The Civil Rights Movement.
Civil society protests 1950s to 1970s
What forms of civil society protest emerged from the 1960s to 1990.
*Please note you have to know and understand each form of protest in great
detail. You will be assessed on ALL of them.
The Second World War had been fought to attain democracy, but it did
not deliver lasting peace or a better society. After the war, women in
growing economies were beginning to do paid work outside the home,
youth were more critical of their parents’ generation and increasingly
became aware of injustices, racism and human rights violations; a
counterculture started to emerge.
Case Study: the US Civil Rights Movement
This section includes :• Reasons and origins of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA
(background information only);
• The role, impact and influence of Martin Luther King Junior; and the influence of
passive resistance (Gandhi) on Martin Luther King;
• Forms of protest through civil disobedience: Montgomery bus boycott, sit-ins,
marches including to Lincoln Memorial, Birmingham campaign and Selma-
Montgomery marches;
• School desegregation: case study (Little Rock, Arkansas); and
• Short-term and long-term gains.
, Background to the Civil Rights Movement
The main events of the Civil Rights Movement took place between 1955 and
1965. It was a series of campaigns, protests, marches and civil disobedience
that remained passive and non-violent. The Civil Rights Movement was used
to highlight racial policies and to put pressure on certain states and the United
States government to change certain policies which robbed African Americans
of their civil rights.
The movements motivation was a real desire for change. Although slavery
had been abolished in 1863 (Emancipation Proclamation) African Americans
were still subjected to unequal treatment in certain states in
America, particularly in the Southern States. States such as Alabama, North
Carolina and Georgia had been totally opposed to the abolishment of slavery
and were still practicing unfair discriminatory laws and policies towards African
Americans even 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
How Were African Americans Denied Civil Rights?
As mentioned above certain states that were opposed to the Emancipation
Proclamation continued to practice unfair discriminatory laws. These laws were
formally known as the Black Codes but were commonly referred to as the Jim Crow
laws.
The Black Codes segregated public facilities, public transport, intermarriage between
white and black people was forbidden and African Americans had to undergo an
extremely difficult literacy test which included quoting from memory certain aspects
of American federal law, when they tried to register to vote. It was a way of keeping
African Americans in a subordinate position to whites.
Over and above this there was also a white supremist organisation known as the Ku
Klux Klan (KKK) which committed acts of violence and intimidated African
Americans. The KKK would often 'lynch' African Americans, this means that they
would target unsuspecting victims and a mob of KKK members would kill them.
The 'Jim Crow' laws explained
Black Americans were denied certain of the civil rights, especially in the
Southern states. For example, they were disenfranchised and were exploited
economically (given only heavy manual labour or unskilled work; denied equal
employment opportunities; poor pay and working conditions). They were
sometimes violently attacked by groups like the racist, fiercely segregationist
Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Many lynching's occurred.
Civil society protests 1950s to 1970s
What forms of civil society protest emerged from the 1960s to 1990.
*Please note you have to know and understand each form of protest in great
detail. You will be assessed on ALL of them.
The Second World War had been fought to attain democracy, but it did
not deliver lasting peace or a better society. After the war, women in
growing economies were beginning to do paid work outside the home,
youth were more critical of their parents’ generation and increasingly
became aware of injustices, racism and human rights violations; a
counterculture started to emerge.
Case Study: the US Civil Rights Movement
This section includes :• Reasons and origins of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA
(background information only);
• The role, impact and influence of Martin Luther King Junior; and the influence of
passive resistance (Gandhi) on Martin Luther King;
• Forms of protest through civil disobedience: Montgomery bus boycott, sit-ins,
marches including to Lincoln Memorial, Birmingham campaign and Selma-
Montgomery marches;
• School desegregation: case study (Little Rock, Arkansas); and
• Short-term and long-term gains.
, Background to the Civil Rights Movement
The main events of the Civil Rights Movement took place between 1955 and
1965. It was a series of campaigns, protests, marches and civil disobedience
that remained passive and non-violent. The Civil Rights Movement was used
to highlight racial policies and to put pressure on certain states and the United
States government to change certain policies which robbed African Americans
of their civil rights.
The movements motivation was a real desire for change. Although slavery
had been abolished in 1863 (Emancipation Proclamation) African Americans
were still subjected to unequal treatment in certain states in
America, particularly in the Southern States. States such as Alabama, North
Carolina and Georgia had been totally opposed to the abolishment of slavery
and were still practicing unfair discriminatory laws and policies towards African
Americans even 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
How Were African Americans Denied Civil Rights?
As mentioned above certain states that were opposed to the Emancipation
Proclamation continued to practice unfair discriminatory laws. These laws were
formally known as the Black Codes but were commonly referred to as the Jim Crow
laws.
The Black Codes segregated public facilities, public transport, intermarriage between
white and black people was forbidden and African Americans had to undergo an
extremely difficult literacy test which included quoting from memory certain aspects
of American federal law, when they tried to register to vote. It was a way of keeping
African Americans in a subordinate position to whites.
Over and above this there was also a white supremist organisation known as the Ku
Klux Klan (KKK) which committed acts of violence and intimidated African
Americans. The KKK would often 'lynch' African Americans, this means that they
would target unsuspecting victims and a mob of KKK members would kill them.
The 'Jim Crow' laws explained
Black Americans were denied certain of the civil rights, especially in the
Southern states. For example, they were disenfranchised and were exploited
economically (given only heavy manual labour or unskilled work; denied equal
employment opportunities; poor pay and working conditions). They were
sometimes violently attacked by groups like the racist, fiercely segregationist
Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Many lynching's occurred.
