IB History Paper 1 - Rights & Protests

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Overview:
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), a unanimous Supreme Court declared that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
The Court declared "separate" educational facilities "inherently unequal."
Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson's "Separate but Equal" doctrine (1896)
The case electrified the nation, and remains a landmark in legal history and a milestone in civil rights history.

Civil Rights - Segregated Society

1896 Plessy v. Ferguson court ruling, "separate but equal" doctrine
Jim Crow segregation
Jim Crow refers to the system of legal and social segregation of black Americans from white Americans.
Anti-black laws
Race-prejudiced cultural practices
The name "Jim Crow" originated from a black stage character, who would often be played by white Americans in black face
Legal basis for this segregation was too powerful because it had been backed up by several rulings in the 1880s and 1890s
Become harder to reverse
Migration and Urbanization
"Institution-building"
Technology - Mass media, television, photojournalism

Types of Segregation

De Jure Segregation (Legal): Segregation that is legalized within the law (predominant in Jim Crow South)
De Facto Segregation (In Practice): Segregation that results from policies that are not on their "face discriminatory" (predominantly in the North)
Redlining, "white flight", etc.

Separate is "inherently unequal"

Brown v. Board Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson's "separate but equal" doctrine
In an unanimous decision, the Court agreed with Thurgood Marshall (+ his other NAACP lawyers) that segregating schooling violated the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection of law
Justice Earl Warren: "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal"
***Only applied to public schools

Brown II: Desegregating with "all deliberate speed"

Summer of 1955, the Supreme Court issued its implementation ruling in a decision called Brown II
Ordered that schools undertake desegregation with "all deliberate speed"
The phrase was an attempt to provide both flexibility and firmness, but it became justification for resistance by school districts and states throughout the South
Consequently, white citizens in the South organized a "Massive Resistance" campaign against integration
Brown II did not address segregation beyond schools

Segregationist Reactions to Brown V. Board

11 former Confederate (South) states passed laws requiring, or at least allowing, segregated schools
Also prohibited tax dollars from being spent on desegregated schools
Signing of the Southern Manifesto

Virginia: From Planned Action to Massive Resistance

A campaign of "Massive Resistance" by whites emerged in the South to oppose the Supreme Court's ruling that public schools be desegregated in Brown v. Board (1954).
(IMPORTANT) Interposition
The concept that states could place themselves between the federal government and the citizens of the state when state officials felt the federal government exceeded its constitutional powers.
South called for interposition to nullify the Supreme Court ruling.
A group of 101 southern congressmen issued a "Southern Manifesto"
Accusing the Supreme Court of a "clear abuse of judicial power," and vowing to use "all lawful means to bring about a reversal" of the Court's decision in Brown.
Southern Manifesto: a declaration of states' rights and a defense of Jim Crow laws
Some counties closed schools altogether
After Brown II, the governor of Virginia, Thomas B. Stanley, appointed a commission of 32 state lawmakers, all white Americans, to craft a plan responding to Brown
Gray Commission: Proposed a plan with a local option that technically allowed desegregation, but its goal was to inhibit any actual desegregation
Segregationist Democratic Senator Harry F. Byrd's state-wide political machine acted with force
In February 1956, Byrd made a speech calling for Massive Resistance to federally mandated school desegregation

Norfolk 17
17 black students who attended six white schools under court-ordered desegregation
"Young foot soldiers in the campaign against Virginia's Massive Resistance" (The Guardian)

The Stanley Plan
Virginia would not permit integrated public schools within the state
Automatic closure of schools that integrated
Could only be opened if it was exclusively white
Legislation and accompanying government actions are what became known as Massive Resistance

The Perrow Plan
Relied on the idea of freedom of choice
Parents could choose where to enroll their children
Became law, slowly started to integrate schools
Green v. New Kent County abolished this decision and significant progress was made towards public school desegregation in Virginia

