Unit 1.2 - The Quest For Civil Rights Flashcards
1
Q
13th Amendment
A
Abolished slavery
2
Q
14th Amendment
A
former slaves became American citizens
3
Q
15th Amendment
A
Black men then get the right to vote
4
Q
What was passed in 1896?
A
But: 1896 Plessy v Ferguson ‘separate not equal’ = not equal treatment socially, economically and politically
Jim Crow Laws: nickname given to segregation laws in the South
5
Q
Who are the KKK?
A
The Klu Klux Klan were a white supremacist group organisation revived in 1915
Were all over the USA and by 1925 = estimated 3 to 8 million membership
In the south it was more likely to include people with political powers (state governors) and social powers (state police and the army)
They used the hood to claim that they couldn’t identify the individual
6
Q
What happened to Emmet Till in 1955?
A
Emmet Till a 14 year old boy visiting relations in the South from Chicago was lynched for talking to a white woman, allegedly asking her for a date.
It attracted ally of attention and many were shocked even in the South
7
Q
Was there federal involvement in the South?
A
There was but Plessy v Ferguson in 1896 set back the rights of black people as despite their phrase ‘separate but equal8 things were rarely ever equal
- President Wilson a southerner = had nothing against segregation
- President Harding spoke out against lynching and broadly in favour of civil rights. He even addressed 30,000 (segregated) people from the University of Alabama on the evils of segregation however due to his and Coolidge’s Laissez - faire attitude, they could express opinions and try to influence behaviour but they wouldn’t enforce legislation
When the Depression hit Civil Rights slipped even further out of sight
8
Q
What was the Great Migration?
A
Also known as the Northern Migration
- it was the mass movement of approximately 5 million southern black people to the North and West between 1915-60
- The initial wave travelled north to Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh etc. whilst by the end of WW2 migrants continued to travel north but many headed west
9
Q
Why did Black Americans migrate North?
A
- less Jim Crow Laws and segregation
- More urban job opportunities
- WW1 advertisements
10
Q
Impact of the Great Migration on the North
A
- By 1920 = almost 40% of African Americans in the North lived in Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus Ohio
- Black people came to have significant political influence on cities
- Churches became significant bases for organising civil rights protests
- Black migrants dislodged white workers especially those who were members of unions and pushing for better conditions
11
Q
Impact of the Great Migration on the South
A
- Labour force decreased = economic issues on farms
- The poorest farmers = black people = suffered the most
- Black Americans who stayed were seen to be accepting of Jim Crow Laws
12
Q
Impacts on African Americans 1930-55: the New Deal
A
- Shift from Rep to Dem be used if the promise of the New Deal for Black Americans
- Roosevelt did little to advance civil rights and restricted workers on a project if a donor requested it
- Executive Order 8802: banned racial discrimination in the defence industry to get as many people as possible into war work
- Alphabet agencies often moved black people off of projects in order to make space for white workers however they also helped black people as on average they were poorer so financial aid came into play
- Black farmers were laid off in the thousands due to reforms
13
Q
Impacts on African Americans 1930-55: the New Deal pt2
A
- Black Americans protested against the new deal as the social security provisions didn’t apply to fake workers or workers who worked in other people’s homes
- NAACP helped protest
- Communist support of black civil rights managed to defeat a false rape case between five black boys and 2 white girls a case that the NAACP had rejected but they didn’t get too much help as they were hated in the US
- Churches were set up in the 1930s protesting again the New Deal in order to gather people in one place
- Executive Order 7027 Set up the resettlement administration in 1935 and it resettled low income families in new housing and lent money when it was needed. This gave black farmers who had lost their homes a fair share of money available in loans but still helped 3,400 of over 200,000 farmers
14
Q
Impacts on African Americans 1930-55: WW2
A
- Black Americans didn’t gain from the war induced boom as they preferred white workers being the preference over black workers
- A Philip Randolph led a successful protest by rail workers to impose an all black march on Washington unless they banned discrimination in the army
- There was an increase in Black Americans Defence Wokrers as military and factories = needed more workers: 1942= 3% of factory workers were black but by 1944= 8%
- 1943 = Outbreaks of racist violence and strikes by white people due to more black people working. Many towns set up race relation committees to investigate improvement s to black lived as the riots= damaged war efforts
- Black and white people working together meant that there was more acceptance of black opportunity
- HOWEVER a survey after the war showed that the majority were still racist and believed whites should have the priority
15
Q
Impacts on African Americans 1930-55: President Truman
A
- Was a former member of the KKK
- Proposed anti- lynching, anti-segregation and fair employment laws in 1954 but failed to push them through congress
- Civil rights measures = difficult to get through due to blockage by opposition from Southern delegates and lukewarm support from many northern delegates
- 1946 = set up President’s Committee on Civil Rights= called for equal opportunities in work and housing and urged stronger federal support for civil rights
- 1948 = Truman issued an executive order to desegregate the military and all work done by businesses for the govt. = important due to recent outbreaks of racist violence against black soldiers despite their service to the country
16
Q
What difficulties did Truman face in fighting for civil rights?
