1. How And Why Did Black Americans Fight For Civil Rights Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in 1. How And Why Did Black Americans Fight For Civil Rights Deck (71)
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1
Q

When and why were black Americans supposedly free and equal

A

In 1870.
Slavery was abolished
All people born or naturalised in the USA where USA citizens
All us citizens had the same voting right

2
Q

In what ways did black face discrimination after the First World War?

A

There was segregation and violence extremely in the Deep South nut they were unofficially degraded against in the north.
They were expected to live in their own part of town and stay there.
They were first fired and last hired and had the lowest paying jobs.

3
Q

What was he segregation after ww1 helped by?

A

Having the worst jobs and being less well paid automatically pushed people to the poorest parts of town.

4
Q

What violence was there in 1919?

A

25 anti black race riots often set off by police injustice where 100s were killed.
The worst is these red summer riots was in Chicago

5
Q

Who was Booker Washington?

A

Famous black American was accepted segregation.

6
Q

Who supported booker Washington?

A

He had a significant following of better off black Americans.
He had white support.

7
Q

What was education like in the south?

A

While there was segregation, black children did learn and go on to become doctors lawyers and teachers proving blacks were as intelligent which southerns denied.

8
Q

Why did southerns introduce him crow laws?

A

With slavery gone, they felt less in control of the black population so Jim Crow laws were a form of control.

9
Q

What were him crow laws?

A

Introduced in 1917 that segregated every aspect of life.
It was called he permanent system or final settlement.
They were to segregate public facilities, segregate workers.

10
Q

How did him crow laws affect voting?

A

Voters had to pass a literacy qualification to vote and sometimes blacks were given harder passages to read.
Voters had to be home owners and most blacks weren’t.
Some states held all white elections to select candidates for the actual election.
Polling stations were surrounded by whites waiting to beat up blacks.
By 1917 the number of blacks voting had dropped considerably

11
Q

What is lynching?

A

A mob taking law into its own hands to punish someone for what it sees as a crime. Usually hanged or burnt alive

12
Q

How many men were lynched between 1915 and 1930?

A

65 white men and 579 black men

13
Q

Why was Emmett Till, 14 lynched in 1955?

A

Talking to a white women. It caused shock even in the south.

14
Q

Who were the KKK?

A

WASPs against any non-WASPS.
By 1825 membership was between three to eight million.
In the south it included people with real political power (governors) and social power (police and army)

15
Q

How did KKK get so many members?

A

Women klan members brought their children up as white supremacists and in rural communities created anti-black environment that non-klan people felt too intimidated to reject

16
Q

How did the federal government hinder black equality?

A
  • In 1896 the Supreme Court in Plessy vs Ferguson, had ruled that despite the 14th amendment, segregation was possible if it was separate but equal. This was used to support many cases of segregation
  • Wilson was a southerner and had no problem with segregation
17
Q

What did Harding do about racism in the south?

A

Spoke out against lynching and was in favour of civil rights.
He addressed 30,000 people at the university of Alabama of the evils of segregation.
But due to lauded faire he could try and influence but could not enforce it by legislation.

18
Q

How did the depression affect civil rights?

A

The focus was on that and the federal government was focussed on correcting that and civil rights issues slid even further out of sight.

19
Q

What was the great migration?

A

Between 1917 and 1932 there was a wave of black migration from the south to the north and east mainly to cities.

20
Q

Why were blacks attracted to cities such as New York?

A

They were industrial towns and blacks were drawn there for work and to escape the south.

21
Q

Why did the great migration begin?

A

The USA entered ww1 producing a rising need for workers in munitions factories in the north. Factory owners advertised in southern newspapers offering housing, free transport and good wages. People were encouraged to move by fiends and family who had already moved.

22
Q

What was the black population of New York in 1910 and 1930?

A

92000 to 330000

23
Q

Why were migrants surprised with the north?

A

Their lives followed a similar pattern: found somewhere to live and a job that was low paid, replacing whites who were pushing for lower wages.
Accommodation was in the most crowded run down part of the city and rent was higher than whites.
They were poor and even skilled migrants had to take unskilled jobs

24
Q

How was the great migration not negative for all blacks?