Brown V. Board Historiography

The popular President, Dwight Eisenhower, provided at best weak support for Brown stating, "I think it makes no difference whether or not I endorse it".
***Historian Richard Kluger argued that Eisenhower's lack of support gave resisters strength, making desegregation more difficult and traumatic.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) - Overview

December 1st, 1955 -- Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat for white passengers
During Jim Crow laws
Separate section for whites and coloreds (black)
Law required that when white section was filled, blacks had to give up their seats
Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride in city's buses in protest over the bus system's policy on racial segregation
First mass action of the modern civil rights era
Served as an inspiration to other civil rights activists across the nation
Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister who endorsed nonviolent civil disobedience, emerged as leader of the Boycott.
"...when the history books are written in the future, somebody will have to say, 'There lived a race of people, a black people...who had the moral courage to stand up for their rights, and thereby they injected a new meaning into the veins of history and of civilization.'" - Martin Luther King Jr., December 5, 1955
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958)
Following a November 1956 ruling by the Supreme Court that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, the bus boycott ended successfully. It lasted 381 days.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) - Details

First community action that brought nationwide attention to the civil rights struggle
First sustained, large-scale, community-wide protest by African Americans in a southern city
Triggered the emergence of MLK and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Key Figures (NAACP)
E.D. Nixon
Jo Ann Robinson
Head of Montgomery's Women's Political Council (WPC)
African American men, women, and children stopped taking the bus, and instead carpooled or walked to their destinations.
Bus company revenues collapsed
-$1m+
By mid-November 1956, the U.S. The Supreme Court, basing its decision on the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law—ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional.
The boycott was a "success".
Almost no African Americans boarded city buses
***Transformed the attitude of African Americans from one of fear of white Americans to a growing defiance in the face of threats and brutality
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA)
MLK as president
Created for the sole purpose of overseeing a longer boycott
After integration of buses, segregationists used deadly violence on numerous occasions to intimidate passengers and boycott leaders
Shootings, bombings, violent assaults

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) - Historiography

Undermining King's role in the protest
"It is vital that we see what happened in Montgomery as a social justice struggle that was sustained by many grassroot leaders apart from King." (Clayborne Carson, 2005)
***"Although King played a crucial role in transforming a local boycott into a social justice movement of international significance, he was himself transformed by a movement he did not initiate." (Clayborne Carson, 2005)

Segregation
(Dismissing the significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott) Jim Crow system of apartheid still remained in the city, with buses being the sole exception (Robert Weisbrot, n.d.)
Historian Jeanne Theoharris: "The arbitrariness of segregation, the power and place it granted white people, was perhaps nowhere more evident than on the bus."

"Some historians explain part of the rise of the civil rights movement that began with the Montgomery Bus Boycott to change the social atmosphere of the United States." - IB Textbook

Little Rock (1957)

The Blossom Plan
Begin integration of elementary schools and move on to the integration of high schools several years later
Process was intentionally very slow
Purpose was to comply with Brown on a minimal basis, effectively limiting enrollment of African Americans in white schools to a handful.
Capital Citizens' Council (CCC)
Pro-segregation, purpose was to build support against integration
Federal vs. State authority conflict (PAPER 3)
Governor of Arkansas requested federal assistance to maintain order in advance of school opening but was refused on the grounds that public safety was primarily a local and state responsibility
His response: Federal government was mandating a policy but placing all responsibility for implementation on the states
Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to Central High school to prevent entry to 9 black students
On 3 September, the first day of school, a small group of African American high school students, accompanied by an escort of ministers, were turned away from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas by a large crowd of white citizens and armed troops from the Arkansas National Guard
***Television and newspaper reports showing of the event drew national and international attention to the issue of school desegregation.
News reached Eisenhower. He ordered 1,200 troops from the 101st Airborne Division (revered division) to accompany the 9 students (Little Rock Nine)
Escorted to Central High School, class-to-class, etc.
US Army troops remained at the school for the remainder of the year

