The civil rights movement

What social, political, economic and legal inferiority did black people face in the south?

• Social:

  • Segregation of public facilities (bushes, bathrooms, paper utensils)

• Political:

  • 80% of BA unable to vote;

    • Prohibited by white violence/intimidation, impossible literacy tests and expensive poll taxes which many BA couldn’t afford

• Economic:

  • Slowly growing BA MC (incl MLK)

  • Most southern BA worked in lowly jobs (domestic)

    • Owed much to segregated education, and unis w/ less qualified unis

• Legal:

  • No protection for black people in southern courts; states used violence/intimidation to maintain supremacy

    • Emmett Wolf Hill; wolf-murdered for wolf whistling at a white girl, but murderers unpunished

What were the aims of the NAACP?

• NAACP litigation aimed to overturn Plessy v. Fergurson (1896) which declared Jim Crow laws constitutional (“separate but equal”)

What methods did the NAACP use? (3)

• Newspapers; “the crisis” published local black grievances

• Local NAACP branched initiate protests against segregated public places

• NAACP lawyers fight against inequality in education/courts.

What success did the NAACP have?

• 1950: won supreme court ruling against segregated unis in the south

• 1954: Brown Ruling: recognised separate schools in the couth were not equal

How were the actions of the NAACP limited?

• Brown Rulings removed constitutional sanction for je jure segregation

  • BUT… had no power of enforcement, = rulings could be ignored (post-Brown, many schools remained segregated)

• In practice, NAACP litigation rarely brought speedy, practical solutions to problems.

The Montgomery boycott:

What was the cause of the Montgomery bus boycott?

• Segregated buses + behaviour of white drivers

  • 1955: black mother put babies on seat whilst freeing her hands

    • Bus driver jolted bus, knocking babies into the aisle and calling them ‘brats’

      • for refusing to give up seat

What tactics were used in the Montgomery bus boycott?

• Black economic power to force white company owners to reconsider actions.

  • NAACP organised boycott for day of Rosa Parks’ trial- assisted by local black college and churches

• City commissioners say no to desegregation, so NAACP launch a year long boycott led by MLK

What success did the Montgomery boycott have? (5)

• 50,000 participate

• WCC methods favourable; attract nationwide attention to BA community methods

• NAACP win legal victory; buses desegregated (Browder v Gayle 1956)

• New mode of activism established; mass direct action

• MLK emerged; inspiring obituary given- national attention

  • Est SCLC to continue fight

How was the Montgomery boycott limited?

What were White Citizens Councils and what did the do?

• Brown ruling= white backlash, est of White Citizen’s Councils to defend segregation

  • Organised opposition to boycott, used arrests/intimidation to frighten leaders

• Only Montgomery buses desegregated.

Why were the KKK revitalised?

What tactics did they use in Montgomery?

• Revitalised by the Brown Ruling/ Montgomery bus boycott

• Tactics in Montgomery:

  • Sent 40 carloads of robed/hooded members through BA communities

    • Instead of retreating, BAs emerged to wave at them

What tactics did the KKK use later in the period?

What attention did they attract?

• Bombed MLK’s house 1966

• Cross burnings, church burnings, beatings, shootings + murders in Mississippi

• Caused national sensation; Johnson triggered FBI to go after KKK

Who were WCC mostly made up of?

How did they differ to the KKK?

• Members often pillars of white communities (doctors, politicians)

• Differentiated form the KKK who were lover-class and associated with violence- BUT… some were members of both…

What tactics did WCCs use?

• Defence of segregation main priority

• Issued large quantities of racist propaganda (e.g. depicting a segregated heaven)

• Sponsored white schools

• Subjected civil rights activists to threats + economic pressure (esp. NAACP)

What was the Little Rock crisis caused by?

What happened?

What was its impact/significance?

• Result of Brown ruling; desegregated a high school.

• 9 Black children sent to attend a white high school, but faced white racism and attacks.

• News coverage gained sympathy.

• Demonstrated that supreme court rulings were insufficient and htat other forms of activism were required.

What were the aims of the Birmingham campaign (1963)?

Why was it staged in Birmingham?

What did MLK predict about the reactions to this campaign?

• Desegregation of public facilities and equal employment opportunities.

• Birmingham, Alabama was the worst city for segregation.

• MLK knew that police would mistreat protestors, which would expose southern bigotry and prompt action from JFK.

What tactics did MLK use and were the successful/unsuccessful?

• MLK struggled to organise demonstrations

• Police force attack protestors, MLK faced jail from accusations that he was a troublemaker

  • Sent letter from jail demanding that direct action and prodding white violence was the only way of bringing change.

• Came back- press were leaving, so he controversially encouraged young BA to take part- water hosed (shock from this encouraged press coverage again).

How was MLK successful in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign? (3)

• Publicity generated exposes southern bigotry.

• Inspired black protests throughout south, which helped Kennedy to promote eventual 1964 CRA.

• Showed power of mass demonstrations, the “Greatest weapon” of the CRM.

In what ways did the Birmingham Campaign fail?

• Did little to improve situation in Birmingham itself.

  • No meaningful agreement on segregations reached, and racial relations continue to deteriorate.

    • 1963: 4 BA girls bombed by KKK on their way to Sunday school as a warning for MLK.

What were the aims of the 1963 Washington march?

• Sought to encourage federal govt to increase BA economic opportunities.

• Masterminded by BA TU leader Phillip Randolph.

• NAACP, SNCC +SCLC hoped a well attended march would gain publicity and encourage the Supreme Courts to pass the Civil Rights Act.

  • This was important, especially considering that many BAs had become alienated by the slow govt response, so turned to violence instead.

What tactics were used in the 1963 Washington March?

• 250,000 marchers

• Series of speakers standing before the Lincoln Memorial to remind the nation of CRM’s domination of the moral high ground

• Influential speeches, MLK’s “I have a dream” speech which called upon US t live to values of freedom/equality seen in the Declaration of independence.

In what ways was the Washington march successful? (3)

• Large emotional impact; CRM depicted as strong and united,

  • Many believed that this emotional impact contributed to the passage of the 1964 CRA.

• Behaviour or marchers was impeccable.

• Highly influential speeches (especially MLK’s “I have a dream”)