Theme 2

New approaches - direct action
Presidental actions
Leadership

90% of black Americans lived in the south
nearly all were sharecroppers and kept in poverty with high rents
Less than 1% attended school

Jim Crow laws - unofficial segregation law
Booker T Washington - black American who favoured segregation. He has white support
the KKK - 1915 - 193. Estimated 3-8 million embers. Over 600 lynchings
Plessy V Ferguson - "seperate but equal" segregation
Laissez-faire - not interfering with segregation
Black Americans returing from WW1 weren't welcomed

Wanted to make black americans proud of their culture
Spoke at rallies and edited a newspaper
Eventually deported from the USA in 1927
Influenced groips such as the Black Muslims, Black Power and the Black Panthers

It had no legislation that specifically benefitted AfricanAmericans
It was clear that the New Deal relief agencies didn’t treat them fairly
However some agencies did benefit black people (eg. the WPA had 1 million black Americans working in it by 1939)
Roosevelt appointed nearly 50 people to senior positions in the federal bureaucracy
Traditionally black voters hadbeen republican but this swung them to democrats

Executive Order 8802 - prohibited discriminatory employment in gov. agencies and the military
Black membership in unions doubled throughout the war to 1.25 million and the number of skilled workers tripled
The Double V campaignemerged
Working together helped some white people realise they could do the same jobs

The war showed discrimination - regiments were segregated and there were very few black officers
Race riots began and 34 were killed
There were examples of black soldiers not being served inrestaurants after the war

He supported civil rights
Proposed anti-lynching, anti-segregation laws and fair employment laws but failed to push them through Congress
1946 - set up the President’s Committee on Civi Rights. Called for equal opportunities and urged strong federal support
Truman was on the side of black americans but wanted to focus on the Cold War
1948 - issued executive rders desegregating the military

Published 1947
Presidential action
Aimed to change legal systems

55 - 68 - campaigners felt they needed to change towards direct action
TV, reporting, emergence of new leaders and presidents who were willing to help

Successful
Large
Showed potential in this kind of protest - power behing non-violent and large scale direct action
NAACP win MBB because they won the case at the Supreme Court

Eisenhower against intergration but supported Brown v Board of Education
Confirmed about foreign reputation
First civil rights legislation for 82
Aimed to ensure all black people could vote and division in Freedom Justice Department to moniter civil rights abuses
Southern states tried to limit it

Introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed anyone’s right to vote
New attitude from federal government
Only added extra. 3% to black voters
Acknowledged the issue

NAACP encouraged 9 black students to attend the newly desegregated high schol
They were attacked and Eisenhower reluctantly send in federal troops
NAACP - Supreme Court ruling Cooper v Aaron 1958
1960 before the school was fully intergrates and 1972 before other Little Rock schools were

Because Supreme Court rulings lacked enforcement
1960
Around 70,000 students involved
Founded Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Organised by James Farmer of CORE
Test if busses were desegregated
Caused violence
Large media coverage
Freedom rifers imprisoned in Birmingham and beaten up in Montgomery
1961

1963
MLK and SCLC aimed to desegregate the whole town
Aimed to get arrested to fill the jails
After troops were sent in on 12th May, Birmingham was desegregated
42% thought that race was USA’s biggest problem (compared to 4% in 1962)

Auust 1963
Had many famous speakers - drew attention
Hundreds of thousands of marchers
MLK’s I have a dream speech

1964
SNCC wanted to push for voters
People went south but y the end of summer there was 3 murders, 35 shootings and many beatings
17,000 black people tried to vote that yea but only 1600 were accepted

1965
Made Congress respond to Johnson’s requests for voting rights legislation
King knew that the Selma Sherriff would demonstrate violent racism
He pointed out that there were more black people than voting and lead to marchers
Encouraged sympathetic interrcial marches in the north and the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act
Lead to a dramatic increase in Southen black voting

After VRA, Congress was reluctant to pass legilation to aid black Americans
1966 - 70% of white voters opposed large numbers of black neighbors so Congress rejected Johnson’s proposal to prohibit discrimination
1968 - Johnson sought legislation to help black children suffering from rat bites in poor housing but congress refused
King’s assassination prompted the passage of the Fair Housing act but white opposition made it hard to enforce

White southern schools began to desegregate quickly but many northern schools remained segregated
1964 - CRA forbade funding for segregated schools

Many black americans found it hard to escape the poverty trap
1969 - a considerable number of black children were so hungry they ate tree bark
Johnson believe affirmative action could alleviate poverty and used his powers to promote it
Under his executive order of 1965, any institution recivieving frderal funding had to employ more black people

More radical
Contribution to promotion of black culture
Not accepting racism from society
Lack of equality
Economics
Status in society

SNCC under Stokely Carmicheal
Malcom X and Black Panthers
NAAC strategy focused on solving Jim Crow laws
There were still problems in North and West from northern migration - overcrowding
Quality of life was hard - 32% of poor black students complated high school (compared to 56% white children)
Black people were 10% US population but 46% of their unemployed
Thousands of black americans seriously injured and tens of thousands arrested in race riots 1964-68

The NOI were a blac separatist religion establised in Detroit 1930
From 1934, it was lead by Elijah Muhammad. He claimed to be the prophet of Allah, but his teachings differed from orthodox Islam
He claiimed Allah would eventually return and restore black supremacy
NOI gave an alternative to the “turn the other cheek” beliefs
Membership boomed in the 1950s because of Malcom X
1960s - new leaders like Stokely Carmicheal considered America too slow to help black americans