A
- congress were dragging their feet
- He was more focused on the Cold War= fighting communism
- Furthermore a previous collaboration between black people and communists = at least one black organisation ended up on the governments list of suspect organisations (National Negro Congress)
17
Q
Civil Rights Tactics 1917-55
A
- Tactics of protest included: non-violent, picketing, boycotting, and sit ins to draw public attention
- Groups like NAACP, the National Urban League and other smaller groups based around churches were set up in order to organise these tactics
- The number of civil rights groups and membership of them after WW1 and WW2 increased due to the increased involvement of Black Americans in wartime workplaces
- The separatist movement = should embrace segregation but fight for civil rights within it
- Brown v Board of Education = 1951, NAACP lawyers tool several cases to desegregate schools by battling Plessy v Ferguson
18
Q
Some rules of non-violent protesting
A
- dress well
- don’t be loud or abusive
- no fighting back
- encourage white people to join and protest alongside
19
Q
NAACP set up 1910: their aim
A
Gain black Americans their legal rights
It began by mounting a campaign against lynching by publishing pamphlets, demonstrating, holding marches and petitioning to Congress.
- Laws against lynching were brought to Congress but were blocked by Southern politicians
- They appointed lawyers to defend black people on trial who felt they’d been unjustly accused
20
Q
NAACP legal cases: 1926 Sweet Trial
A
When a black doctor moved his family to a predominantly white neighbourhood in Detroit in 1925 = house surrounded by an angry mob two nights in a row
2nd night = windows broken and one of the doctors friends shoots a young man = all men in the house put on trial for murder
NAACP lawyers take up the case and win
- this sets up a legal defence fund to fight segregation
21
Q
What amendments were passed 1865-1870 in relation to Civil Rights?
A
1865- 13th Amendment
1868 - 14th Amendment
1870 - 15th Amendment
22
Q
NAACP legal cases: 1936 Murray v Maryland
A
University of Maryland’s law school is desegregated
23
Q
NAACP legal cases: 1938 Gaines v Canada
A
Supreme Court orders the University of Missouri to take black students
24
Q
NAACP legal cases: 1946 Morgan v Virginia
A
Supreme Court overturns a Virginia state law segregating buses and trains that moved from one state to another
25
NAACP legal cases: 1948 Shelly v Kraemer
Bans regulations that bar black people from buying houses in an area in any state
26
NAACP legal cases: 1950 Sweatt v Painter and Mclaurin v Oklahoma
Desegregated graduate and professional schools in Texas and Oklahoma
27
NAACP legal cases: 1954 Brown V Board of Education
Desegregated schools: first use of evidence that, as well as unequal provision, segregation was psychologically harmful for black schoolchildren
28
Thywood Marshall
Chief legal counsel for the NAACP
- won 29/32 segregation cases
- nominated tomimportant legal positions by Kennedy and Johnson
- Became the first black American to serve in the Supreme Court
29
Direct Action: what it was and why it became popular
Use of strikes, demonstrations and other forms of public protest rather than negotiation to achieve one’s demands
- it increased in the 1940s and 50s as they realised legal action wasn’t enough
- more local protests and more frequent
30
Montgomery Bus Boycott - Why Montgomery?
