History Yr10

Emmett Till

•14-year-old African American boy, murdered August 1955

•Accused of harassing a local white woman in Money, Mississippi

•Abducted by her relatives and brutally beaten, shot in the head, wrapped in barbed wire to a metal fan, and thrown in the Tallahatchie River

•His mother insisted on an open casket to show the result of the hate crime

•The accused, Bryant and Milam, were tried by an all-white all-male jury. January 1956 Bryant and Milam admitted to committing the crime

Rosa Parks

•December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to vacate her seat for a white man

•She was later arrested for her actions- Parks found guilty of violating segregation laws – suspended sentence, $10 fine, $4 in court costs

•A boycott of the Montgomery buses was planned for the day of Parks’ trial (December 5, 1955) – 70% of those who used the buses were African American

•E.D Nixon took the case of segregation to court and argued until November 13, 1956 that bus segregation was unconstitutional

•Supreme Court ruled in their favour

•Parks named “the mother of the civil rights movement”

The Bus Boycott

A boycott of the Montgomery buses was planned for the day of Parks’ trial (December 5, 1955) – 70% of those who used the buses were African American.

•Boycott ended on December 20, 1956

Martin Luther King JR

•Social activist and Baptist minister

•Sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged, and all victims of injustice

•Helped to bring about Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act

•Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964

•Assassinated April 4^th, 1968

Little Rock Nine

A group of nine black students who enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas (formerly all-white high school), in September 1957

First day of school Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry

Later that month President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the nine into the school

September 1958 Governor Faubus closed all of Little Rock’s high schools to prevent African American students from attending

1962 Right to Vote

·      The Electoral Act amendment passed on 21^st March 1962;

·      The amendment provided all First Nations people with the right to vote, but was not compulsory until 1984;

·      This was considered a significant step towards equality and inclusion;

Laid the groundwork for the 1967 Referendum

• Key activists in this movement included:​

• Pearl Gibbs​

• Doug Nicholls​

• Faith Bandler​

• The Minister for Territories, Paul Hasluck, played a key role in advocating for change​

• This was considered a significant step towards equality and inclusion ​

• Laid the groundwork for the1967 Referendum.​

Bark Patition

·      Presented to the House of Representatives on the 14^th of August 1963;

·      February 1963: PM Menzies announced plans to build a mine on the Arnhem Land reserve;

·      Yolngu people were unaware of the development plans, and created a petition before deciding to launch legal action against the Nabalco mining operation;

This was the first native title litigation in Australian history.

Australian Freedom Riders

·      12-27 February 1965, Regional NSW;

·      Inspired by American Freedom Rides 1961;

·      A group of University of Sydney students travelled to regional NSW towns such as Walgett and Moree to show wider Australia the experience of Aboriginal Australians;

·      Led by Aboriginal activist Charles Perkins;

Brought attention to the treatment of Aboriginal peoples in Australia and ultimately led to the 1967 Referendum.

1967 Referendum

·      held on May 27, was a landmark in Australian history with 90.77% of voters approving changes to the Constitution;

The key outcomes were enabling the Commonwealth to make laws for Indigenous people (amending s 51(xxvi)) and including them in the national census (repealing s 127), formally recognizing them as part of the population.

Gurindji Strike

·      Began 23^rd August 1966 – lasted 7 years;

·      200 Gurindji stockmen, domestic workers and their families initiated strike action at Wave Hill station in the Northern Territory;

·      Led by Vincent Lingiari, the Gurindji community walked off the station when terms for increased pay could not be negotiated;

·      Gurindji requested that 1300 square kilometres around Daguragu where they resettled be given to them under lease to be used for mining and cattle raising;

·      Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister in 1972 and stated in his campaign one of his aims was “establish once and for all Aborigines’ rights to land”;

March 1973 the original Wave Hill lease was surrendered, and two new leases were issued.

Mabo

·      Following invasion, the concept of terra nullius (land belonging to no one) was applied to all matters regarding possession of land;

·      May 1982 a group of Meriam peoples from the Eastern Torres Strait lodged a case with the High Court of Australia for legal ownership of the island;

·      On 3 June 1992, six of the seven judges of the High Court agreed that the Meriam held traditional ownership of the lands of Mer

·      Overturned the concept of terra nullius;

·      Introduced the principle of native title to the Australian legal system;

Native Title Act 1993 put into statutory law the Mabo decision

half-caste

Person with a mixed race of black and white

The brining them home report

·       1910 and 1970: between 1 in 3 Aboriginal and 1 in 10 Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families;

·       1 in 5 children were fostered or adopted;

·       1 in 10 children were sent to institutions, and had reported being sexually abused;

·       many of those children were never paid wages for their labour;

under international law, genocide and racial discrimination resulted

The apology

The Apology to the Stolen Generations had several key elements. Firstly, it acknowledged that it was a “blemished chapter in our national history” where “profound grief, suffering and loss” were inflicted upon these people. The word “sorry” is mentioned several times, as too, “future”. Ultimately, the Apology represented in part an opportunity to heal the nation and in the process apologise to the Stolen Generations for the intergenerational trauma caused. 

Day of Mourning

• A group of Aboriginal menand women met in protest.​

• They mourned the loss of theircountry, their freedom andthe deaths of Aboriginalpeople since the beginning ofEuropean colonisation.​

• They argued that Aboriginal people should be givenAustralian citizenship, equal political rights and equal access to education.

• Protest organisers: JackPatten, William Ferguson andWilliam Cooper. ​

• These men had also set upAboriginal lobby groups in both NSW and Victoria.​

• This was the first time thatAboriginal activist groups from different states had worked together to organise an event.