Civil rights questions
Desegregating American Society
1) Jim Crow Laws created separate social arrangements that effect Af. Am. in what 3 ways?
They separated public areas between whites and blacks, they were sent to different schools, and they had absolutely no political power.
2) What examples does the book list to support this statement, “everywhere I go in the south the Negro is forced to choose between his hide and his soul”?
Many black people were subjugated to discrimination and humiliation of everyday life. They constantly had to decide between standing up and protecting their rights, or standing down and protecting their lives.
3) Who were Wendell Willkie and Gunnar Myrdal and what effect did they have.?
Wendell Willkie and Gunnar Myrdal were authors who wrote novels that uncovered the racial barrier and wrongdoings of Americans after the war, destroying the image of America as the land of equality and growing humanitarianism.
4) How did WWII effect the attitudes of Af. Am.?
The war had created a new sense of militancy and restlessness in African Americans.
5) Who and what was the NAACP?
The NAACP was a group of black leaders that fought for black rights through legal means. This was led by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
6) Rosa Parks role in the Civil Rts movement?
She started the Montgomery bus boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white man.
7) Who was Dr. King?
Dr. King was a pastor who led powerful sermons and speeches in order to get the black people to rise in nonviolence against the oppression of the white man.
8) What was the “To Secure These Rights” report?
It was a report made by President Truman that stated that the black people should be able to have the same rights as the white man. This was later shot down by Congress leading the Supreme Court to take role of the political affairs involving race.
9) Brown v. Board of Edu
A court case that ruled segragation in schools was actually unlawful.
10) “Declaration of Constitutional Principles”
A document signed by southern congressmen in order to uphold their promise to resist desegregation.
11) Ike and civil rits
He did not really care as much as Truman did. He shied away from the topic of race in order to retain his popularity.
12) Little Rock Nine
A group of nine students who were led to Little Rock Central Highschool by the National Gaurd as the first desegregated school in the south.
13) Civil Rights Act
The first Civil Rights act since the reconstruction era, this act led to the creation of the Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights.
14) SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Commission led by Martin Luther King Jr. in efforts to help desegregate the south.
15) Sit ins
The form of protest in which black men and women would sit in segregated areas and not leave, trying to make a point of how the desegregation was pointless.
16) SNCC
An organization of black college students that led sit ins and marches alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Struggle for Civil rights
17) Kennedy –“with a stroke of a pen”
Said he would sign a bill to allow African Americans equal rights, however he held out for almost two years, two years in which the black people sent him pens hoping he would sign the bill.
18) Freedom rides
A course of events in which white and black civil rights activists would ride the newly "desegregated" busses to pressure the government into acting and enforcing civil rights.
19) Kennedy & MLK
Two of the greatest civil rights leaders of their time.Kennedy however, was more concerned that MLK was communist and would embarass the choice to politically associate himself with MLK.
20) Voter Edu project
A project by the SNCC to get blacks to vote in the South that was supported by Kennedy and MLK.
21) James Meredith
Was violently opposed when he went to register to vote, Kennedy had to send 400 federal marshals and 3000 troops to assist him in voting.
22) MLK in Birmingham
Most segregated city in the South, MLK went there to lead protests and ended up getting arrested. There in jail, he wrote Letters from Birmingham Jail, a letter in which he gives reason and refutes the criticism he recieved from clergymen in the area.
23) MLK march to Washington
A march in which MLK led thousands of people in a march that ended at the reflecting pools in front of the Washington Monument. There, they listened to speeches from civil rights leaders. The march was actually organized by A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Ruston.
Battling for Black Rights
24) Civil rights Act 1964
Gave the government more power in enforcing school desegregation, prohibit public discrimination, and discrimination in publich accomodations and employment.
25) Prevent af. Am. voting
Poll taxes and Literacy tests
26) 24th amendment
Eliminated the poll tax and allowed for more African Americans to vote.
27) MLK in Selma
Where state troopers started using tear gas and other forms of punishment against the protesters and MLK supporters.
28) Voting Rights act 1965
Eliminated the literacy tests obstructing the road to voting rights for black men and women.
29) Watts Riot
A riot that led to the militant confrontation of may blacks and civil rights advocates. This was in Los Angeles and also the riot led to increasing pride for black separatism instead of desegregation.
30) Malcolm X
A civil rights leader and member of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X wanted black separatism instead of desegregation in the US. He was often inclined to violent opposition instead of the nonviolence proposed by MLK.
31) Black Panther Party
A group of militant blacks who advocated for the black separatism that Malcolm X fought for. However, this group was led by Stokely Carmichael, a former leader of the SNCC.
32) “burn, Baby burn”
A group of attacks that black people led against their neighbors, attacking police officers and firefighters with fire and mobs. They would sing "burn, Baby burn" as they torched the houses.
33) Not just a “southern” question.
The question of problems of black people being solved spread to the north, where the demands were not of Civil Rights, but instead of economic demands.
34) Death of MLK
MLK died in a time when he was most needed and as a result, fueled the Black Pride movement as well as the nonviolent movement he so carefully started.