- Shift to direct action as legal action was slower and deemed less effective
- wanted to draw more attention to segregation and inequalities
- Brown v Board overturned Plessy V Ferguson = step in ending segregation in places of education = could move to public places
- Morgan v Virginia = buses desegregated in Virginia = was possible elsewhere
31
Montgomery Bus Boycott - What happened?
- many black women were arrested for going against segregation laws on the buses (Rosa Parks)
- Joan Robinson handed out leaflets and organised the Bus Boycott
- Martin Luther King supported it and inspired people to join
- 50,000 African Americans boycotted (everyone in Montgomery)
- It lasted from the Dec 1st 1955 to the 20th of Dec 1956
32
Montgomery Bus Boycott - the impact
- some boy otters lost their jobs
- city government penalised taxi drivers who accepted fares
- Many homes of NAACP and MLK were bombed
- Gained a lot of publicity = Supreme Court had to act
-13th Nov 1956 = segregation (PvF) was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on buses
- 4 days after the boycott ended = MLK home was fire bombed and a sniper shot at black people in white seats
- took several years for violence against bus segregation to end
33
Montgomery Bus Boycott - The impact on the Civil Rights Movement
- Media coverage conveyed the message to the whole country
- Segregation was slow,y diapering as direct action took place
- larger number of people involved and supporting it
34
Campaigns in the South 1957 - 1963
1. Little Rock Nine
2. Greensboro
3. SNCC
4. Freedom Rides
5. Birmingham
35
Little Rock Nine: Key individuals/ groups
NAACP
Elizabeth Eckford
President Eisenhower
Orval Faubus - racist governor of Arkansas
36
Little Rock Nine: events
- 9 black kids were selected to attend the previous all white central high school
- 8 went by car to school with the NAACP
- Elizabeth Eckford went by herself and was essentially mobbed after the governor of Arkansas had called the National Guard to prevent the students from entering and she had to go back to her bus stop
37
Little Rock Nine: SUCCESSES
- Federal intervention: Eisenhower sent troops to guard the kids
- Central school = integrated after being closed for a year by Orval Faubus the governor of Arkansas
- During the mob of Elizabeth, 250 photographers and reporters were present = media attention
38
Little Rock Nine: FAILURES
- Local NAACP leader had their home fire-bombed
- Other schools attempted integration = riots that killed people
- Black kids = subjected to years of violence and taunting
39
Greesnboro: Key individuals/ groups
SNCC- Student Non- Violent Coordinating Committee
Greensboro four: Joe McNeil, David Richmond, Junior and Frank McCain
40
Greensboro: events
1st February 1960
Four black students went into a department store in Greensboro and kept waiting peacefully to be served ed until the store shut and then the students returned the next day to continue the protest
41
Greensboro: SUCCESSES
- Next day = 30 students joined in and nearly all seats = occupied
- Spread to 55 cities
- Media filled with images of black students calmly waiting to be served whilst being yelled at by white people
42
Greensboro: FAILURES
- White youths heckled the students, yelled, blew smoke or poured food over them until the shop shut = mentally and emotionally damaging
43
SNCC: key individuals/ groups
CORE and NAACP
44
SNCC: events
- racially integrated organisation of youth who believe in nonviolent direct action
- encouraged voter registration by sending field secretaries to racist areas of the South
- took part in protests where violence = likely, MLK and SNCC worked together in Selma and Montgomery due to similar ideological goals and strategies
- Mid 60s = moved away from non-violence under Stokley Carmichael due to Integration of Black Panther ideologies
45
SNCC: SUCCESSES
- Began sit ins
- provided community for students to contribute to the movement as they had an increased motivation to act
