Edexcel A-Level History: USA Theme 2 - The quest for civil rights

13th Amendment

31 Jan 1865; abolished slavery

Segregation

The enforced separation of racial groups in many aspects of life

President Wilson and segregation

Introduced segregation in government offices and the White House.

Plessy v. Ferguson

"Separate but equal" doctrine supreme court upheld the constitutionality of Jim Crow Laws. Black facilities were yet invariably inferior to white facilites.

'Red Summer' riots

1919; there was about 25 anti-black riots, often set off by police injustice, in which hundereds were killed. The worst were in Chicago, not the South. Working-class white resented black competition for jobs and housing, especially after soldiers retunred after WWI.

Life in the South for Black Americans

Black teachers were paid less and schools were often dilapidated and poorly equipped.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites

Voting restrictions for African Americans

African Americans were: literacy tests, killed, threatened, vote in privacy so no help can be given, had to own your own property.

Voting stats for blacks

Fell from 130,334 in 1896 to 1,342 in 1904.

UNIA

Universal Negro Improvement Association - founded by Marcus Garvey in 1914. Collapsed after he was deported in '27.

Lynching

Between 1915 and 1930, there were 579 black men hanged. They did not need to commit crime.

KKK membership

5 million members by 1925. Many white northeners and westerners resented blacks, Catholics and Jewish immigrants from Europe.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist organisation (grew up in Civil War, revived in 1915) that was heavily against blacks. In the South, it was more likely to include people with political power (state governers, policemen and the army).

Black migration

Between 1917-32, blacks began escaping to the North, hoping to find jobs in industrial cities like Chicago and Detroit. Labour force began to shrink in the South

Cause of black migration

WW1 led to a rising need of workers in munitions; blacks could vote; unlikely to be lynched

Segregation in cities

- Low paid jobs (replacing white workers who pushed for higher wages)
- Accommodation was in the most crowded, run-down part of the city. Higher rent than for a white person
- Some black professionals lived in their own black communites

Impact of black migration

Cities with high black population had significant political influence; churches became the bases for civil rights protests; migrants dislodged white workers.

NAACP

Established in 1910 by William du Bois; tried to promote black equality through the law courts. Didn't attract much support or achieve much succes in the South

Positive impact of New Deal on blacks

Shifted black vote from Republican (abolished slavery) to Democrats (promised New Deal). 1m black Americans obtained jobs through the New Deal.

Negative impact of New Deal on blacks

Roosevelt done little for civil rights; agencies constantly moved off black people from projects.

Protesting against New Deal

Communists in Northern cities championed the cause of all workers and demanded relief funds should be allocated equally between blacks and whites.

Positive impact of WWII on blacks

- NAACP membership rose from 50000 in 1940 to 450000 in 1945
- 1941, FDR issued Exec Order 8802 - ended discrimination of race in defence industry and government.
- Black vets used GI Bill to go to college and expand black middle class

Negative impact of WWII on blacks

- American forces remained segregated after the war
- Trade unions continued to exclude blacks
- 1943 there was 250 'hate strikes'.

Impact of President Truman on civil rights

- Set up 'A Committee on Civil Rights' in 1946 which called for an end to segregation
- Issued an exec order in '48 ending segregation in the armed forces
- Appointed equal opportunities in federal bureaucrac

- Actions were limited and aimed to win the black northen vote.

From legal challenge to direct action

Black American protesters used non-violent protest, boycotting and sit-ins to draw public attention to discrimination.

Separatists

Believed that blacks will never have true equality with whites and they should stop fighting for it.

NAACP actions

- Walter White worked with trade unionists, churches and white liberals to forge a coalition to persuade the House of Representatives to promote anti-lynching laws
- Mobilised southern blacks to campaign for the abolition of the poll tax

NAACP membership

9,000 in 1917 -> 90,000 in 1919 -> 600,000 in 1946

Thursgood Marshall

Special counsel to the NAACP and convinced the supreme court to overturn segregation with the 1954 ruling Brown v. the Board of Education.