Freedom Rides (1961) - Overview

Purpose was to exert pressure on governments at all levels (local, state, federal)
Mainly the federal government → enforce the right of African Americans to use interstate transportation unaffected by segregation and segregationists
Also included facilities like terminals, waiting rooms, restaurants and restrooms
Main goal: test the Kennedy administration
Send two mixed groups of African & White Americans from Washington, DC to New Orleans, Louisiana
Pass through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi
One bus was the Greyhound, other was the Trailways
Lacked federal support
Main reason: COLD WAR (Paper 2 + 3)
Focus was not on civil rights because McCarthyism, Soviet Union, fear, etc.
RIGHT AFTER FAILURE OF BAY OF PIGS (APRIL 1961)

Freedom Rides (1961) - Timeline

May 4, 1st day
May 14, 11th day, Greyhound attacked by huge mob near Birmingham, Alabama
Trailways bus also attacked by KKK mob in Birmingham with weapons
CORE James Farmer thought that the administration would be forced to defend civil rights activists and allow them to continue with their federally protected interstate trip, but the Kennedy administration did nothing
After attacks, Freedom Riders still wanted to continue, but drivers from Greyhound + Trailways refused to drive them
Took Freedom Riders to airport
Bomb scares, racial abuse
Riders were eventually flown to New Orleans, ending the first of the Freedom Rides
The Freedom Rides did not end, although CORE no longer directed them, having been replaced by SNCC.
Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Leaders John Lewis and Diane Nash
Organized another trip of 10 riders
Freedom Riders again attacked in Montgomery
MLK and Ralph Abernathy held a rally at the Abernathy church
1500 African Americans and several Freedom Riders attended
Attacked by mob by rocks, tear gas
Robert Kennedy called federal marshals, kept the mob at bay
But still got worse, so Governor John Patterson called the Alabama National Guard to establish order
Kennedy's "cooling off period" rejected by Riders
Freedom Riders wanted MLK to join them but he refused for the second time
Lost respect in the eyes of SNCC members
Thought he was afraid

Freedom Summer (1964) - Overview

Civil Rights organizations and leaders wanted to expand activities into Deep South to create even greater pressure on the federal government and the new Johnson administration (notice parallels to Freedom Rides)
Their mission was to gain more political power
***Specifically voting rights and political representation (more African Americans)

Freedom Summer: Campaign in Mississippi in 1964
Mississippi known for racial violence and active KKK
White supremacist Citizens' Councils
Needed to pass a series of challenging tests to vote

Example thesis: "Freedom Summer was to combine voter education, registration and political activism, as well as running Freedom Schools to teach literacy and civics to both adults and children."
Still descriptive in nature. Might be good to use as context.

Freedom Rides (1961) - Evaluation

SNCC vs. NAACP + SCLC
Decentralized grassroots activism (SNCC)
Centralized, established leadership (NAACP, SCLC)
The rides achieved the specific goal of integrating interstate travel.
They did not, however, achieve James Farmer's overall objective of obtaining overt, active and continued support for civil rights from the Kennedy administration.
The combination of the 1960 sit-ins and 1961 Freedom Rides brought about a split within the civil rights movement itself.

Freedom Summer (1964) - Key Players/Groups

Key figure: SNCC member Robert (Bob) Moses
Former high school math teacher with a master's degree in philosophy from Harvard
Came to Mississippi in 1961 to encourage voter registration
Played a significant role in spearheading the Freedom Summer campaign
Key group: The Council of Federated Organizations (COFO)
Purpose: Coordinate the NAACP, the SCLC, CORE, the SNCC and the National Urban League (NUL)
Administer and carry out the newly funded Voter Education Project (VEP)
Funded by Attorney General Robert Kennedy
Offered no protection

Freedom Summer (1964) - Evaluation

Some African Americans wanted an all African American campaign
Well-educated and mostly wealthy white Americans working with African Americans might further enrage segregationists
Robert Moses rejected under the "Beloved Community" ideal
Beloved Community: No tolerance for discrimination, poverty, hunger, or homelessness
Popularized by MLK
Conflicts/disputes would be resolved with the "dual goals of peace and justice"
But eventually, 900 mostly white applicants were accepted