- Provided training = how to respond to aggression put on them by those who rejected civil rights
- received extensive media coverage due to unusual peaceful protests
46
SNCC: FAILURES
- Despite Plessy v Ferguson being ruled as unconstitutional on buses= still had to risk their lives to ensure it didn’t persist
- black people= still getting arrested by the police for their actions wether they were peaceful or not
- Had to eventually resort to violence
47
Freedom Rides: Key individuals/ Groups
CORE
SNCC
SCLC - Southern Christian Leadership Conference
James Farmer, Joe Felmet, Andrew Johnson
48
Freedom Rides: events
1961
- were to tests Werther bus restroom facilites had been desegregated in line with the SC ruling in 1956
- Planned rides to make a crisis that would get more media attention a and coverage
- sit 2 buses = attacked and passengers = beaten, in Alabama one of the buses = firebombed after being chased by 30 cars
- Birmingham = riders imprisoned and Montgomery riders = beaten and 3 killed
49
Freedom Rides: SUCCESSES
Media coverage of violence = attention to civil rights
- showed bin-violent direct action = do more than be more morally correct and get better results than non-violent confrontation
50
Freedom Rides: FAILURES
- Riders already knew in the Deep South that it was virtually impossible to desegregate = Southern divide opposed Freedom Rides
- Had to risk their lives wiht little to no direct benefits
51
Birmingham: Key Individuals/ groups
SCLC - southern Christian leadership conference
Eugene ‘Bull’ Conor
MLK
52
Birmingham: events
1963
- Birmingham = most segregated city in Alabama
- protestors arrested in non-violent demonstrations to eliminate segregation laws in public places
- Eugene ‘Bull’ Conor was determined to stop these demonstrations
- Limited protest volunteers, MLK enlisted lots of school kids to continue the movement and fill jails
- 2nd day = violence, high pressure fire hoses and dogs to beat and kill protestors
53
Birmingham: SUCCESSES
- MLK and Birmingham leaders reached an agreement = within months segregation laws = abolished
- Attracted more people to join the movement
- highlighted white supremacists low values: willing to harm children
- pictures of kids being sprayed with hoses and dogs attacking them, President Kennedy = ashamed of them
- After: 42% of people believed race was the biggest issue in America
54
Birmingham: FAILURES
- School kids used to protest
- Many arrested in response
- Violence against protestors
55
Why was there tension within the civil rights movement
- disagreements over methods and the end goal for which Black Americans were fighting
- personality clashes, jealousy and rivalry between leaders
- 60s = some groups were represented as radical and other groups were represented as moderate by the media
- NAACP and NUL = moderates
- CORE and SNCC = radicals
- MLK and SCLC = criticised by moderates for being too radical whilst radicals attacked them for being too moderate
- SNCC, CORE & SCLC = increased radicalism in the 60s which increased tensions due to questions of:
1. Violence to fight for civil rights
2. Extent to which black peoples and white people should collaborate in racial equality
3. How far de jure change could bring about de facto change
4. Extent to which Black Americans SHOULD seek integration
56
Increasing Radicalisation: the Ghetto Riots
- Watts Riots in LA (Aug 1965): began wiht violent police encounter, lasted 6 days
- resulted in 34 deaths and over 1000 injured and over 40 million dollars in property damage
- Detroit Riots (July 1967)
- 43 dead, 7000 arrested and more than 50 million dollars in damages: many black businesses were destroyed
57
Impacts of the Ghetto Riots (1965 & 67)
- increased awareness: Lyndon b Johnson’s Kerner Commission said that systematic racism = root cause of the riots and the country was moving towards two societies, one black and one white separate and unequal
- Groups like the Black Panther Party = increased influence : advocated for self defence, community programmes etc.