A

Not all landlords exploited migrants
Not all blacks were forced to live in the worst parts of the cities
Some black professionals lived in their own black communities in better parts of the cities.
Poor blacks who were nannies moved to rich white suburbs.
They could vote and elected to local and federal government

25
Q

What was the impact of the great migration on cities?

A

Population rose sharply.
In cities where black migrants settled in areas that coincided with voting wards (e.g Chicago) they had a great political influence.
Black migrants dislodged white workers especially those who were members of unions and pushing for better conditions. This enabled businesses to put pressure on white workers to leave unions or lose their jobs.

26
Q

What happened when it became clear black people could keep a mayor in power?

A

They will listen to more and a powerful business oriented black elite grew up that had a vested interest in segregation as it would sweep the whole vote

27
Q

Why didn’t blacks gain political power in New York?

A

The black population was more evenly distributed and white politicians had a tight hold on the politics

28
Q

Why were churches in New York significant?

A

They became significant bases for organising civil rights protest and many black American leaders were to become preachers

29
Q

What impact did the great migration have on the south?

A

The labour force shrank and the farming areas of the areas struggled.
The poorest farmers suffered the most.
Southerners tended to see the migration as black people voting with their feet over him crow laws.
The people who remained in the south were seen to have accepted Jim Crow laws

30
Q

What did black votes shift to in the 1930s?

A

Democrats

31
Q

Did Rooseveldt do much for civil rights?

A

He appointed some black advisers but he needed the support of many people who were against equal rights so did little to advance civil rights and off and restricted the number of black workers on the project if a donor to the project wanted this.

32
Q

What was Roosevelt’s executive order 8802?

A

Banned racial discrimination in the defence industry in order to get as many people into work as possible

33
Q

In what ways weren’t new deal measures colourblind?

A

Black people constantly moved of projects to make way for whites despite denials that this was happening.
Black farm workers were sacked in their thousands during agricultural reforms and black workers were often sacked to make way for white workers
Social security provisions of the new deal did not apply to farm workers or those who worked in other peoples homes and these were many black people

34
Q

What did black officials in the government do about the discrimination in the new deal?

A

Persuaded the national recovery administration which regulated wages and working conditions to set the minimum wage for black and white people at the same rate.

35
Q

In what ways did the new deal help blacks?

A

One third of the low income housing built had black tenants because many of the poorest people eligible for this housing were black.

36
Q

Who did black American protesters have support from while protesting about their treatment by the new deal?

A

More support from Communist and other left-wing groups that supported equality than black civil rights organisations.

37
Q

Who was the NAACP?

A

The National Association for the advancement of coloured people. They organised many of the legal actions against segregation in the USA

38
Q

What did the and NAACP do in 1931?

A

Turn down the case of nine young black men framed for raping two white girls on train near Alabama. Communist lawyers took the case and uncovered a conspiracy proving the men not guilty

39
Q

What did Communist do in the northern cities to promote equality?

A

Championed the cause of all workers and demanded that relief funds should be allocated equally between blacks and whites. The black press follow these campaigns and off and applauded them.

40
Q

What did the association with Communist groups give opponents of Black civil rights?

A

Another stick with which to beat the civil rights movement

41
Q

What did black church organisations do as well as protesting? Example

A

Set up support systems for black citizens during the depression.
In Harlem father divine of the peace mission church group set up restaurants and shops that sold food and supplies to black people at a lower cost than white run stores

42
Q

Why was there more support for blacks in the north?

A

There were more churches and more people to donate to their relief work

43
Q

What was housewives leagues?

A

I women’s organisation that began in Detroit and spread across the country. It mounted ‘don’t buy where you can’t work’ campaigns to boycott stores in black districts until they hired black workers.

44
Q

In what ways was relief to help workers affected by the depression in 1937 unequal?

A

The resettlement Administration was set up by executive order 7027 in May 1935 to resettle low income families in new housing and lend money where needed. It gave black farmers who had lost their home a fair share of money money available in loans but it only helped 3400 out of 200,000 farmers.

45
Q

Things were so bad for black workers that they did what in 1939?

A

2 million signed a petition asking for federal aid to move to Africa.

46
Q

What did Rooseveldt do to prepare for war Just incase the USA decided to join later?