Setbacks to Freedom Summer:
Deaths of three civil rights workers: James Chaney (a black Mississippian from Meridian), Mickey Schwerner (white-Jewish New Yorker), Andrew Goodman
Murdered by KKK working with local law enforcement

Total of 41 Freedom Schools were established
3000+ African American youths attended
Curriculum included: Reading, Math, African American history, Leadership Skills
Tutored in how to interpret the Mississippi Constitution
17000 applied for the right to vote, but only 1600 were accepted
(Memorize rough values.)
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)
Purpose: Challenge the all-white Mississippi Democratic Party
Accused students of communism
Link back to Cold War + McCarthyism, Vietnam War!!

Conclusion: Freedom Summer was a series of setbacks with a few successes, if progress is measured at the summer's end.
But paved the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Extremely popular
Fight for civil rights legislation and desegregation
Devised and implemented legal strategy to overturn plessy v ferguson, was successful despite resistance in southern states
Lobbied senators and congressmen
Force behind little rock 9
Rosa parks and MLK were members
Joined COFO and helped organize freedom summer
Organized marches
Advocacy important for CRA 64 and VRA 65
Seen by some african americans as too radical

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Led by Martin Luther King Jr.
Association of activists centered on Black Christian churches in the South
Employed non-violence, direct action
"Civil Disobedience"
Often at forefront of protests
Charisma of leaders furthered CRM
Key role in ...
March on Washington (1963)
Birmingham Campaign (1963)
Selma March (1965)
Trained thousands of activists in South
Echoed MX call for self-reliance
Coordinated voter registration in Alabama 63
Played important role in march from Selma to Montgomery which resulted in bloody sunday 65 and VRA
Criticized for focus on non-violence
Black nationalism clashed with their nonviolent integrationist ideology
Influence waned in 60s after MLK death

Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Created by 4 black college students in a "sit-in" movement
Non-violent
Leading force in voter registration in south
Black Freedom Movement in Mississippi (1960)
Freedom Summer (1964)
Sit-ins (1960+)
Helped organize freedom rides and did not want "cool of period" as kennedy requested after first ride ended in violence
MLK popularized term "beloved community" against violence
Organized Selma registration and march
Clashed with SCLC
Critical of kennedy's weak attempts and civil rights improvement
Later abandoned non-violent and became more nationalist/militant seceded by the black panther party

The Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) (NOI)

Claimed African Americans were god's chosen people and would triumph
Black nationalism, pan africanism
Common to change "slave surname" to an X
Founded private schools to educate black people, believed public schools created to preserve white supremacy
Dismissed concept of beloved community and non-violence
Much more radical, saw white people as inherently evil
Speeches that condemned white people as evil repelled white liberals
Affront with integrationist civil rights leaders
Appealed to Americans in Northern Ghettos

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Encompassed voting rights, public accommodations, desegregation of public facilities, limits on discrimination within federally funded programs, employment discrimination, and authorized higher court review of district court referrals to state courts
Also required privately owned and operated businesses that served the public to serve customers and clients regardless of race, color, or national origin.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to ensure fair hiring practices
Established a federal Community Relations Service (CRS) to assist local communities with civil rights issues
Authorized the US Office of Education to distribute financial aid to communities struggling to desegregate public schools.
Attracted resistance from segregationists
George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama, made a strong showing in the 1964 presidential primaries in Indiana, Maryland, and Wisconsin.
His campaign relied heavily on anti-integration rhetoric and bemoaned the loss of "traditional" American values, prefiguring the rise of the new social conservatism.
Provisions to strengthen the voting rights of African Americans in the South were relatively weak and did not prevent states and election officials from practices that effectively continued to deny southern blacks the vote.

