USA Flashcards
What are jim crow laws
enforced segregation that covered all aspects of life.
Where black Americans allowed to vote
Technically, black Americans were allowed to vote.
However, by 1956, only 20% of them had registered to do so in the face of intimidation by white Americans
What was the Plessey v Ferguson case of 1896
upheld Jim Crow Laws.
It said that segregation was acceptable if the facilities provided were equal.
What was the NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Set up 1909, created legal defence fund in 1940
What was CORE
Set up 1942, protested against segregation
Congress of Racial Equality
What was Brown v. Topeka case (1954).
Oliver Brown took the City of Topeka in Kansas to court for forcing his daughter to attend a black school a long way away. The NAACP supported the case and 4 others. In 1954 the Supreme Court declared that all segregated schools were illegal, because separate must mean unequal.
Key turning point in Civil Rights although there was still much opposition in the south
What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott 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 a year until the bus company gave in.
In 1956 the Supreme Court said that segregation on buses was also illegal.
What was Little Rock 1955
9 black students tried to enrol at Little Rock High School in Arkansas.
They were stopped by the State Governor, Orval Faubus, who surrounded the school with the state National Guard.
Eisenhower sent federal troops to escort and protect the students – showed that US government was willing to support desegregation of schools
What was the Civil Rights Act 1957
In 1957 Eisenhower introduced the first Civil Rights Act since 1875.
It set up a commission to prosecute anybody who tried to deny American citizens their rights.
How was the KKK a Opposition to the civil rights movement
The KKK and were involved in violent attacks
The murders of George Lee, Lamar Smith and Emmet Till (14 year old boy) got a lot of coverage across the country
How was the Southern churches a Opposition to the civil rights movement
Claimed the bible said that integration was a sin (many KKK members were also members of these churches)
Who where the Dixiecrats
Southern democrats that formed a breakaway party after 1948 Civil Rights Bill
How was Dixiecrats a Opposition to the civil rights movement
southern democrats that formed a breakaway party after 1948 Civil Rights Bill
How was a Southern state governors Opposition to the civil rights movement
most state officials favoured segregation so opposed and moves towards Civil Rights
How was a White Citizens’ Council a Opposition to the civil rights movement
set up in Mississippi to oppose desegregation
What was the Greensboro sit-in
The first was at Woolworth’s in Greensboro North Carolina, where students demanded to be served at a whites-only counter. When they were refused they organised a sit-in.
Altogether 70,000 took part in sit-ins across the south and 3,600 went to jail.
When whites turned violent there was widespread television coverage and support for Civil Rights.
Student protests organised by the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee
What where the freedom riders
CORE campaigners rode buses to highlight that desegregation had not happened
The KKK and WCC vowed to stop them
In 1961 the KKK firebombed a bus in Aniston, and buses were also attacked in Montgomery with little police protection, some riders arrested e.g. in Jackson, Mississipi
Freedom rides continued throughout 1961 - government said that they would send federal troops if states did not desegregate bus facilities
What was the The James Meredith case.
James Meredith, a black student, was rejected from Mississippi university and the NAACP challenged his rejection.
The Supreme Court ordered the university to admit him but officials still stopped him.
In 1962 Kennedy sent the National Guard and federal troops soldiers into Mississippi to make sure that he could take his place at a university.
But when rioting followed, 23,000 troops were needed to keep order
What was the impacts Birmingham, Alabama April 1963 peaceful protests
SNCC, SCLC & ACMHR (Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights) began Campaign ‘C’ (for confrontation).
They targeted Birmingham notoriously racist Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor was the chief of police and it was believed that he could be easily provoked into using violence against peaceful protesters.
Arrests, water cannon, dogs and baton charges were used to disperse the marchers. Arrests reached 500 a day, but it was all shown on television and many were sickened by the violence
What happened on the March on Washington 1963
Immediately after events in Birmingham, 250,000 people (including 40,000 whites) took part Despite fears, the march was peaceful
Significance of the March - Size, TV broadcast around the world, King’s emotive speech, black and white crowd with famous people involved too (e.g. Bob Dylan)
What was the Freedom Summer 1964
1000 volunteers went to Mississippi to work with local campaigners. Many white college students involved: Freedom Schools set up, helped many to pass voter registration tests.
Significant white opposition - Reaction of many white Mississippians, many blacks lost jobs, beatings and violence common, only 1600 of 17000 successfully registered to vote
What was the Mississippi murders 1964
3 CORE workers (two white ,Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, and one black, James Chaney) were murdered by the KKK in June 1964, although their bodies were not discovered until August. Other bodies of black CORE workers were also discovered in the search. Another scandal that gained much media coverage
What did president Kennedy for civil rights
JFK - Appointed blacks to high level jobs, pressed for changes to laws, not afraid to intervene in south with executive orders eg James Meredith case.
JFK was assassinated before he could achieve what he wanted.
The Presidents also still needed the support of voters and members of Congress that opposed Civil Rights (eg Dixiecrats) so this limited what they could do.
What did President Johnson do for civil rights
LBJ - Appointed blacks to high level jobs, Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, Escorted marchers from Selma to Montgomery
The Presidents also still needed the support of voters and members of Congress that opposed Civil Rights (eg Dixiecrats) so this limited what they could do.