1) Jim Crow Laws created separate social arrangements that effect Af. Am. in what 3 ways?
They separated public areas between whites and blacks, they were sent to different schools, and they had absolutely no political power.
2) What examples does the book list to support this statement, “everywhere I go in the south the Negro is forced to choose between his hide and his soul”?
Many black people were subjugated to discrimination and humiliation of everyday life. They constantly had to decide between standing up and protecting their rights, or standing down and protecting their lives.
3) Who were Wendell Willkie and Gunnar Myrdal and what effect did they have.?
Wendell Willkie and Gunnar Myrdal were authors who wrote novels that uncovered the racial barrier and wrongdoings of Americans after the war, destroying the image of America as the land of equality and growing humanitarianism.
4) How did WWII effect the attitudes of Af. Am.?
The war had created a new sense of militancy and restlessness in African Americans.
5) Who and what was the NAACP?
The NAACP was a group of black leaders that fought for black rights through legal means. This was led by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
6) Rosa Parks role in the Civil Rts movement?
She started the Montgomery bus boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white man.
7) Who was Dr. King?
Dr. King was a pastor who led powerful sermons and speeches in order to get the black people to rise in nonviolence against the oppression of the white man.
8) What was the “To Secure These Rights” report?
It was a report made by President Truman that stated that the black people should be able to have the same rights as the white man. This was later shot down by Congress leading the Supreme Court to take role of the political affairs involving race.
9) Brown v. Board of Edu
A court case that ruled segragation in schools was actually unlawful.
10) “Declaration of Constitutional Principles”
A document signed by southern congressmen in order to uphold their promise to resist desegregation.
11) Ike and civil rits
He did not really care as much as Truman did. He shied away from the topic of race in order to retain his popularity.
12) Little Rock Nine
A group of nine students who were led to Little Rock Central Highschool by the National Gaurd as the first desegregated school in the south.
13) Civil Rights Act
The first Civil Rights act since the reconstruction era, this act led to the creation of the Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights.
14) SCLC
The Southern Christian Leadership Commission led by Martin Luther King Jr. in efforts to help desegregate the south.
15) Sit ins
The form of protest in which black men and women would sit in segregated areas and not leave, trying to make a point of how the desegregation was pointless.
16) SNCC
An organization of black college students that led sit ins and marches alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Struggle for Civil rights
17) Kennedy –“with a stroke of a pen”
Said he would sign a bill to allow African Americans equal rights, however he held out for almost two years, two years in which the black people sent him pens hoping he would sign the bill.
18) Freedom rides
A course of events in which white and black civil rights activists would ride the newly "desegregated" busses to pressure the government into acting and enforcing civil rights.
19) Kennedy & MLK
Two of the greatest civil rights leaders of their time.Kennedy however, was more concerned that MLK was communist and would embarass the choice to politically associate himself with MLK.
20) Voter Edu project
A project by the SNCC to get blacks to vote in the South that was supported by Kennedy and MLK.
21) James Meredith
Was violently opposed when he went to register to vote, Kennedy had to send 400 federal marshals and 3000 troops to assist him in voting.
22) MLK in Birmingham
Most segregated city in the South, MLK went there to lead protests and ended up getting arrested. There in jail, he wrote Letters from Birmingham Jail, a letter in which he gives reason and refutes the criticism he recieved from clergymen in the area.
23) MLK march to Washington
A march in which MLK led thousands of people in a march that ended at the reflecting pools in front of the Washington Monument. There, they listened to speeches from civil rights leaders. The march was actually organized by A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Ruston.
Battling for Black Rights
24) Civil rights Act 1964
Gave the government more power in enforcing school desegregation, prohibit public discrimination, and discrimination in publich accomodations and employment.
25) Prevent af. Am. voting
Poll taxes and Literacy tests
26) 24th amendment
Eliminated the poll tax and allowed for more African Americans to vote.
27) MLK in Selma
Where state troopers started using tear gas and other forms of punishment against the protesters and MLK supporters.
28) Voting Rights act 1965
Eliminated the literacy tests obstructing the road to voting rights for black men and women.
29) Watts Riot
A riot that led to the militant confrontation of may blacks and civil rights advocates. This was in Los Angeles and also the riot led to increasing pride for black separatism instead of desegregation.
30) Malcolm X
A civil rights leader and member of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X wanted black separatism instead of desegregation in the US. He was often inclined to violent opposition instead of the nonviolence proposed by MLK.
31) Black Panther Party
A group of militant blacks who advocated for the black separatism that Malcolm X fought for. However, this group was led by Stokely Carmichael, a former leader of the SNCC.
32) “burn, Baby burn”
A group of attacks that black people led against their neighbors, attacking police officers and firefighters with fire and mobs. They would sing "burn, Baby burn" as they torched the houses.
33) Not just a “southern” question.
The question of problems of black people being solved spread to the north, where the demands were not of Civil Rights, but instead of economic demands.
34) Death of MLK
MLK died in a time when he was most needed and as a result, fueled the Black Pride movement as well as the nonviolent movement he so carefully started.