The Voting Rights Act (1965)

Heavily influenced by the Selma, Alabama voting rights campaign in January 1965
In January 1965 the SCLC, led by Martin Luther King Jr, opened a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama previously an area of work focused on by the SNCC
Voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery (SELMA MARCH)
Later became known as "Bloody Sunday"
Attacked by Selma police and Alabama patrolmen with tear gas, billy clubs, and riders on horsebacks with bullwhips
More than 50 people were injured → Images of beatings appeared on news programmes across the country
Outcome motivated LBJ to act

Voting Rights Act (1965) written, passed, and signed into law by 6 August, 1965
Outlawed literacy tests
Directed the US Department of Justice to challenge poll taxes
Authorized federal government (Attorney general) to oversee voter rights in south

Effects were quick
Within two years, more than half of southern African Americans of legal age were registered to vote
Transformed patterns of political power in the South. By the middle of 1966, over half a million Southern blacks had registered to vote, and by 1968, almost four hundred black people had been elected to office.

MLK

Part of NAACP
Leadership of Montgomery Bus Boycott
Letter from prison, published in NYT after trying to register voters in Selma, pressure for VRA
I have a dream speech
Helped convince white people
Contacts to Kennedy and Johnson: pressure
Mob of thousands threatens to burn church (after freedom rides)
MLK calls Robert Kennedy for help, national guard sent in to help
Met with L.B.Johnson to push for the voters right act
Created SCLC and elected president
Just a figurehead?
Assassinated 68, helped push fair housing act into law

Malcolm X

Part of NOI, leading figurehead
Focused on urban north rather than south unlike most of crm
"Articulate and witty" appealed to desperation of urban blacks
Black nationalism
Favoured self defense
Saw integration as fantasy, belittled CR leaders "trying to crawl back into plantation"
Speeches promoting self reliance
Attracted thousands of followers to NOI through charisma, because of him membership surged
Assassinated 65, helped push voting right act through congress

Lyndon B. Johnson

Until 1957 had opposed all civil rights legislation
Eager to improve civil rights when he became president
Made civil rights act 1964 pass senate
Noticed voter inequality, discouraged from action by senate
Voters rights act passed quickly after pressure from Selma and Malcolm X assassination
Appalled by riots after voters right act, sent troops
1968 fair housing act, signed into law a week after MLK assassinated
Important for passing civil rights bills
Only supported movement towards end of career

Petty Apartheid" legislation 1948-1958

Earlier National Party Government policy
The Principal purpose was to ensure the complete domination—economic and political—of White over Black.
Under DF Malan + JG Strijdom
Baasskap - subjugation of blacks through force during this period
Focused on small things (fussy) small policies
Viewed as negative
Petty suggests the unnecessarily fussy nature of many apartheid laws.

"Grand Apartheid" legislation

Later National Party Government policy
Initiated by HF Verwoerd in the late 1950s
More ideologically sophisticated than Petty Apartheid
Main objective was the complete territorial segregation of South Africa
Ultimately to the full independence of each of its component parts.
Move away from essentially enslaving Africans for economic gain, and now separates them territorially
Caused the complete separate development of the different peoples, each within their own national jurisdiction
Aimed to establish a moral legitimacy for the apartheid system in the face of an increasingly hostile global community
Implemented in face of negative international relations due to apartheid

Division and Classification

The official division and classification of the different racial groups in South Africa was an essential prerequisite for the enforcement of other forms of apartheid legislation.
The Population Registration Act of 1950, which classified the entire population by race, was one of the first laws to be passed by the new National Party government
Population Registration Act provided for the creation of a national population register.
Each citizen was defined according to the racial group to which he or she belonged.
Everyone must be registered as Black, Coloured, White or Indian/Asian and carry an ID card
"Pencil" test

Segregation of Populations and Amenities

Laws designated to achieve the complete residential separation of South Africa's different population groups

Group Areas Act of 1950
Residential segregation in major cities

The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951
Addressed the matter of native reserves or the homelands, rural areas where Black people were allowed to reside permanently
The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 | Immorality Act of 1950
Promote the separation of the races by outlawing sexual relations and procreation between different races.
KEY definition: Miscegenation—interracial marriage
Under Apartheid, miscegenation was associated with racial degeneration.
Banned all extra-marital sexual relations between Whites and Non-Whites

The Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953
Epitome of the petty apartheid system
Called for strict segregation by race of all public amenities—buses, trains, toilets, hospitals, shops, post services, beaches, swimming pools
Separate entrances and service counters based on race classification
Symbolized the dramatic decline in [non-White South Africans'] their status under Apartheid

The Pass Laws Act of 1952
Required that people carry around passbooks at all times
Contained person's employment record, tax payments, and reports of any encounters with the police
Allow the government to extend its powers of surveillance over the Black population

Creation of Townships/Forced Removals

Group Areas Act of 1950
DF Malan coined it "the essence of apartheid".
Designed to enforce total residential segregation of the different racial groups in urban areas
Specifically remove non-Whites from inner city areas that would henceforth be designated as Whites-only areas
Based on the racist premise that Africans were rural people in their natural state, and that their permanent exposure to city life would lead to a breakdown in the social order

Natives Resettlement Act in 1954 + The Group Areas Development Act in 1955
Complemented the 1950 Group Areas Act
Armed the government with the bureaucratic machinery that would allow it to carry out its policies of the forced urban resettlement of Africans
Led to the destruction of Sophiatown in 1955
Initially an "apartheid anomaly"

The destruction of Sophiatown would strike a blow against
Black urban culture, and against the liberation movement
Resettlement areas transformed into the sprawling townships that were to become the dominant feature of South Africa's Black urban landscape in the 1950s

Segregation on Education

The Bantu Education Act of 1953
Made it mandatory for schools to admit children from one racial group only
Brought the education of Africans under the direct control of the Native Affairs Development
Headed by the apartheid hardliner HF Verwoerd.
Specify a separate curriculum for African children to prepare them to be manual laborers
Lack of academic content
Designed to prepare Africans of economic servitude to their White masters
Ratio of government spending on a White child compared with a Black child was 7:1.
Core idea of the system of grand apartheid.

Bantu education taught young Black people that they and their communities were backward, and that they were incapable of making any progress in life outside the narrow confines of their tribal world.

Bantu Education Act drew a fierce and determined response from African nationalists
African National Congress (ANC) announced a permanent boycott of the new system in 1955
Only a partial success
Apartheid leaders threatened to shut any school that supported the boycott
Apartheid leaders were sufficiently rattled by the determination of the ANC's response

Steve Biko
Argued that Bantu education was designed as a means of denigrating and dehumanizing Black people.
Black Consciousness Movement
Slogan: "Black is beautiful"

The Extension of University Education Act of 1959
Introduced to extend apartheid to tertiary education
All universities would now be required to admit students from just a single racial group/tribe
HF Verwoerd's wider strategy of pursuing the entirely separate development of population groups

Bantustan System

Aim: Give each of the Black peoples of South Africa their own self-governing homeland
Transform the existing native reserves into a number of small, fully independent states
Blacks would become citizens of various Bantustans than the rest of South Africa, which would henceforth be an exclusively White country

The Bantu Authorities Act of 1951
Created new regional authorities for Africans

The Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959
Divided the African population into 10 ethnic groups
Each group assigned a White commissioner-general who would assist in making the political transition to full self-government in their designated area
In 1970, government decreed that all Black South Africans were citizens of the homelands, and no the Republic of South Africa
Millions of Black South Africans immediately became foreigners
Felt constant threat of deportation and being dumped into the Bantustans

Most Black South Africans felt no political allegiance to their assigned homelands
International community acknowledged that the Bantustans were anything but an attempt by the government to create a moral fig leaf for Apartheid
Bantustans were never officially recognized by any other country than South Africa itself

Impact on Individuals

With the Population Registration Act of 1950, members of the same mono-racial family could find themselves on different sides of the classification divide.
Made it difficult for families to live together
The social stigma around race classification became dominant
Afrikaner families abandon babies who had frizzy hair and dark complexions
Reservation of Amenities Act Limited the educational and cultural horizons of Africans
Even as the residents were evicted, bulldozers stood by to destroy their homes
Psychological and mental damage
After forcefully relocated, Africans often has to face and expensive daily commute to work
Lack of even the most basic amenities in the townships
Sanitation was poor, as was infrastructure
Low number of hospitals, clinics, and police stations
Minimal education
People suffered from "a profound loss of identity."

