USA 1954-75

Question 1

What was the Congress of Racial Equality(CORE)L

Answer 1

It was set up in 1942, it protested against segregation. It included black and white members, used non-violent direct action protests(sit-ins,boycotts) and trained how not to react even facing extreme intimidation/attack

Question 2

Examples of discrimination against black Americans in the early 1950s

Answer 2

In the South, Jim Crow laws enforced segregation that covered all aspects of life. In 1896 Homer Plessy challenged segregation on trains saying it was against the 14th Amendment and the Supreme Court ruled against him(Plessy v Ferguson case of 1896), claiming segregation was acceptable if the facilities provided were equal.
By 1956, only 20% of black Americans had registered to vote as they were intimidated and made to sit unreasonable tests to register

Question 3

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP)

Answer 3

Set up in 1909, created legal defence fund in 1940 for integration and to overthrow Plessy, focused on fighting for civil rights in courts and school segregation

Question 4

Federal government(in USA)

Answer 4

Covers the whole country

Question 5

State government(USA)

Answer 5

Each of the 50 states in the US has jts own government

Question 6

Congress(USA)

Answer 6

Laws passed from both the Senate and the House of Representatives, but you need everyone to agree

Question 7

President role(USA)

Answer 7

Controls federal troops and can issue executive laws not passed by the congress

Question 8

State congress(USA)

Answer 8

Two-house system e.g. federal system that
has laws covering the whole country, but some states differ

Question 8

State Supreme Court(USA)

Answer 8

Highest court of appeal in a state, opinions would be listened to but others might be ignored

Question 9

Features of the Brown v Topeka case

Answer 9

1954- Oliver Brown took the City of Topekas in Kansas to court for forcing his daughter to attend a school a long way away, instead of being allowed to go to a nearby whites-only school. The NAACP supported the case and 4 others.
In 1954 the Supreme Court declared all segregated schools were illegal, which was a turning point in Civil Rights but there was still lots of opposition in the south to integrating schools and many states refused to do so.

Question 10

Little Rock High School,1957

Answer 10

Elizabeth Eckford and eight other black students tried to enrol at Little Rock High School in Arkansas, but were stopped by the State Governor, Orval Faubus who surrounded the school with the state National Guard(3 September 1957) and stopped blacks from going in.
Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort and protect the students, but after a month they were replaced by National Guards men under the orders of the President and stayed at the school for a year(24 September 1957).

Question 11

Why did the Civil Rights Movement grow in the 1950s?

Answer 11

Education - Better education for blacks, particularly in the North, led to more black professionals. Some moved to cities in the South and changed white views of black Americans.
Television - This brought events into the living room, making people more aware of injustice.
New ideas - Research proved some races weren’t genetically inferior, so people thought differently and realised separate education made black children feel inferior, proving why separation shouldn’t happen.

Question 12

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Answer 12

On 1 December 1955,Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give her seat on a bus to a white man. Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Improvement Association organised a boycott of the buses which lasted for 381 days until buses were desegregated.

Question 13

Impact of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Answer 13

On 5 December 1955, the Montgomery Improvement Association was set up to improve the lives of black people.
5 June 1956- The Supreme Court ordered buses should be desegregated
20 December 1956- bus boycott lifted, integrated buses from now on
In 1957 Eisenhower introduced the first Civil Rights Act since 1875 and set up a commission to prosecute anybody who tried to deny American citizens their rights, but this was limited as anyone prosecuted was tried by a state jury who was unlikely to find a southerner guilty
Martin Luther King became the leader of the Southern Christian leadership council(SCLC) in January 1957 who urged black Americans to show opposition to discrimination with non-violent direct action and helped people register to vote- MLK brought into spotlight
This showed the power of non-violent, organised protest

Question 14

Why was Little Rock important

Answer 14

It forced President Eisenhower, who would
have preferred to do nothing, to take action
It attracted world-wide attention and was on live television screens across the USA.
When Faubus closed the schools in Arkansas in September 1958, he was forced to reopen them to black and white students by the Supreme Court

Question 15

Why was the Montgomery Bus Boycott a success?

Answer 15

Committment - The boycotters persisted despite threats, going to jail, bombings and loss of jobs.
Publicity - People were informed about the first one-day boycott and later events.
Existing groups in Montgomery had contact with the press.
Organisation-
Existing groups in Montgomery had contact with the supporters, with MIA co-ordinating everything.
MIA meetings meant people were involved with decision-making.

Question 16

The importance of Martin Luther King’s leadership

Answer 16

Education - Being well educated meant he knew from past history how non-violence could be used more effectively than black violence, influencing him setting up the MIA
and thought through a campaign to achieve clear goals.
Non-violent approach -
Black people obeyed his orders as he didn’t shout at them: he went on fundraising tours
for the MIA, higher ground for black people,
sympathy and support from white people
Widespread appeal among black and white people

Question 17

Opposition to civil rights movement

Answer 17

The KKK(Ku Klux Klan) organised demonstrations against Civil Rights and were involved in violent attacks. This was at its height in the 1920s as they burned crosses to show opposition to civil rights.
White Citizen’s Council grew rapidly, petitioned and campaigned against desegregation and used violence/intimidation to threaten families. This was set up in Mississippi
Southern churches - Claimed the Bible said integration was a sin, Southern church-goers were KKK members.
Dixiecrats - southern democrats forming a breakaway party after the 1948 Civil Rights bill by President Truman. They were resistant to social and political equality for African American southerners and refused to abandon Jim Crow laws, but in 1954 they rejoined the Democrats to enforce their views on segregation.
Murders of George Lee, Lamar Smith and Emmet Till got coverage across the country as they exposed racism in southern states

Question 18

The murder of Emmet Till

Answer 18

Till was accused of wolf-whistling at Roy Bruyant’s wife, so was kidnapped and beaten brutally(shot and thrown into a river with a heavy weight attached to his neck with barbed wire). This occurred in 1955.