Race issues in America1929 - 1990

Outline study USA 1929 - 1990Work Booklet

All images sourced from The National Library of Congress. (www.loc.gov)As far as the author is aware there are no known restrictions on publication.

The American South: Introduction and Background

1. Why did the American Southerners want to keep slavery?

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2. What were the Jim Crow laws?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. Use the source below and your own knowledge to identify the types of place that were segregated in the South.………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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4. How were black people in the south prevented from voting?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. Describe the beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6. Use the source above and your own knowledge to explain why the Klan was so widespread in the South.

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7. How useful is this source in explaining why black people didn’t vote in the 1930’s………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

A Negro in the Deep South who tried to register to vote might lose his job or credit. He might be beaten or killed. ‘I don’t want my job cut off’, one man explained. Another was more blunt ‘I don’t want my throat cut’, he said.A black Southerner commenting on why he didn’t vote. 1932

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8. Use these sources and your own knowledge to explain why it was so difficult to stop the practice of lynching

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9. Explain which different groups of people that the Klan were against.

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10. What does the image on the crest of NAACP suggest about its aims?

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11. Explain what the NAACP campaigned for.

…The KKK would come…with guns and break up the meetings. Very frequently, they were police in hoods… the KKK would beat them up and cart them off.

(Jose Yglesias describing his experiences in 1931)

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1. Describe the practice of sharecropping and explain why it kept black people poor.

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2. Why did so many black Americans migrate to the North?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. What was the black renaissance?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. Explain why black Americans were so baldly affected by the depression of the 1930’s……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

5. Why didn’t the ‘new deal’ in the 1930’s help black Americans?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

6. What were Jim Crow armies? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7. As a black soldier who fought in the Second World War, write a letter to President Truman explaining why you deserve to be treated equally in America.Dear Mr President .……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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8. How successful was Truman in helping black Americans after the Second World War? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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9. Why was the end of segregation in the army such an important step towards gaining equality?……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s (peaceful)

1. Why did Linda Brown and her family challenge the Board of Topeka’s right to segregate schools?

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2. According to the source above, why did Judge Warren think segregation in schools was wrong?

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3. How significant was the decision made by Judge Warren?

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To separate them [African-American schoolchildren] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone…. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits which they would receive in a racially integrated school system. (Judge Earl Warren of the Supreme Court 1954)

4. How did Emmett Till’s murder further the Civil Rights Movement? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

5. Create a mind map showing the significance of Rosa Parks arrest and the following Montgomery Bus Boycott.

6. Use this source and your own knowledge to explain attitudes towards integration in American schools in the 1950’s

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7. Explain what happened at Little Rock High School in 1957.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8. How significant was the achievements made at Little Rock in 1957?

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The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s (peaceful)

1. What does NAACP and CORE stand for, and what were their aims?

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2.

Examine the source above and explain how the freedom rides were received by many in the South. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. What was a ‘sit in’?

When the Greyhound bus pulled into Anniston, it was immediately surrounded by an angry mob armed with iron bars. They set about the vehicle, denting the sides, breaking windows, and slashing tires. Finally, the police arrived and the bus managed to depart. But the mob pursued in cars. Within minutes, the pursuing mob was hitting the bus with iron bars. The rear window was broken and a bomb was hurled inside. All the passengers managed to escape before the bus burst into flames and was totally destroyed. Policemen, who had been standing by, belatedly came on the scene. A couple of them fired into the air. The mob dispersed and the injured were taken to a local hospital.

James Peck, a member of the Freedom Rides, wrote about his experiences in Alabama on 14th May, 1961, in his book, Freedom Rider (1962)

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4. Why were ‘sit ins’ potentially dangerous?

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5. Explain the purpose of peaceful protest

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Police arrested 22 demonstrators in Winston-Salem — 12 Negroes and 10 whites — as they sat at a white lunch counter marked for use of F.W. Woolworth Co. employees and their guests. The Negro students came from Winston-Salem Teachers College and the whites from Wake Forest College.

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6. Using the source above and your own knowledge, explain what the demands were made by King at the freedom marches.

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7. Describe the civil rights legislation passed in the 1960’s and explain how this helped ordinary black people.

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Due to the peaceful protests, in Birmingham, in 1963, there were numerous bombings within the area. There were over twenty bombings devastating the Birmingham area. One that gains national attention though was when bombers bombed the 16th

Street Baptist Church. In this bombing four girls were killed and fourteen people were injured.

8. Examine the sources and expaian why in the 1960’s many black people started to lose hope in peaceful protest.

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Black Power- the militant struggle for rights (Violent Protest)

1. Describe the aims and objectives of the black power movement.

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2. Why do you think the symbol for black power was clenched fist?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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3. What was the Nation of Islam?

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4. Why was Malcom X prepared to use violence? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. Using this source and your own knowledge, explain why Malcom X disagreed

with Martin Luther King

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6. Explain Malcom X’s appeal to some black Americans.

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"He got the peace prize, we got the problem.... If I'm following a general, and he's leading me into a battle, and the enemy tends to give him rewards, or awards, I get suspicious of him. Especially if he gets a peace award before the war is over."Malcom X commenting on M L King.

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7. Who were the black panthers and what were their beliefs?

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8. Write a newspaper report reflecting on the various riots of the 1960’s.

The Washington Post

Martin Luther King and peaceful protest

1. What were King’s beliefs and who influenced him?

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2. What contribution did MLK make to the Civil Rights Movement?

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3. Explain the numerous peaceful protests that Martin Luther King was involved in.………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. In your own words describe what King’s ‘dream’ is.………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5. In your opinion, what was King’s greatest achievement?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

MLK 1963

6. Write an obituary detailing the major events in Martin Luther King’s life.………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How Successful has the Civil Rights movement been for black people?

In the USA today there are some very successful and high profile black people. There are huge film stars like Eddie Murphy and Will Smith who earn millions of dollars each year and their appeal crosses racial boundaries.

In 1967 Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of a major city.

The number of blacks in Congress has grown to 43 from just 13 at the founding of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969.

MOST BLACK PEOPLE ARE STILL IN THE POOREST THIRD OF US SOCIETY.

The REPUBLICAN PARTY which has been in power for much of the 1980’s and 1990’s STOPPED AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, arguing it was reverse discrimination against white people.

Its 43 members still make up less than 10 percent of the House and 1 percent of the Senate. By comparison, blacks make up about 13 percent of the

As a group, Black Americans have shorter life expectancies than the national average and often higher mortality rates for certain disease conditions.

In 1991, the brutal beating of a fleeing felon, Rodney King, by four Los Angeles police officers was captured on videotape. An all-white jury later acquitted the police officers, sparking riots in Los Angeles and protests around the country.

24.4%Poverty rate in 1990 for those reporting black as their only race.

48%The proportion of black householders who own their own home.

1. Study the sources on the previous page and use you own knowledge to explain how successful the civil rights movement was in making black American equal by 1990

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2. How have the lives of black Americans changed between 1929 and 1990?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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