Study Guide AOK #8

1. Selma Campaign (March 7th, 1965)

Also known as the “Selma to Montgomery march”

• A political march, part of a series of civil right protests, from Selma, Alabama to the state’s capital, Montgomery held in 1965. They marched to ensure that African Americans had the right to vote and in response to Jackson’s death.

^^Simplified:^^ A group of people who walked from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama for equal voter rights.

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Context: Their march from Selma to Montgomery, the capital, was a success (despite the obstacles they faced), which lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed by president Lyndon B. Johnson. Also, helped raise awareness of the treatment of African Americans at the time.

i. Background: African Americans first earned their right to vote in 1870, just five years after the United States ended the Civil War, by the passing of the 15th amendment. However, restrictions such as the Jim Crow Laws, the KKK, literacy tests, the Grandfather Clause, and possibility of getting fired from their workplace were present and prevented them from voting.

2. Iron Curtain (1949)

Also built to be known as the “Berlin Wall”

• The political boundary dividing Europe --Germany-- into four occupation zones from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1945. This was essentially an attempt from the Soviet Union to seal themselves and their dependent European allies from contact with the West, their capitalist ideals, and other non communist areas.

^^Simplified^^: A line drawn within Europe that created two different areas, each with a separate idea of how they controlled the area, as a way for the Soviet Union to block itself from the West.

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Context: This “curtain” not only symbolized the Cold War divide between capitalist and communist nations but also led to the creation of opposing alliances, even after being physically manifested into the Berlin Wall. The capitalist side (U.S.) joined NATO, and the communist side joined the Warsaw Pact.

i. Background: After the Bolshevik Revolution in WW1, tensions grew between the U.S. and Russia after the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed in 1918, which brought their involvement in the war to an end and led to territorial gains for central powers. Their potential dominance of Europe and fear of communist revolutions in the West, the United States began the policy of containment.

3. Interstate Highway Act

Also referred to as the “Federal-All Highway Act of 1956”

• An infrastructural strategy that would allow easier transportation of military resources throughout the country, consisting of the 48 states of the U.S. It was, essentially, a response to growing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union and highway development was considered a key element of domestic defense.

^^Simplified:^^ A starting plan, involving the framework of a highway, that would let military items to be moved easily all around the country (U.S.), which acted as a protection / shield.

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Context: By focusing investment on roads instead of rail, ground transportation became dominated by cars and trucks, leading to the development of suburbs and communities outside of city centers that were only accessible by automobiles.

Background: General (soon to be president) Eisenhower faced challenges with moving troops across a territory, due to inadequate road networks and felt inspired by the Germans and their means of transportation; their Autobahns. They also needed quick evacuations in the event of a nuclear attack launched by the USSR.

4. Women’s roles (post WWII)

• In the late 1940’s and 50’s, the government launched campaigns to encourage women to enter or stay in the labour market. The welfare state was seen as “women’s work”, creating job opportunities as nurses, midwives, cleansers, and clerical staff.

^^Simplified:^^ The women were given a push to enter or stay in the work place. “Womens work” was found in the welfare state, where women were given chances at all kinds of jobs.

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Context: With the increase of jobs, came the increase in division between both genders (women + men) and their positions within the work field. More specifically, the amount of wages earned, which led to a series of strikes to be seen as equal and the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1970.

Background: Women were originally “demobilized” from the work place to make way for returning service-men, but the post war reconstruction effort made the need for an expanded labour force urgent.

5. Sweatt v Painter (1950)

• A case, involving Herman M. Sweatt, in which the Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited the university of Texas from rejecting applicants solely on the basis of race.

^^Simplified:^^