58
Increasing Radicalisation: Black Panther and the Olympics
- many African Americans thought that strategies of activists like MLK JR were slow and not effective so they adopted Black Nationalism and self defence ideas + militant defence techniques and military style uniform
- Black Panther party: free breakfast and healthcare clinics = helping over 20,000 children daily in some areas
- politically = growth from 280 officials in 1965 it over 1400 by 1970
- Stokley Carmichael = encouraged education on civil rights laws that they needed to fight for and encouraged AAs to register to vote, increase freedom of speech and increase education about black rights
59
Increasing Radicalisation: National of Islam & Malcom X
Malcolm X = key civil rights leader = advocated for Black nationalism, self defence and racial pride
- known for his fiery speeches against white supremacy
- after leaving Nation of Islam on 1964 = founded the Organisation of Afro-American Unity
- Assassinated 1965
National of Islam (NOI) = founded by Wallace Mohammed = focused on Black Pride, economic independence and creating a separate black community
- in the 1960s membership increased to over 250,000 members
60
Increasing Radicalisation: Black Panthers
- AA revolutionary organisation formed in 1966 that aimed to protect residents of Black Neighbourhoods from police brutality
61
MX - Early Life
- Born Malcolm Little
- family was terrorised by the KKK and his father was murdered
- moved to Harlem where MX was arrested and put into prison
- 1952 he joined the Nation of Islam and took the surname X
62
MLK - Early Life
Born in Atlanta
- Grew up in the sweet Auburn neighbourhood, home to many prosperous and prominent AAs
- gifted student, attended segregated public schools and at 15 he was admitted to Morehouse College and studied medicine and law
- Married in 1953 and became a pastor in Alabama
63
MLK - beliefs about civil rights
- Equality means everyone can prosper together: integration
- stares will have equality and no longer look at race over quality of character
- growing from historical mistakes
- more long term goals rather than short term actions
64
MX - Beliefs about civil rights
- distinguish between Americanism and their African origins
- pushed gaining power by coming together to force things their way
- laws make it seem like action has been taken without much effort
- wanted to get voters to be independent all over Harlem
- Channel voting strength into defeating their enemies
65
Impact of MLKs assassination
- increased the rift between black and white Americans : many saw it as a rejection of their vigorous pursuit of of equality through non-violent resistance
- radicalise a lot of moderate AA activists = fuelled the increase of the Black Power movement and the Black Panther Party from 1960s-70s
- Remains most widely known AA leader and most known force of the civil rights movement
- when a campaign began to establish his own national holiday critics pointed to the FBI surveillance files making up lies about King’s adultera snd influence from communism
66
Hispanic Americans: reason to fight for civil rights
- Worker’s Rights
- Land
- Deportation - Operation Wetback: largest deportation in US history in the 1950s (3.8 million deported)
- Discrimination
67
Native Americans: reason to fight for civil rights
- Tribal homelands
- Self determination
68
Gay Rights: reason to fight for civil rights
- 1930s: Congress said that homosexuality was a mental illness
- Homosexuality wasn’t decriminalised across the US until 2003
- A ‘Lavender Scare’ ran parallel to the ‘Red Scare’ to root out homosexuals = thousands lost their jobs
69
Hispanic Americans: Key individuals/ Groups
- Jose Angel Gutierrez led the La Raza Unida party and set out to encourage Hispanic people to register to vote
- 1962 Cesar Chávez sets uno the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA)
- non - violent campaign for the rights of farm workers focusing on working conditions
- Brown Berets was a young militant organisation set up in 1967 in East LA
- Reies Lopez Tijerina organised protests about Mexican land rights in New Mexico and signed an agreement with the Black Panthers
- 1969 Young Puerto Ricans in Chicago set up the Young Lords Chicago modelled on the Black Panthers even down to providing breakfast clubs for local school children
- Rodolfo = race focused
- His Crusade for Justice offered a version of black pride stressing the importance of racial identity and the need to fight for Hispanic rights at once
- also influenced a student walkout in LA in 1966 as well as the Young Citizens for Community Actions (YCCA) who had contacts with the Black Power movement
70
