USA: Civil Rights in the 1950s

Question 1

Methods to prevent blacks from voting:

Answer 1

• Making them pass a difficult literacy test
• Making them pay a poll tax
• Using violence and intimidation against those who registered to vote

Question 2

What did the Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling state?

Answer 2

“Separate facilities were allowed if they were equal”

Question 3

Impact of the Brown vs. Topeka ruling:

Answer 3

• Schools outside the Deep South began to integrate but progress was fairly low
• Blacks faced anger and their education suffered
• African American teachers lost their jobs and good schools shut down
• Backlash in the Deep South
• Increased awareness of civil rights and provided a new legal precedent

Question 4

What did the WCC do?

Answer 4

They organized protests and petitions that put pressure on state authorities to resist desegregation

Inspired the revival of the KKK

Question 5

Impact/consequences of Emmett Till’s death:

Answer 5

• Photos of his body left many people shocked whites and blacks alike. Many Americans were angered by the lack of justice esp, when Bryant and Milam confessed to killing him in a magazine
• Many white Americans in the North saw extreme racism for the first time. This brought increased awareness of problems faced by blacks in the South
• It motivated many blacks to take a more active role to bring about change. Many young blacks related to this and went on to take part in civil rights protests in the 1960s.
• This was likely a catalyst for the civil rights movement

Question 6

Describe the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Answer 6

The WPC in Montgomery had been fighting discrimination since the 1950s to improve the bus service, particularly for African American women.

It warned Mayor Gayle that there’d be a boycott if service didn’t improve

WPC called for a bus boycott which was publicised by church and college groups and was a huge success

Buses were nearly empty: around 90% of blacks didn’t use the bus

Question 7

What were the demands of the Montgomery Improvement Association?

Answer 7

• Bus drivers respect African American passengers
• Black drivers are employed for routes with mostly black passengers
• African Americans should not have to give up their seats in the colored sections of the bus
• Later led to a demand for complete segregation as the bus company refused their initial demands

Question 8

How was the boycott maintained?

Answer 8

• Arranged for black taxi companies to charge lower fares
• Car lifts
• Carpooling system with pick up and drop off points acroos the city to makes ure there was an effective method of transportation
• Ministers and churches

Question 9

Progress of the Browder vs. Gayle case?

Answer 9

1st Feb 1956 ⋙ 22nd Feb (arrests for disrupting lawful business) ⋙ 19th March (trial…publicity…funding) ⋙ 5th June (ruling) ⋙ 20th December 1956 (boycott ended)

Question 10

Significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

Answer 10

• Other places begin to integrate public transport
• Inspired more civil rights campaigns
• Showed the effectiveness of non-violence to bring about equality and attracting publicity
• Also demonstrated how effectively blacks could organize themselves and the power of the churches to bring people together for a cause
• Brought attention to the work of MLK
• Marked an increase in violence against blacks and an increase in membership of racist groups:
  Hooded KKK patrols, intimidation, and attacks, bombings

Question 11

American president in 1952:

Answer 11

President Eisenhower

Question 12

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 focused on improving voter registration for African Americans by:

Answer 12

• Setting up the US Commission on Civil Rights which began investigating how blacks were prevented from voting in different places
• Allowing Federal courts to prosecute states who tried to prevent people from voting

Question 13

Significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1957:

Answer 13

• Had little immediate impact: juries were often not in support of increasing civil rights and so they often reached “not-guilty” verdicts. Therefore, it wasn’t significant in improving civil rights for blacks.
• However, it was a huge first step: it was the first time in 82 years that the Federal government took part to improve civil rights. This showed that Congress was at last willing to do something.
• It led to civil rights activists demanding more reform and pushing for further laws
• The most important result was that it later led to another Civil Rights Act being passed in 1960. However, these two acts only improved voter registration by 3%

Question 14

Why was no school in the Deep South integrated by 1957?

Answer 14

Because authorities who were supported by white public opinion made moves to prevent it - Southern Manifesto.

State governors supported White Citizen’s Council and some closed public schools completely to prevent integration

Question 15

Significance of events at Little Rock:

Answer 15

• This is the first time that the President directly intervened with the enforcement of the Supreme Court’s decisions. It showed that the Federal govt. could successfully overrule state govts.
• The most significant impact was due to the publicity that was generated by these events. US citizens saw the extreme racism in the South. The publicity was international which damaged the USA’s reputation forcing the govt. to act.
• Showed civil rights campaigners that laws weren’t enough to end segregation. It also demonstrated the importance of media coverage for bringing about change