I&S Civil Rights - End of Year Exam 10

Civil Rights Dates and Vocab

1863 - 1877

Reconstruction - new rights were given to black people, essentially giving them equal rights however these were quickly withdrawn after black people began climbing social ladders, such as to congress and senate.

1870’s

Jim Crow Laws

Civil war

1861-1865

Emancipation proclamation - Abraham Lincoln (date + quote)

1863 - "all persons held as slaves within any States, or designated part of the State, [...], shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."

Jim Crow

Minstrel show that did blackface, very demeaning to POC

1790

Start/growth of slaves in the USA

Jim Crow Laws

End of reconstruction to start of civil rights movement

Jim crow laws enforced segregation in public places and contradicted the constitution by blocking black people from constitutional rights such as voting

regulations put in place to stop coloured people from voting:

Mandatory literacy tests to vote, and if you failed you were not allowed to vote. This directly targeted black people from voting since black people were not allowed to be educated.

Plessy vs. Ferguson date:

1896

Plessy

a civil rights activist who was 1/8th black, and thus white-passing

Cause of Plessy’s protest

A law was passed to implement separate but “equal” cars in trains for black people. Plessy, since he was white passing sat in a train car for white people, however after he identified himself as black he was asked to move and arrested.

Plessy’s argument

Against the constitution (13th ammendment) to enforce seperate cars for black people

Outcome of Plessy vs. Ferguson

7v1 against Plessy. Judges argued that “seperate but equal” did not go against the constitution since both races were theoretically getting “equal treatment”.

Impact of Plessy vs. Ferguson

Segregation and Jim Crow laws were essentially legalised by the supreme court, as no punishment was implemented against segregation.

Plessy vs. Ferguson overturned:

Overturned in 1954 by the supreme court who ruled that it was inhumane to separate blacks and whites and unconstitutional

Segregation banned

1964

Example of segregation:

Education - Seperate schools (of differing quality) for black and white children

Lynching:

group of people kill someone by hanging them because of an alleged crime without proper trial (usually commited by groups of white extremists against black civilians)

Example of race extremist group:

KKK - Ku Klux Klan, extreme racist and white supremisist group who would essentially attempt to murder or torture black or mixed people.

this map shows…

The states which implemented segregation - essentially north east against segregation and south mid/east for segregation

percentage of slaves

In the south, at one point over 90% of the population was made up of slaves who worked for their masters/on plantations, such as cotton or sugar

Segregation

Segregation is the enforced separation of different racial groups in a community, often supported by laws or social norms. It can lead to inequality and discrimination.

Discrimination

Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or gender.

Prejudice

Prejudice: Prejudice refers to preconceived opinions or attitudes held by individuals or groups about others based on stereotypes, rather than actual experience or knowledge.

Emmet Till

Boy who was lynched because he “spoke inappropriately” to a white woman in a store. his body was found in a horrible state, however the men who lynched him were found “not guilty”. The protesting and rallying his mom, Mamie Till did after his death largely contributed to the civil rights movement and garnered press/attention.

13th Ammendment

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

14th Ammendment

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges [...] of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Harlem freedom fighters

Regiment of african-american soldiers during WW1, which was rare as there was a prejudice against POC as it was insinuated that they wouldn’t be able to perform well. In WW1, general pershing did not want white americans to fight with france and britain, so the only remaining option was to send the harlem hellfighters, the black soldiers.

15th Ammendment

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied [...] by the United States or by any state on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.”

Segregation in WW2 (1939-1945)

Out of the 3 million black soldiers who applied, around 2/3 were rejected due to “physical and educational malnutrition”. The ones who were accepted were put in seperate “black” troops which were segregated from the other soldiers.