Key Questions

1
Black Americans

• Key Questions
• Why was it so difficult to end segregation?
• It was difficult to end segregation
  because it formed part of the way of life in the
• southern states.
• Segregation went back to the days of
  slavery and as a result white Americans viewed
  
• Blacks as inferior.
• Segregation was supported by laws in the
  south, which Blacks were unable to change,
  
• because they did not have the vote and
  the Federal Government was unwilling to
• challenge until the 1950s.
• Attempts to speak out against segregation
  took great bravery and were met with
• violence and sometimes death.
• How did Black Americans resist segregation?
• Passive resistance, sit-ins, boycott,
  peaceful protest, enlisting media coverage and by
  
• changing the law to end segregation.
• Does the battle over segregation have lessons for
  our lives?
• The power of well organised peaceful
  protest and the use of legal means.

2
Black Americans

Internet Presentation
Internet Presentation
3
Black Americans
Glossary Segregation Because many whites
thought that black people were inferior, they
were kept separate in all public
places. Discrimination treating somebody
differently to other people, usually
badly. Integration mixing black and white
children together in the same school. Lynching
an illegal hanging, carried out by a mob. Ku
Klux Klan a racist organisation that aimed to
maintain white protestant supremacy. It
used threats, violence and lynchings to
intimidate blacks, Jews and Roman
Catholics. Civil Rights the rights that a person
enjoys for living in a country, like freedom of
speech, freedom from fear, the right to
vote, equality of opportunity.
4
Black Americans

• Notes from pages 68 and 69
• Segregation was where Black people were kept
  separate from whites.
• Black Americans had inferior facilities an
  opportunities separate waiting rooms in bus
• stations, separate restaurants, schools,
  hospitals, launderettes and drinking fountains.
• Segregated schools for Black children were not
  as well equipped.
• It was difficult for Black Americans to get
  better paid jobs as they were discriminated
• against.
• Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. May
  1954, segregation in education declared
• illegal by the Supreme Court (top legal court
  in the USA).
• Southern States resist integration (mixing) of
  children in schools. Ku Klux Klan active in
• terrorising Blacks with beatings and
  lynchings.
• Emmett Till was beaten to death who
  wolf-whistling a white woman in Mississippi. His
• murderers were acquitted by a southern Jury.
  The outrage in the black community led to
• the start of the Civil Rights Movement.

5
Black Americans
Notes from pages 68 and 69
Three students at Clinton High School picketed
their school as it became the first
state-supported school in Tennessee to
integrate, in August 1956.
6
Black Americans
Page 70 Questions Question 1 The Supreme Court
felt that segregation was wrong / right because
it generates a feeling of inferiority /
superiority. It also said that segregation was
supposed to mean separate but equal /
different, but that this was not actually
happening because the schools that negro children
went to were not as good as the schools for white
children. Question 2 President Eisenhower was
concerned / happy about the decision of the
Supreme Court because it was going to cause a
black / white backlash. He thought that groups
like the KKK / BBQ, who wanted to maintain white
/ black supremacy, would become more / less
violent. Question 3 Emmett Till was beaten to
death in Mississippi / Chicago. Because the
people responsible were / were not punished, his
death led to the end / beginning of the Civil
Rights Movement.
7
Black Americans
Page 70 Questions Question 1 The Supreme Court
felt that segregation was wrong because it
generates a feeling of inferiority. It also
said that segregation was supposed to mean
separate but equal, but that this was not
actually happening because the schools that negro
children went to were not as good as the schools
for white children. Question 2 President
Eisenhower was concerned about the decision of
the Supreme Court because it was going to cause a
white backlash. He thought that groups like the
KKK, who wanted to maintain white supremacy,
would become more violent. Question 3 Emmett
Till was beaten to death in Mississippi. Because
the people responsible were not punished, his
death led to the beginning of the Civil Rights
Movement.
8
Black Americans

• Notes from page 70 and 71.
• The Montgomery Bus Boycott
• December 1955 Rosa Parks refuses to give up her
  bus seat to a white passenger.
• Arrested and fined 10.
• Friends and family start a 24 hour protest.
• Black passengers account for 75 of passengers,
  so protest extended.
• One of the leaders was a young black minister,
  Martin Luther King.
• King believed that mass non-violent protest was
  the best way to resist injustice.
• Homes of leading blacks attacked. Kings home
  bombed.
• November 1956, Supreme Court rules that
  segregated buses are illegal.
• 20th December desegregated buses in Montgomery.
• Importance first civil rights victory
• brought Martin Luther King to leadership of
  the movement
• established non-violent protest.

9
Black Americans
Page 71 Questions Question 4 The slogan Dont
ride it for freedom meant that black Americans
in Montgomery should / should not ride the busses
/ trains if they wanted to achieve freedom /
segregation. Question 5 When Dr. King used the
phrase great people in Source C, he was
referring to black / white Americans. He was
making the case that peaceful / violent protest
would mean that this was how people in the future
would talk about the behaviour of black / white
Americans during the 1950s. Question 6 Do NOT do
question 6, you have just written notes on the
Bus Boycott!
10
Black Americans

• Notes from page 71 and 72.
• Little Rock High School
• High School decided to let nine black students
  to enrol.
• Orval Faubus, State Governor, used National
  Guardsmen to keep them out.
• Students unprotected from a violent mob of white
  adults and students.
• Next day allowed in, with a police escort.
• Press and world TV coverage embarrassed
  President Eisenhower.
• National Guard and Federal Troops used to
  protect the nine for the rest of the year.
• Faubus closes all Arkansas schools the next
  year, to prevent integration.
• 1959 Supreme Court ruling opens the schools.
• Significance of Little Rock
• President involved to guarantee Civil Rights.
• States would be over-ruled by Federal
  Government.
• TV and newspaper coverage embarrassed USA into
  change.
• Many Americans made aware for the first time of
  the racism in the south.

11
Black Americans
Page 72 Questions Question 7 To what extent,
means how far in examiner speak. To answer this
question, make a copy of the statistics in source
E, page 71. Explain how there was a difference
between people in the north and the south. For
top GCSE grades explain why there was a
difference between the north and the
south. Question 8 Scared / brave / determined /
resolute? Angry / violent / enraged / empowered /
racist? Question 9 President Eisenhower sent
troops to Little / Big Rock Central High to
protect the black / white students. He did this
because he wanted to encourage / end segregation.
He wanted to end segregation because the TV
pictures were being seen all over the world and
the communists / racists were criticising the
USA. Question 10 The events at Little Rock were
important because they began / ended the
segregation / desegregation of High Schools in
the southern states. Little Rock showed that the
Federal Government was prepared to become
involved in the civil rights issue. They also
demonstrated the success of peaceful / violent
protest.
12
Black Americans
Homework Complete the Further Research task
from page 72.