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Summary US Civil Rights Movement (Topic 3) notes
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US Civil Rights MovementCivil Society Protests
• What is meant by civil society protests?
• Action taken by normal citizens against government policies or situations that
seems unfair.
• Protests including marches, demonstrations, mass rallies, strikes and protest
campaigns
• Purpose = to draw attention to the injustice and influence public opinion regarding
issues such as racial segregation or gender discrimination.
• Reasons for dissatisfaction:
➢ UN charter for human rights states that all people are equal regardless of
their race, colour, gender or religion – had not been met.
➢ Marked decline amongst the public in the west – they felt their government
was not acting in the best interest.
➢ Real demand for social change – Vietnam War, disbarment, civil rights of
African Americans.
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, Women’s Liberation Movement
• USA
• Role of women began to change after WWII → more women went to uni &
joined workforce
• Women = dissatis ied w/ conservative view — women should stay @ home &
raise a family
• Middle class women in industrialised countries formed groups to ight for
rights — protests known as “women’s liberation movement”
• Purpose of movement:
○ Recognise women’s dignity & worth
○ Enable women to enjoy equal rights w/ men in the
workplace
○ Allow women to have more control of their lives
• Aim of movement: end discrimination against women in all aspects of life
• Movement coincided w/ manufacturing of birth control pill — enable women
to decide when they want children → avoid unwanted pregnancies
• 1960s: USA
• One of the most active feminist groups = NOW
• NOW = founded by Betty Friedan
= tackled issues eg.:
: Laws to end discrimination — denying women equal
opportunities in the workplace
: Successful in overturning the ruling that female light
attendants were ired when they got married
: Issues of woman’ right to terminate unwanted pregnancies
• Younger feminists set up ‘conscious-raising’ groups → women discussed
how to challenge discrimination
• Initiated acts of protects eg.:
➢ Held demonstration at ‘Miss America Pageant’ → compared
pageants to livestock competitions & crowned sheep at Miss
America
➢ Freedom trash cans set up for women to discard:
! high heels
! girdles Items seem to be worn
! make-up only to please men
! hair curlers
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ff f f
, Peace Movements
• Disarmament; students & anti-war movements
➢ What led to 1960s peace movements:
• Cold War @ its height & people were afraid bc:
: USA & USSR engaged in arms race — stockpiles in
nuclear weapons
: Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) — brink of war
: USA sent troops to Vietnam & war in South East Asia
escalating
: Conflict in Middle East was constant threat to world
peace
• UN Charter of Human Rights stated human beings regardless of race,
sex, language or religion = born free & had equal rights → despite this
human rights still violated & ignored
• Peace movements est. bc uncertainty & conflict during 1960s
• Movements involved civil society protest & included:
Groups in favour of disarmament — wanted all nuclear
weapons to be destroyed
Hippies → adopted an alternative life-style & committed to
love & peace
Citizens of USA joined anti-war movements that
demonstrated against American involvement in Vietnam
war
• Disarmament Movement
• USA & USSR possessed weapons of mass destruction & ppl. = afraid international
disputes might result in nuclear war
• CND est. in Britain in 1958 → tried to convince public that nuclear arms should be
abolished by:
Protest march from London to Aldermaston every Easter
‘Ban the Bomb’ campaigns organised → protestors staged marches &
demonstrations
Sit in demonstration held outside British Parliament (1962)
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⚙︎
, • Student involvement
• 1960s = time of a luence in Western World → young ppl. in middle class
backgrounds able to go to uni/college instead of following adult standard
of hard work, neat dress & restrained behaviour
• Young ppl. embraced rebellious mood of the “Swinging Sixties”
• Younger ppl. challenged their parent’s values — rejected accepted norms
of society → known as hippies → de ied standards set by their parents by:
: Wearing kaftans, long skirts, bell
bottoms, beads & sandals
: Boys grew long hair
: Listened to rock music — lyrics
re lected hippy rejection of
conventional values
: Experimentation w/ drugs (LSD)
: Believed in communal & sexual
freedom
: Rejected materialism
: Committed to peace & love —
symbolised by lowers (called
themselves “ lower children”)
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f f f ff f
, US Civil Rights Movement
• Reasons
• American Declaration: “all men are created equal” — African Americans
continued to experience:
: racial discrimination (stemming from slavery — working in cotton
plantations of the South)
: racial inequity
: prejudice (in the land they were born)
• Slavery abolished (1865) BUT Southern states didn’t recognise rights of former
slaves:
: Black Codes → nicknamed Jim Crow Laws
: JCL resulted in all public facilities & transport be racially segregated
: African Americans expected — act subordinate to whites bc JC etiquette
: Most commonly enforced laws
Interracial marriage (b&w) forbidden
b&w ppl. not allowed to live together
Segregation on public transport (busses & trains) & in
restaurants
Separate schools, libraries, & restrooms
Di . entrances to public buildings
• White racist organisation (KKK) committed acts of violence & intimidation
against African Americans ⇥ v di icult for African Americans to obtain justice
— many gov. o icials = white supremacists/ supported KKK
• Di iculties registering to vote:
▻ African Americans had to register to vote — whites automatically
placed on voters’ roll
▻ Had to pass Literacy test before they were allowed to register
▻ Registration happened @ courthouse & Registrar’s o ice only
open for few hours 2/3 times a month (on these days white
racists would gather [outside courthouse to intimidate AA
coming to register)
• AA = poorest section of population - usually had low-paying jobs
• Poor standard of education & discrimination prevented AA from occupying
better positions in society
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⚙︎ ff ff ff ff
, • Origins
• Began w/ Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)
↘︎ Started w/ simple act of defiance — Rosa Parks → refused to
give bus seat to white passenger (Dec 1955)
↘︎ AA tired of begin pushed around → organised bus boycott (lated
until Nov 1956)
↘︎ One of the leaders of boycott = Baptist minster MLK
• Boycott led to:
: King thrust into position of national leadership in Civil Rights Movement
: Montgomery bus company lost 65% of business — suffered financially
: Supreme Court ruled (Nov 1956) Montgomery Bus Company’s policy of
segregation violated constitution
: Dec 1956: bused desegregated
: Showed AA being united could overcome oppression
• MLK jnr.: role, impact & influence
• After the bus boycott, MLK became the spokesperson for African American rights
and challenged racial segregation and injustice.
• MLK was a gifted speaker and inspired Americans to become involved in the civil
rights movements.
• Change can only happen if people are willing to work for it.
• Organized civil rights campaigns – all protests were conducted in a non-violent
manner.
• The following groups were inspired to join the movement:
➢ Students
➢ Black minsters
➢ Many white Americans
• MLK believed in using non-violent protest and encouraged civil disobedience
(breaking unjust laws without violence – was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi &
God (pastor))
• How MLK was influenced by Gandhi:
➢ G developed a philosophy of non-violent resistance.
➢ Unjust laws should be broken in a peaceful manner.
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