Smith v. Allwright

1944; made it easier for black Americans to vote

Supreme Court 1950

Ruled that a black student could attend a white Texan law school that was superior to the local black one.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954; reversed Plessy v Ferguson, ruling that schools should be segregated.

CORE

Congress of Racial Equality; their methods were more militant than the NAACP (sit-ins at segregated Chicago restaurants/Freedom Rides).

Achievements were limited by 1955, but paved the way for future civil rights activism.

Rules of non-violent protest

Dress well to look respectable; not to be loud or abusive; no fighting back

Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.

Situation in 1955

Many universities and colleges were desegregated; the major leagues in sport were desegregated; more southern black Americans could vote; While segregation was in retreat across much of America, many white Americans in the Deep South were determined to maintain white supremacy.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Established the Southern Christian Conference Leadership Conference in 1957. He aimed to end segregation and gain political equality for Southern blacks.

The Greensboro sit-in

Black students politely order food from restaurant, not served, sat in place for days & days, gathering supporters.

Freedom rides

1961; bus journeys challenging racial segregation in the South

King's importance

He was generally recognised as the leader of the civil rights movement. He performed well on television (as proved by his 'I Have a Dream' speech in '63 in front of 250k marchers).

Kennedy's commitment

Supported Robert Kennedy who worked to desegregate transportation and other facilities; supported a wide-ranging Civil Rights bill, which got bogged down in Congress.

Johnson's presidency

In '64, he pushed Kennedy's bill through Congress (set up the Equal Employment Commission); ensured desegregation of schools and public facilities; 1965 Voting Act; 1968 Civil Rights Act

Northern riots

1964 -> northern/western cities experienced riots in the ghettos.
1965 -> Six days of rioting in Watts, LA: 34 killed and 900 injured
1967-8 -> National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorder, headed by Governor Kerner, warned of the danger of the USA splitting into two warring civilisations - black and white

Malcolm X

Promoted black supremacy as the most famous preacher of the Nation, NOI membership rose to 40,000

Stokely Carmichael

Popularised the slogans 'Black Power', 'Black is beautiful', and 'Back to Africa'. 'If we don't get justice we're going to tear this country apart', he declared.

Black Panther Party

Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966:
- Willing to ally with white radicals
- Symbols were the shoot-out and the gun
- Members engaged in petty crime and sought confrontation with police officers
- Won respect in the ghettos, especiallty for their emphasis on self-help.
- Establsihed clinics to advise on health, welfare and legal rights.
- They also provided childcare for working mothers and set up a Free Breakfast programme

King's northern strategy

King began to stress economic justice, demanding a fairer distribution of wealth. However, he failed to arouse the conscience of northern white Americans.

Economic justice

King demanded a fairer distribution of wealth. Most north American whites had no wish to pay higher taxes and no wish to live next door to black Americans. By 1967, King admitted that his Poor People's Campaign wasn't working as he failed to arouse northern black Americans or the conscience of northern white Americans.

King's assassination

Achievements of civil rights movements

In 1980, there was more pressure from federal government to make equality actually happen. A black American upper and middle class had developed to a significant extent. Black Americans had several routes to success via sport or entertainment, as well as through the professions. Home ownership among blacks increased and the number of black graduates went up too.

Limits to success

The passing of the Civil RIghts Act meant that many people felt like the issue had been resolved;minority quota; the poor were getting poore; poor schools; gang culture

Native Americans

Government policies shifted between breaking up or supporting tribal existence. Roosevelt reversed the trend of assimilation under his Indian New Deal, but wanted tribes run in a 'constitutional way'.

Native American problems

- Many lived on reservations
- Unemployment was 10x the national rate
- Life expectancy was 20yrs lower than the national average
- Suicide was 100x higher than the rate for whites
- Alcoholism was a widespread problem

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Encouraged Native Americans to move to towns and cities for work, offering job training and housing, but disrupting tribal culture.