Native Americans: key individuals/ groups
- Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) a part of the American federal government
- National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)
- American Indian Movement (AIM)
- Red Power
71
Gay Rights: key individuals/groups
- Gay Liberation Front
- Harvey Milk
72
Hispanic Americans: key protests/events
- 1968 Chávez goes on a 25 day hunger fast; Robert Kennedy joins him for the end of the fast
- 1973: 1970 farm worker contracts weren’t renewed= widespread strikes, demonstrations, thousands arrested with two killed
- 1st June 1968 over 10,000 students walk out of Mexican schools in LA protesting the conditions. 13 activists are arrested
73
Native Americans: key protests/events
- 1972 AIM trail of Broken treaties, a protest drive to Washington to protest outside the BIA about BIA management of many issues. BIA building is occupied
- February 1973: AIM occupied the village of Wounded Knee and declared independence as the Oglala Sioux Nation: government sends US Marshall’s and state police
- Feb-July 1978: longest walk from San Francisco to Washington to protest the forced removal of Native Americans from their homelands and against the Congress’ unwillingness to negotiate treaties
Sit ins demonstrations and occupations
74
Gay Rights: key protests/events
- Gay Rights movement = formed after the incident at Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York on June 28 1969
- Gay pride marches held in several cities on 28 Aug 1970: New York march had about 10,000 marchers
-1977 Harvey Milk = elected to office in San Francisco. 1979 Nov 27th = assassinated
75
Hispanic Americans: GAINS
- 1966: Congress’s Cuban American Adjustment Act said all Cubans who had lived there for a year = permanent residents
- 1964 Supreme Court ruled that Hispanic people were equal citizens
- 1968 Mexican American Legal Defense and Education set up to pursue civil rights in the courts
- 1975 Voting Rights Act extension provided language assistance to Hispanic groups
76
Hispanic Americans: LIMITATIONS
- land issues raise by protestors still haven’t been settled
- local campaigning did improve just as it did for AAS but level of change varied from place to place as well as the levels of enforcement for these legal rights
77
Native Americans: GAINS
- 1971 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act transferred 40 million acres of land and $462,500,000 to Native Alaskans
- 1970. Ingress returned land to Blur Lake to the Taos Pueblo Tribe
- 1971 AIM membership 4500
- 1975 Voting Rights Act included Native Americans and to provide language assistance when voting
- by 1980 congress had passed 1. 1972 Indian Education Act 2. 1974 Indian Financing Act 3. 1975 Indian Self-determination Act
- 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act gave Native Americans more control over the adoption of Native American children
- President Nixon rejected termination and forced assimilation
78
Native Americans: LIMITATIONS
- There was no overall solution to land issues and various states such as Hawaii in 1971 continued to evict Native Americans from land if the state wanted it for building or other use
- Nixon’s administration didn’t reform the BIA nor did Nixon renegotiate about Native American sacred sites
79
Gay Rights: GAINS
- 1980 a gay teenage boy sued his high school for the right to bring a male date to the school prom. He won
- 1979-81 the governor of California appointed 4 openly gay state judges
-1974 Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay candidate elected to public office
- Aug 1980 Democratic Party says it won’t discriminate against gays and will campaign for their rights
- Homosexuality = removed as a psychiatrist illness in 1973
80
Gay Rights: LIMITATIONS
- Certain groups = very anti-gay the KKK being one of the more extreme of them, hostility towards gays especially in the Bible Belt
- Proposition 6 : a law proposed in California in 1978 to ban gays, lesbians and supporters of their rights from working in state funded schools in California
- 21st May 1979: Dan White (Milk’s assassin) was only given 7 years in prison for the killing: resulted in over 5000 protestors marching on San Francisco’s city hall and rioting breaks out = over 120 injured
- Anita Bryan (spokesperson for the Citrus Commission in Florida) set up Save Our Children (SOC) and collected petitions against the law: saying gay integration meant ‘normal’ children would become corrupted. Law was rejected
- Gay support at a federal level was slow coming
- Religious right opposed gay rights and gained support from conservatives and support from some Republicans including Ronald Reagan