When King focused on Southern segregation, Northern and Western ghettos began to erupt
There were riots every summer from 1964-8
Investigations such as the 1968 Kerner Report concludedthis was becasue of social and economic deprivation
King’s strategy was to draw media attention to discrimination in housing
His Chicago campaign failed
Taxes were rising due to the Vietnam War and people didn’t want to help others

Trained others to train others to train others … etc
Aimed to create structure based on Christian beliefs

Commitment to cause in campaign (which was disliked by southern democrats. he couldn’t make big moves and lacked support from congress) and made personal support with MLK’s wife after he was arrested
Won 75% of the black vote
Appointed 40+ black people in key government positions
Introduced some Executive Orders but couldn’t do anything of note

Used kennedy’s death to get acts passed (passes 2 over the next 2 years)
Made over 200 civil rights speeches
Believed that he didn’t do something now he would be dealing with radicals

banned literacy tests
Progress
By the end of 1966, only 4 of 13 southern states had less than 50% black americans registered to vote

Indian Removal Act 1830
1924, Native Americans were granted citizenship and living standerds deterioated further
Truman administration attempted to encourage intergration but there was little progress
1960s - widely agreed that previous treatement was unfair
US policy managed by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs
Native Americans were slower to seek civil rights than Black Americans

Half of NA lived short lives in poverty. Average life span was 44 compared to avg. 64
Unemployment rates varied between 20% and 80%
Poor housing, education and high crime rates
Inspired by back activism in WW2
1944 - NAtional Congress. of American Indians
1961 - National Indian Youth Council
1968 - the American Indian Movement
Some followed the NAACP strategy. SOme sucess achieved (eg. 1973 - Northern Cheyenne of Montana won a victory to re-negotate mineral rights on their reservation)
Staged fish-ins
AIM’s 40 chapters focused on improving housing, education and employment

1969 - over 600 Native Americans (inc. Indians of All Tribes) occupied Alcatraz and offered to buy the islansd for $24 in glass beads and cloth (same price white settlers paid for Manhattan) Protest ended in 1971. Recieved huge nationwide coverage but achieved very little in change

1972 - AIM took part in the Trail of Broken Treateies. They occupied federal officies and published a list of 20 demands but were ignored by the Nixon government
1973 -AIM staged armed confrontation at Wounded Knee where US cavalry had massacred the Sioux in 1890. Achieved little but lead to greater federal sensitivity with regard to Native American concerns

1968 - Indian Civil Rights Act aimed to ensure improved health care, housing, education and employment
1972 - Indian Education Act (funding for tribal schools)
1974 - Indian Financing Act (lent money to tribes)
1975 - Indian Sel-Determination Act (gave tribes greater control over other services such as health and education)
1975 - Voting Rights Act (gave more Native Americans the vote and provided language assistance)
1978 - Indian Child Welfare Act (gave tribes more control of adoption rules)

Division between moderates and more radical elements such as AIM
By 1980, almost 50% of NA were urban dwellers. Found it very difficult to avoid exploitation, poverty and discrimination

Approximately 1.5 million Hispanic Americans lived in the USA by 1930
SWW - many Hispanic workers worked in US for short periods for lower wages
1954 - Hernandez. Texas became the fisrt Mexican-American discrimination case to reach the supreme court
Hispanic fights for rights forcused on land, worker’s rights, discrimination and deportation

Jose Angel Gutierrez - founded Mexican Youth Organisation in 1967
1967 - Mexican American Legal Defence and Education Fund (MALDEF). First Hispanic civil rights legal organisation founded
Cesar Chavez - Founded National Farm Workers Association in 1962. Took part in grape worker strike
Reies Lopez Tijerina - organized protests about Mexican land rights in New Mexico. They were unsuccessful so he lead marches, mass demonstrations and camp-ins
The Brown Berets - yound militant organisation. Set up 1967. Wore uniform likw Black Panthers, campaigned against poilice brutality and led school walk outs. By 1968, there were Brown Beret members in most urban scentres with Hispanic population

Slow improvements. 1954 - Supreme Court ruled that they were equal citizens
1966 - Congress’s Cuban American Adjustment Act said all Cubans who lived in the USA for a year were permanent residents
They benefitted from civil rights legislation as they had traditionally suffered discrimination in voting and imployment and were segregated
In 1970 MALDEF convinced a federal district court in Texas to rule that they were an “identifiable ethnic minority with a past pattern of discrimination”
1973 - Supreme Court upheld “equal provision of education”
1975 - Voting Rights Act provided language assistance at polling stations and extended to rights to Native Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic groups

The level of change varied from place to place, as did the levels of enforcement
The land issues raised by protestors still hadn’t been settled

1960 - same sex activity was illegal
American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality was a mental illness
1962 - Illinois first state to repeal anti-gay laws
Campaigners had to use human rights law or argue that the 1964 Civil Rights Act applied to them
27 June 1969 - Stonewall Riots. 400 people and 5 nights
The Gay Liberation Front - set up and formed large peaceful protests

1979 - San Francisco passed laws banning discrimination in employments
1973 - NOW endorsed gay rights
1974 - The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list od psychological disorders
1980 - the Democratic party supported equality for all

1977 - survey showed over half the population supported equal rights but there were many setbacks and people were still reluctant
1979 - a teenage boy won a case when he suede his high school for the right to bring a male date to the prom
October 1979 - the National March on Washington attended by at least 100,000 people
1970s conservative backlash - Save Our Children campaign and religious opposition