested and fill up all the jails.
  • Children trained in protest tactics.
  • Police used severe violence against peaceful protestors. Chief ‘Bull’ Connor used high pressure fire hoses and dogs against the protestors.
  • Shocked global media and JFK was ashamed.
  • Federal troops were sent in and Birmingham was successfully desegregated.
53
Q

What was the Freedom Summer?

A
  • SNCC pushed for voter registration. Sent 45 white and black volunteers to the South.
  • 6 volunteers found dead 39 shooting incidents and countless beatings.
  • 17,000 Black people tried to register to vote. Only 1600 accepted.
54
Q

What was Black Power?

A
  • A mixed movement from 1965.
  • Black Panthers (BP) set up in 1965 worked in black communities keeping order and organising community projects.
  • BP 10 point programme included decent housing and black history being taught at university.
  • BP uniform and carrying guns attracted government attention not the work they did for the community.
  • Most Black Power groups worked and received better results on a local level.
  • Black Power Students pressed for more black staff and black history courses.
  • Black Power Workers set up radical trade unions to push fro black jobs, equal pay and equal job opportunities.
  • Black Power radicalised many well established organisations (NAACP) in the long term.
  • If these groups didn’t radicalise then they became more pragmatic instead. Atlantic Leader of NAACP accepted slowing of segregation ing 1973 for more control over black schooling.
55
Q

What happened to interstate busses on the 25th November 1955?

A
  • Segregation on interstate busses banned all over USA.
56
Q

What did the Southern Congressmen sign on the 12th of March 1956?

A
  • 102 Southern congressmen sigh the Southern Manifesto condemning Brown v Board.
57
Q

What did James Meredith do on the 30th September 1962?

A
  • James Meredith integrated the University of Mississippi.

- Only with the help of 3000 federal troops.

58
Q

What happened on the 28th August 1963?

A
  • March on Washington.
  • Biggest civil rights protest to date.
  • Numbers involved range from 200,000-500,000.
59
Q

When was MLK awarded a Nobel Peace Prize?

A
  • 10th of December 1964.
60
Q

What was the Northern Crusade?

A
  • In the summer there were 20 major riots nationally.
  • King announced a ‘Northern Crusade’ to improve slums.
  • Set up tenant unions, improving working conditions and teaching young people about non-violent protest.
  • Campaign many focussed on Chicago.
  • Crusade petered out. King claimed success but many disagreed.
  • Brought no permanent change and it became clear it was harder to get political support for social issues than segregation.
  • King’s relationship with the media began turning sour.
61
Q

When was the Civil Rights Act passed?

A

1964

62
Q

When was the Voting rights Act passed?

A

1965

63
Q

What was the impact of Civil Rights legislation for African Americans?
(NEGATIVES)

A
  • Lots of extensions were put into place in attempt to make the laws work in practice.
  • Legal changes came after decades of struggle and protest.
  • After 1955 it became more likely that Civil Rights campaigners would be arrested, beaten up or killed.
  • Even places that were forced to desegregate didn’t make Blacks any more welcome.
  • Civil rights campaigners in the deep south could expect to have their homes, churches and workplaces fire bombed.
  • Black children and workers faced such violence and hatred that they didn’t receive a ‘normal’ experience.
64
Q

What were the achievements of Civil Rights legislation?

A
  • In 1980 there was more federal pressure to ensure equality actually happened.
  • Since 1961 there had been a series of presidential executive orders to introduce ‘affirmative action’ giving preference to black interviewee for jobs in government and business.
  • Black American middle & upper class developed modelling themselves on white society. Radicals believed this to be a sell out: they had to act like whites in to fit in.
  • Black professionals had if not equal, significant access to higher level jobs.
  • Black home ownership increased.
  • Black graduates increased.
  • Significant number of black politicians at local, state and federal level.
  • Featured more in media (cinema, books, magazines etc..)
  • In 1980 60% of Black Americans were registered to vote.
65
Q

What were the limitations of Civil Rights legislation for African Americans?

A
  • Passing of Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act made many people think that the problem had been dealt with.
  • Affirmative action and positive segregation resulted in a ‘minority quota’ mentality making black workers feel as though they were not employed on merit.
  • Death of MLK made some people turn away from Black Civil Rights to focus on other issues.
  • Poor were getting poorer and many of them fell under the poverty line in 1959.
  • Black babies were more likely to die and black children were more likely to drop out of school.
  • In 1980 75% of black high school drop-outs aged 25-34 had a criminal record.
66
Q

What were the reasons for Native Americans to fight for Civil Rights?