A

Push the USA’s first ever conscription bill through to Congress in 1940 and put federal money into research projects one of which came up with the atomic bomb.

47
Q

Why was the USA at war in both the Pacific and Europe?

A

In December 1941 the Japanese bond the USA fleet at Pearl Harbor and USA declared war with Japan. Germany declared war on the USA.

48
Q

Did black Americans benefit from the war induced boom in 1939?

A

No white workers were given preference

49
Q

What did Philip Randolph do in May 1941?

A

Threatened a 100,000 strong all black march on Washington unless Roosevelt banned discrimination in the army and defence factories.

50
Q

What stopped Randolphs March?

A

Executive order 8802 for non discrimination in defence work overseen by a fair employment practices committee. However it did not deal with military segregation.

51
Q

What happened involving equality as the war went on

A

The military and factories need more people so black Americans could push for equality.

52
Q

What percentage of defence workers were black in 1942 compared to 2 weeks later?

A

Three and Then to 8

53
Q

Was the migration to the north during the war high?

A

Yes it was higher than the migration of the 1920s

54
Q

How was the influx of workers to the north resented?

A

In 1943 there were outbreaks of racist violence and strikes by white people over having to work with them.

55
Q

What did violence and strikes by white people cause?

A

Several towns to set up race relations committees to investigate improvements because the strikes and riots were damaging the war effort

56
Q

What did The shortage of workers mean for white skilled workers?

A

They had to allow black people to be trained in these skills. Some whites saw that black people could so skilled work could think and could be friends.
This affected their reaction to postwar civil rights efforts but a survey at the end of the war showed many white Americans were still racist

57
Q

What laws did Truman push through in 1954 that were rejected by Congress?

A

Antilynching antisegregation and fair employment

58
Q

What did Truman set up in 1946?

A

The presidents committee on civil rights. This is called for equal opportunities in work and housing and urged strong federal support for civil rights

59
Q

Despite Truman supporting civil rights why couldn’t he focus on fighting for civil rights?

A

He have to focus on fighting communism

60
Q

What black organisation ended up on the government list of suspect organisations?

A

National negro Congress. A black civil rights group which had some Communist members when it was set up but pursued civil rights issues not Communist ones

61
Q

What did Truman do to support civil right movement

A

Issued executive orders the segregation the military and all work done by businesses for the government

62
Q

What civil rights group was set up in the first decade of the 20th century?

A

The NAACP

The national urban league

63
Q

When did the number of civil rights groups and memberships of them take a leap?

A

After both the First World War and the Second World War. NAACP membership went from 9000 in 1917 to 19,000 in 1919 to 600,000 in 1946

64
Q

What was the separatist movement?

A

Movement running alongside the fight for civil rights. It said black Americans were never going to have true equality with whites so they should stop fighting for it.
They should embrace segregation and fight for equal conditions within it because this was more feasible

65
Q

What was the NAACP’s aim?

A

Gain black Americans their legal rights.

66
Q

What was the first action taken by the NAACP?

A

Mounting a campaign against lynching feeling that many people had no idea of the scale of it especially in the south. It published pamphlets about lynching demonstrated, held marches and petitioned Congress and took cases of segregation to court.

67
Q

How did the NAACP fight court cases?

A

In 1896 the Supreme Court had said segregation was permissible if it was separate but equal.
And early tactic was to argue the separate provision wasn’t equal so could be overawed by the Supreme Court Ruling.
They had also been provided lawyers to defend black people on trial who it felt had been unjustly accused

68
Q

What legal successes did the NAACP have?

A

They won some cases in 30s and 40s and every case in the 50s

69
Q

What legal successes didnt the NAACP have?

A

The Supreme Court didn’t enforce its rulings and weakened the force of the rulings by not setting time limits for desegregation or using vague phrases such as with all deliberate speed.
Ten years after the ruling only one black child in every 100 in the south was in an integrated school

70
Q

What was the white citizen council?

A

A council in 1954 to fight desegregation and civil rights for black Americans.
Formed in response to Brown v Board of education.

71
Q

Why did the NAACP target housing next?

A

Integrating schools were less than helpful if they still lived in segregated neighbourhoods.