Race Relations in the USA

To what extent did racial inequality exist in the USA after the Second World War?
1. Laws
  1. The Jim Crow laws were was on segregation of white and black people in America between 1876 and 1965
  2. Public schools, Public places, Public transport
  3. They made it impossible for Black Americans to vote by: Demanding a poll tax that Black Americans could not afford to pay. Also, they created a literacy test that was marked by white people who would always fail them.
2. Little Rock High School, 1957
  1. In 1954, the US Supreme Court had made segregation in school illegal.
  2. Many states did little in reality to desegregate though. Like Arkansas, where the state Governor Orval Faubus refused to let 9 black students attend Little Rock Central
  3. When the 9 students finally got to school, a white mob angrily began attacking Black Americans and newspaper reporters on the streets.
  4. The President had to send in 1100 military paratroopers to escort the 9 black students to school and protect them.
3. Brown versus Topeka Board of Education
  1. Schools in the southern states were segregated by law. They were deemed to be "separate but equal", there was no discrimination if black and whites had the same facilities and equipment.
  2. In 1954 the Supreme Court decided that segregated education could not be considered to be equal. The NAACP had argued that black children had been put at a disadvantage by the school system and that they were not being prepared to live in a mixed race society and would be disadvantaged in later life.
  3. The Supreme Court ordered that segregation in schools was to be phased out over time, "which all deliberate speed."
4. Rosa Parks and Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 - 1960
  1. In 1955, a black lady named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on her seat on the bus, for a white lady
  2. The bus driver had Rosa arrested for breaking the segregation laws.
  3. In response, many black people chose to no longer use the bus companies to get around (this is called a boycott)
  4. Instead they walked or started to share car journey (called carpooling)
  5. 17,000 black people were involved and it lasted for a yeard
5. The Ku Klux Klan
  1. The Ku Klux Klan had been formed after the civil war in America in the 1860's by soldiers from the southern states.
  2. The KKK wanted to make sure that Black Americans were not considered 'citizens' in America now that they were no longer slaves.
  3. When the Civil Rights movement started in the 1960's, the KKK grew as many white people wanted to challenge the movement.
6. Attitudes in the Southern States
  1. There were powerful forces prepared to resist changes to the status quo. Many white people saw black civil rights as a threat to their way of life and were prepared to resist changes in any way that could.
How effective were the methods used by members of the Civil Rights Movement between 1961-1968?
1. The Washington March 1963
  1. The most important of the freedom marches
  2. Black Americans marched on Washington, important as it is the capital city of the USA, where the White House (the centre of the government) is found.
  3. The march was well planned so that it would not turn to violence
  4. It was where MLK gave his famous 'I have a dream' speech, where he spoke about white and blacks living in harmony together.
  5. This gained the Civil Rights movement huge attention
2. Freedom Marches 1963
  1. Marches by Black Americans to protest against the high rates of unemployment and poverty.
  2. There were hundreds of demonstrations and marches across the country.
  3. Many Black Americans were arrested during the marches.
3. Black Power protests at the Mexico Olympics, 1968
  1. During the Mexico Olympics in 1968, two Black American athletes won medals.
  2. Whilst on the medal podium with the national anthem playing they protested for civil rights by doing the 'Black Power' salute and through their clothing:
  3. They wore no shoes only socks to represent black poverty.
4. The Freedom Rides 1961
  1. In the 1960s the US SUpreme Court had rules that segregation of buses from one state to another was illegal. This should have meant the end of segregations:
    1. Many bus companies ignored this and still had segregation - so the law was not being carried out.
  2. 13 civil rights activists (both black and white) decided to travel on a long journey from Washington to the segregated Southern State. to protest this.
  3. The freedom rides led to another regulation enforcing the desegregation of interstate buses in 1961.
5. The black power move,ment in the 1960s
How important was Martin Luther King in the fight Civil Rights in the USA?
1. The assassination of Martin Luther King
  1. MLK was assassinated on 4th April 1968
  2. There were constant threats to MLK and his family from white Americans who supported segregation.
2. Race Riots, 1965-1967
  1. From 1965-1967 there were a lot of race riots by Black Americans who were frustrated by the poor house and high unemployment they experienced.
  2. In August 1965, riots broke out in the ghetto of Watts in L.A.
  3. The riots were caused by a believed attack on a Black American man called Marquette Frye by the police
  4. The riots were on for 6 days. 34 people were killed, Many houses and shops were destroyed. Many building were looted.
3. The Civil Rights Act, 1964
  1. President Kennedy decided in 1963 to create a new civil rights law
  2. Before it could be introduced though, Kennedy was assassinated,
  3. The new president Lyndon B. Johnson supported the new act and signed it into law in 1964
  4. The act banned discrimination in: Hotel/ Motel, Restaurants, Theatres

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Race Relations in the USA

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	Created by Jordan Clewlow about 9 years ago