Apartheid - Bus Boycotts

1949: First transport boycott
The causes of the boycotts tended to be economic rather than political.
GOAL: To hurt the South African economy. Much of the bus companies customers' were the working class
Not a planned form of protest but occurred as a popular reaction to the decision of the various bus companies operating from the townships to raise their fares into the city.
Boycotts were closely related to the extremely low wages paid to Africans and the high unemployment levels
Bus Boycotts were generally successful.
Authorities would typically intervene in a dispute and persuade the bus companies to rescind the fare increases.
Success indicated the potential of organized popular action as an effective means of peaceful political protest.
1957: Alexandra Bus Boycott
Triggered by the decision of the bus company to raise fares
Hundreds of thousands involved in the boycott and widespread coverage in the White media
"The sense of solidarity among the boycotters was palpable, with fitter marchers assisting the weak and the elderly."
Eventually, higher-ups felt obliged to intervene
Old fare structure restored
Buses were subsidized (supported) by the government
Bus boycotts saw a sudden and unexpected outpouring of sympathy in the White community
Media reporting of boycotts increased
Wealthy Whites drove cars to offer boycotters free lifts into the city

Defiance Campaign (1952) - Overview

First in a number of coordinated nationwide campaigns and protests organized by the African National Congress (ANC) against the Apartheid system.
Marked the opening of a new, more radical phase in the struggle against White minority rule
Characterized as "the most significant," as it marked the opening of a new, more radical phase in the struggle against White minority rule

Defiance Campaign (1952) - Methods

The political potential of the masses of ordinary Africans would be harnessed by involving them in a coordinated campaign of defiance against new apartheid laws.
ANC leaders and other volunteers would deliberately break the law while crowds of onlookers would provide them with support and encouragement.
The Defiance Campaign's philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience would be contrasted with the heavy-handed with the heavy-handed response of the authorities.
The police would be given no choice but to arrest thousands of campaigners.
As the campaign became the focus of global attention, apartheid would be put in the spotlight and the ANC would win a moral victory
(Notice parallels to Civil Rights?)
South Africa's prisons would be filled until they were overflowing.
The various institutions of state repression—the police, the courts and the prisons—would be stretched to breaking point.
Other racial groups would be involved in the struggle against apartheid by coordinating the Defiance Campaign with the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) as well as activists from other communities.

Defiance Campaign (1952) - Causes

ANC were looking for a more effective response to the raft of apartheid laws passed by Malan's government
Earlier demonstrations organized by the ANC—one day strikes, ad hoc protests—had failed to provide sustained popular resistance to the regime.
ANC risked losing credibility among the masses unless it proved capable of providing a more effective response to government brutality.
KEY IDEA: Civil disobedience (parallels to MLK)

Defiance Campaign (1952) - Objectives

Force the government to repeal six "unjust laws" that had recently been introduced
The Pass Laws Act
The Group Areas Act
The Suppression of Communism Act
The Bantu Authorities Act
The separate Representation of Voters Act
The Stock Limitations Act

Defiance Campaign (1952) - Failures

The ANC failed to achieve any of it's main political objectives (dismantling Apartheid immediately)
Not a single one of the six "unjust laws" was repealed
Government became even more oppressive
Rural areas were hardly involved, only ANC strongholds were very supportive
The campaign facilitated general strikes crippled the South African economy
Poorer Africans and peasants failed to play a significant part. Was not a genuine mass movement like they claimed to be.
White community viewed it with hostility, particularly after an outbreak of rioting
The English language was largely unsympathetic, as liberal White sought to distance themselves from a campaign they believed to be radical and confrontational.

