Unit 8: Topic 10 - Civil Rights Movement Flashcards
Who was Malcolm X, and what did he advocate?
Leaving prison in 1952, Malcolm X acquired a reputation as the black movement’s most controversial voice. He criticized King as “an Uncle Tom” (subservient to whites) and advocated for self-defense to counter white violence.
Malcolm X was a incredible speaker and encouraged Black Americans to push for freedom, justice, and equality by “any means necessary”. Eventually, he left the Nation of Islam and moved away from defending violence. However, members of the Nation of Islam publicly assassinated him in 1965.
Who were Black Panthers?
In 1966, the Blank Panthers were organized as a revolutionary socialist movement advocating self-rule for American blacks. They called for African Americans to form their own institutions, credit unions, co-ops, political parties, and even write their own history. They also advocated for blacks to be released from jails and compensated for their time served in prison.
Similarly to Malcolm X, their belief in self-defense caused significant controversy.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech during what event?
The March on Washington
Some 200,000 Americans converged on Washington, ostensibly in support of a civil rights bill pending in Congress, but also with a larger purpose – raising civil rights and economic issues to national attention.
The Civil Rights Bill of 1964, supported by President Kennedy before his death, was passed partly in response to the March.
What methods did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. use to fight for civil rights?
Like Gandhi, King used civil disobedience to effectuate government change. It took the form of large-scale, non-violent refusal to obey government commands. There were sit-ins, marches, and boycotts; all carried out against the wishes of local authorities. MLK Jr. was a gifted speaker and writer and utilized the power of words to gain support for the movement.
What were the lunch counter sit-ins in 1960?
The Greensboro sit-in was a civil rights protest that was started in 1960 when young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. They refused to leave after being denied service due to being black. The sit-in movement soon spread to towns throughout the South.
By the end of March 1960, the movement had spread to 55 cities in 13 states. Even though many were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct, or disturbing the peace, national media coverage of the sit-ins brought increasing attention to the civil rights movement.
Immediately after becoming president, Lyndon Johnson convinced Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What did the Civil Rights Act establish?
The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce based on race, color, religion, or national origin. It also prohibited state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race, color, religion, or national origin.
In the spring of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference sought to draw attention to segregation in which Southern city?
Birmingham, Alabama
The SCLC called for non-violent boycotts and protest marches. However, in April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because of his protest as a court had ordered King not to hold protests in Birmingham.
Jailed for his part in the Birmingham Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963. What did Dr. King’s letter state?
Dr. King cited the nonviolent nature of the protest and contended that it was in the interest of all Americans, black and white, to grant civil rights. King wrote, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly….”
Previous non-violent protest arguments from men such as Thoreau and Gandhi inspired Dr. King.
What was the Children’s Crusade?
On May 2, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, more than 1,000 Black school children marched through the city to protest against segregation. The non-violent demonstration, which became known as the “Children’s Crusade,” was to provoke the city’s civic and business leaders to agree to desegregate.
However, Birmingham’s police, led by “Bull” Connor, dispersed the marchers with fire hoses. The images of children being hit with water from hoses set at a level that would peel the bark off trees shocked the North, as did the use of police dogs. The photos were given credit for shifting international support to the protesters.
What was the Nation of Islam?
The Nation of Islam was a religious movement that preached black separatism, black nationalism, and self-improvement. Their most famous member was Malcolm X, although he would later end up leaving the movement.
What did the 24th Amendment do?
It abolished the practice of collecting a poll tax, a measure that had discouraged poor people from voting
What did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 do?
It prohibited discriminatory voting practices. It banned literacy tests in states and counties where less than half the population had voted in 1964 and provided federal registrars in these areas to assure African American voting rights. As a result, African American voter registration rose from 40% to 65%.
What did the Supreme Court rule in Loving v. Virginia?
Loving v. Virginia was a landmark civil rights decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that laws banning interracial marriage violate the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