Termination

A policy by which NAs were freed from federal and state laws, but tribal land once held in trust for them by the government would now be open for sale.

Issues in tribal homelands

- Many had been forced to relocate following the Indian Removal Act of 1830
- Federal gov. forced many treaties with individual tribes giving land and money for their removal

Indian Civil Rights Act

1968; banned tribes from restricting the civil rights of tribal members. It didn't do anything to redress issues NAs had with federal government.

American Indian Movement

- Mostly young urban people
- Took a more radical anti-federal stance, slogan "Red Power"
- Sit-ins, demonstrations and occupations
- Often targeted disputed land for occupation, also occupied federal buildings

Gains and limitations for Native Americans

- Nixon sympthised with NA campaingers and felt it should be possible to make positive changes for 830k people but not possible for 22,600,000 blacks.

- !972 Indian Education Act (funds for tribal schools)
- 1974 Indian Financing Act (lent tribes funding)
- 1975 Indian Self-Determination (kept the BIA but contracted out services such as health and education)
- Voting Rights Act extended

Returning land

1970 -> Blue Lake to the Taos Pueblo tribe
1971 -> ANCS transferred 40m acres of land and $462.5m to Native Alaskans
- No overall solution to the land issues and various states: Hawaii in '71 continued to evict Indians from land if the state wanted it for building or other use

Bracero programme

1942-64; guaranteed incoming Mexicans the same wages as existing workers, but did not always work. 4.6m contracts were signed. Mexicans were forced to work for lower wages, other farm wages resented it, seeing it as them taking their jobs.

Issues for Hispanic Americans

- Appalling living and working conditions
- Discrimination
- Poor government provision
- Deportation

Operation Wetback

A US government drive to find illegal Mexican immigrants and return them to Mexico.

Cesar Chavez

- Set up a farm workers' union and organised strikes, marches and protests
- Also gained publicity by fasting in protest
- Travelled widely, speaking to large rallies in cities such as LA

Reies Lopez Tijerina

- Organised protests about Mexican land rights in NM
- Held marches, mass demonstrations and camp-ins on National Forest land
- Made a citizen's arrest of an abusive district attorney in '67. Went wrong and a gun battle followed.

Rodolfo Gonzales

- His Crusade for Justice offered a version of black pride, stressing the importance of racial identity
- Influenced a student walk-out in LA (1966) and much of the direct action that followed

Jose Angel Gutierrez

La Raza Unida party set out to encourage Hispanic people to register to vote, and then provide them with party candidates to vote for, who would support their interests if elected. Begun in Texas, spread to Cali and Colorado.

The Brown Berets

- Set up in 1967, East L.A.
- Campaigned against police brutality and led school walk-outs
- By '68, there were Brown Beret members in most urban centres with a Hispanic population

Gains and limitations for Hispanics

- Legal acceptance was slow; ruled as equal citizens in '54
- CCAA Act said all Cubans who lived in the uSA for a year were permanent residents (no other Hispanic group was given this right)
- Mexican American Legal Defense and Education fund was set up to pursue civil rights in courts
- 1974 Equal Opportunities Act provided more bilingual teaching in schools
- 1975 Voting Rights Act extensions extended rights to NAs, Asians and hispanic groups.
- Chave made significant difference to conditions of farm workers

Gay rights

- Congress stated it as a mental illness in the 1950s
- 'Lavender Scare' rooted them out; thousands lost their jobs
- Illegal in every state
- Decriminalised in 2003

Stonewall Inn

28 June 1969; bar was raided for supposedly breaking liquor licensing laws. Policemen became rough ad 400 people began to fight back.

Gay rights movement

Pride marches held in several cities on 28 Aug 1970 (10k marchers in NY)

Success for gay rights

- 1974: Kathy Kozachenko became the first openly gay candidate in public office
- 1977: Harvey Milk elected to office in San Fran

Limitations for gay rights

- Support at a federal level was slow
- 1979 to 1981, governor of Cali appointed 4 opennly gay state judges