Defiance Campaign (1952) - Successes

ANC managed to coordinate an extended national campaign against apartheid for the first time in history
Leadership had proved itself capable of discipline and sacrifice.
The stage had been set for the development of a true mass movement.
The national and global profile of the ANC grew enormously.
"The peaceful strategy of civil disobedience adopted by the resistance movement, together with the aggressive and disproportionate response of the government, revealed the brutality and moral bankruptcy of the apartheid system to the global community.
1953, UN established a Commission on the Racial Situation in the Union of South Africa after seeing Defiance Campaign
"Marked the true beginning of the international campaign against apartheid."

The Congress of the People (COP) - Goals

Forge a single popular front by uniting all of South Africa's racial groups in the fight against apartheid
Expand the membership and broaden the social base of the ANC through the direct involvement of poorer Africans in the COP and by doing so turn the freedom struggle into a truly mass movement
Draft a Freedom Charter for the COP, a document which would encapsulate the political goals of the congress movements as well as the democratic aspirations of all the people of South Africa
Consolidate the ANC's strategy of working together with other parties and racial groups opposed to the apartheid system while also involving others, such as the Coloureds, who had been largely excluded during the Defiance Campaign.
Involve as many ordinary South Africans as possible

Freedom Charter

Objectives
Called for an end to the apartheid system
The election of a democratic, non-racial government
Equitable distribution of the country's wealth and resources.
Unanimously adopted by the COP.
The government argued that the Freedom Character, an embryonic constitution for a new South Africa, amounted to nothing less than treason against the state
Led to the Treason Trial (1956)

Sharpeville massacre (1960)

White policemen opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators
69 unnamed demonstrators killed—including 8 women and 10 children—and 186 people were injured.
"Fundamentally altered the course of the liberation struggle."
ANC abandons its strategy of peaceful resistance to apartheid and instead embrace armed struggle
After Sharpeville, the apartheid government declared a State of Emergency and banned the ANC and PAC.
Led to the creation of the armed wing of the movement, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)
MK began its sabotage operations against the apartheid state
If the ANC failed to respond by launching its own armed struggle, it risked being outflanked by a rival party (Pan African Congress [PAC]) that had built a strong base of popular support in a very short space of time.
Massive significance on a global scale
Historian Tom Lodge argues that "while the regime was strengthened in the short term by its crackdown on African nationalism, the Sharpeville massacre marked the true beginning of the international campaign against apartheid."

the Rivonia trial (1963-1964)

ANC + SACP leaders found in their safe house and arrested
Mandela, who was arrested in August 1962, could no longer play his key role in organizing acts of sabotage
Sentenced to five years' imprisonment for leaving the country without permission and inciting strike action
Authorities busted MK high command members who were studying a document called "Operation Mayibuye"
A detailed plan for a revolutionary guerrilla war to be waged by MK from clandestine bases in rural parts of SA
Mandela + 10 others faced charges of treason
Charged w/ Sabotage Act of 1962
Mandela + team strategized to politicize the trial by arguing that their struggle was morally legitimate, conducted on behalf of the people in South Africa for freedom and democracy and against racial domination and oppression
The harsh response of the government had given them little choice but to resort to armed struggle in the pursuit of their ideals
"Above all, we want equal political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent." - Mandela, 1963
International campaign against the trial gained lots of traction
UN Security Council passed a resolution calling on the government to end the trial and offer an amnesty (official pardon) to all of the accused
All were accused were found guilty of all the charges except Lionel Bernstein
Sentenced to life in prison in a maximum security prison

Consequences of the Rivonia Trial
Marked the end of an era in the struggle against apartheid
Government had successfully broken the ANC and MK
All the leaders were either imprisoned or in exile
ANC, however, did at least manage to remain organizationally intact and was regarded by the world as the legitimate face of the anti-apartheid struggle