A
  • Tribal Homelands
  • Self-determination
  • The land issues raised by protests have still not been settled.
67
Q

What were the Key individuals/groups for the Native American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) part of American Federal Government.
  • American Indian Movement (AIM)
  • Red Power
  • National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
68
Q

What were the Key protests of the Native American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • 1972 AIM Trail of Broken Treaties. Protest drive to Washington to protest outside the BIA about it’s management of many issues. Including not renegotiating government treaties.
  • Feb 1973 AIM occupies village of the Wounded Knee and declares independence as the Oglala Sioux Nation. The government sends in US Marshalls and state police.
  • Feb-July 1978 the Longest Walk from Francisco to Washington to protest about forced removal of American Indians from their homelands and against unwillingness of congress to renegotiate treaties.
69
Q

What were the gains of the Native American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • In 1971 AIM membership reached 4500.
  • 1975 Voting Rights extension included Native Americans and offered language assistance when voting.
  • In 1970 Congress returned land at Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo Tribe.
70
Q

What were the limitations of the Native American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • Nixon’s administration didn’t reform the BIA.
  • Nixon didn’t renegotiate about Native American Sacred Sites.
  • No overall solution to land issues.
  • Various states continued to evict Native Americans if they required the land for building or other uses such as Hawaii in 1971.
71
Q

What were the reasons for Hispanic Americans to fight for Civil Rights?

A
  • Deportation (Operation Wetback)
  • Worker’s Rights.
  • Discrimination.
  • Land.
72
Q

What were the Key individuals/groups for the Hispanic American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • 1967 Brown Berets was a young militant organisation in East LA.
  • Ceaser Chavez was a non-violent campaigner for the rights of farm workers.
  • Jose Angel Gutierrez led the La Raza Unida party encouraging Hispanics to register to vote.
  • National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) Set up by Caeser Chavez.
73
Q

What were the Key protests of the Hispanic American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • 1968 Chavez goes on a 25 day hunger fast; Robert Kennedy joins him for the end of the fast.
  • 1st June 1968. Over 10,000 students walk out of mainly Mexican schools in east LA protesting conditions. 13 arrested.
  • In 1973 the 1970 Farm worker contracts are not renewed. Widespread strikes, demonstrations. Thousands arrested and 2 killed.
74
Q

What were the gains of the Hispanic American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • 1954 Supreme Court rules Hispanic people equal citizens.
  • 1975 Voting Rights Act extension provided language assistance to Hispanic groups.
  • 1968 American Legal Defence and Education set up to pursue civil rights in courts.
  • 1966 Congress’ Cuban American Adjustment Act said all Cubans who had lived in the USA for a year were permanent residents.
75
Q

What were the limitations of the Hispanic American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • Like with the Black Civil Rights Movement changes were put into place but without a time frame and implementation varied across states.
76
Q

What were the reasons for Gay Americans to fight for Civil Rights?

A
  • ‘Lavender Scare’ ran parallel to the Red Scare to root out homosexuals. Thousands lost jobs.
  • Homosexuality was not decriminalised in the USA till 2003.
  • In the 1950s congress said homosexuality was a mental illness.
77
Q

What were the Key individuals/groups for the Gay American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • Gay Liberation Front
  • 1974 Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay elected candidate to public office.
  • Gay Rights Movement formed after 1969 Stonewall Inn incident in New York.
78
Q

What were the Key protests of the Gay American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • Gay Pride marches were held in several cities on the 28th August 1970. New York March had around 10,000 marchers.
  • Over 5000 protestors march in San Francisco against Dan White’s (Harvey Milk’s assassinator) lenient sentence. Rioting breaks out and over 120 injured.
79
Q

What were the gains of the Gay American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • August 1980 Democratic Party says it will not discriminate against gays and campaign for their rights.
  • 1980 a gay teenage boy sues his high school for the right to bring a male date to prom. he won.
80
Q

What were the limitations of the Gay American Civil Rights Movement?

A
  • Religious Right opposed gay rights and gained support from conservatives and some republicans including Ronal Reagan.
  • 1978 Californian Law Preposition 6 bans gays, lesbians and supporters deem working in state-funded schools in California.