S7 History – 2hr
1954-63 – Peaceful Coexistence? 4
How far did black Americans achieve equality in civil rights 1954-1963?
www.internationalschoolhistory.net
The background to segregation
In the South, the position of black people had changed
little since the 1920s (Walsh 201-3, 370).
1 Under the ‘Jim Crow' laws blacks were segregated
from whites. They had to go to separate schools and use
separate buses, shops, restaurants, and cinemas.
2 Black people had the lowest standards of education
and the poorest paid jobs.
3 State laws meant that few black people could vote.
4 The Ku Klux Klan continued to be active.
5 State institutions and officials (e.g. police, justice
system were institutionally racist
Schools, 1954-1960
1 Twenty states, as well as Washington DC, ran
segregated school systems.
2 In 1954, in the case of Brown v Topeka, the Supreme
Court ruled that segregated schools were illegal under
the constitution.
3 Arguing 'states rights' southern states continued to
resist integration.
4 The Ku Klux Klan organized violence and murders to
intimidate black people.
5 In 1957 President Eisenhower sent US troops to
enable nine black teenagers to join the previously all-
white High School at Little Rock, Arkansas.
6 In I960, out of 2 million black school children in the
South, only 2,600 went to integrated schools.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955
1 In Montgomery, Alabama, black people boycotted the
bus service in protest against segregation.
2 The Ku Klux Klan led attacks on the homes of black
leaders.
3 In 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on
buses was illegal.
4 After thirteen months the bus company gave in.
Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement 1954-1963 The Civil Rights Act, 1957
1954 The Supreme Court rules against segregated schools 1 Eisenhower's Act
1955 The Montgomery bus boycott a made discrimination illegal
1956 The Supreme Court rules against segregated buses b guaranteed all Americans the right to vote
1957 Little Rock High School, Arkansas dispute and Civil c created a Federal Civil Rights Commission to prosecute
Rights Act passed those who denied people their rights.
1960 Start of 'direct action' protests by SNCC and CORE 2 It indicated the Federal Government's concern to end
1962 President Kennedy sends Federal troops to enable a segregation. But in the face of opposition in the South it
black student to attend the University of Mississippi changed little.
1963 Police attack demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama.
Major civil rights demonstration in Washington DC. Dr Martin Luther King, a Baptist pastor, led the
Montgomery Bus Boycott. He believed
1 since the governments of the southern states continued
to act illegally, they would have to be forced to abandon
segregation
2 the use of violence was morally wrong
3 civil rights campaigners should use non-violent direct
action.
Direct action, 1960-1963
1 Thousands of campaigners took part in sit-in protests
against segregated services in the South.
2 In 1963 American and world opinion was
a shocked by a violent attack by police on peaceful
demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama
b impressed by i the march of 250,000 campaigners
(including 60,000 whites) on Washington DC ii Martin
Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech.
Activity
You are a British journalist writing in 1963. In the light of Martin
Luther King’s Washington speech, you have been asked by your editor
to write a background ‘historical’ article to help your readers
understand more about the civil rights movement. You have been told
that the article must be no more than 500 words and should explain: the
position of American black people before 1954, the aims, methods and
significant events that have characterised the movement, the successes
of the movement and the future challenges still to be overcome.