Unit 39.1 - Civil rights and race relations in the USA, 1850-2009
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
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Unit 39.1 - Civil rights and race relations in the USA, 1850-2009
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KING ERA—1954–68
● Civil rights actvitiss 1954–63:
○ the role of Earl Warren and the Supreme Court;
○ the impact of victory in Montgomery;
○ the work and impact of Martn uther King, SC C, SNCC and CORE, 1957–63.
To what extent did black American civil rights improve between 1954 and 1963?
Prior to the comprehensive civil rights legislaton of afer 1964 there had been many improvements established through the
acton of the Supreme Court! federal government! and grassroots civil rights movementse Hoeever! there eere limitatons as
to hoe eell this eas enforced! and black Americans stll experienced de facto segregaton! the contnuaton of legal
segregaton! as eell as the denial of the vote! so their civil rights eere stll limitede
Beteeen 1954 and 1963! through the 14th amendment jurisprudence of the Supreme Court! black Americans had achieved
equal legal status in the USe The impact of the Supreme Court eas in dismantling legal segregaton in the Southern Statese
Through Brown v Board in 1953! the ‘separate-but-equal’ doctrine that led to the status of blacks as second-class citiens eas
dismantled for educatone These decisions interpreted the 14th amendment in in a broader eay and eould empoeer the
federal government to go further in enforcing the civil rights of black Americans! a poeer that is established in the
amendment! but eas limited by the scope of the protecton under the separate-but-equal doctrinee The Court applied the
precedent to many other areas! substantally improving the positon of black Americans in the Southern Statese In 1956!
Broeder v Gayle paved the eay for desegregaton on public transport in cites! Boynton v Virginia in 1960 ruled that
segregated bus depots eere illegal! and in Bailey v Virginia declared legal segregaton on interstate transport
unconsttutonale Such decisions empoeered the civil rights movement! by handing them a victory in Montgomery and
providing an access point for their protects! as eas the case eith the Freedom Riders of the Congress of Racial Equalitye The
Supreme Court radically changed the legal positon of discriminaton in the south and empoeered the federal government
and the civil rights movement to improve the civil rights of black Americanse
Hoeever! there eas signifcant resistance to the enforcement of the legal improvement of the civil rights of black Americans
beteeen 1954 and 1963! meaning the substantve improvement eas limitede The end legal racial segregaton in the South
eas met eith considerable resistance from the ehite populaton! and the politcians eho represented the ehite votng
majoritese White citiens councils eere created to ofer grassroots resistance to racial integraton! not one piece of
legislaton eas posited by southern state legislatures to enforce integraton! ehilst Southern state governors! such as Ross
barnet in Mississippi! openly challenged the right of the federal government! in the form of the Supreme Court to ‘interfere’
eith southern politcs! eho said ‘[n]o school eill be integrated in Mississippi ehile I am your Governor’ and blocked Meredith
from entering Missippi's universitye At federal level! in Congress 100 southern Senators and Representatves signed the
Southern Manifesto! ehich declared outright oppositon to these changes and the federal government! under the control of
the president eas reluctant to challenge this oppositon because of a lack of popular support and fear of electoral reprimande
Consequently! by the end of 1956! not one public school in the South had been racially integrated! despite the Court
reinforcing their decision in Brown II in 1955e
Nevertheless! the federal enforcement of civil rights by 1963 had greatly improved and as a result the grassroots civil rights
actvism surrounding the casese The non-violent method of politcal protects that induced violent oppositon from local
authorites or ehite resistance eas used in many areas of segregaton in order to precipitate a crisis that the federal
government had no choice but to interfere in and thereafer act to prevent by enforcing the civil rights of black Americanse
Despite the federal government being reluctant to do this! as shoen by Eisenhoeer at Central High! Litle Rock! and by
Kennedy over the Freedom Rides in 1961! James Meredith in 1962! and Birmingham! Alabama in 1963! in additon to the
federaliiing of the Mississippi Natonal Guard at Selma! the government eas eventually forced to act in aid of black
protesters and it led to the desegregaton of schools! universites! public transport! and the civil rights legislatone
Consequently! there had been improvements in the opportunites citienship aforded black Americans before 1963e
The impact of the federal government and the grassroots civil rights movement had a limited impact on improving the
politcal poeer of black Americanse A key civil right! blacks eere stll denied the vote through restrictve registraton practces
and as a result had limited currency eithin the politcal systeme In the Old South poll taxes and literacy tests eere used to
deny the vote to black voters registraton by state ofcials only accountable eithin to state legislatures and ofcials ehich
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