What were the 14th and 15th amendment?
14th: established citizenship
15th: right to vote regardless of "race,color, or condition of previous servitude (slavery)"
What was Brown v. Board of Education and what was its impact?
1935 Donald Murray wanted to attend to Maryland's school of law
He was not considered since Black
the NAACP brings this case up- it's not equal
court agreed- the university had to agree on accepting Murray
IMPACT:
some school districts started de-segregating
Virginia, massive resistance = opposed to desegregation -> 19 January 1959, a federal court and the Virginia Supreme Court agreed in separate cases that the state's action of closing public schools violated the US Constitution.
1964 supposedly all schools were de-segregated. still only 5% were really de-segregated
who was Martin Luther King Jr?
first appearance: Montgomery Bus Boycott
created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
"I have a dream"
was criticized for wanting no violence and some questioned his courage
Leaders voice concerns that the media and politicians paid more attention to King as a person than to the issues themselves
What was the population registration act and the population classification act?
Registration: Each citizen was defined according to their racial group based on biological factors. Proposed an ID number for each citizen, and divided the population into three groups: White, coloured and Bantu (Black)
Classification: made it illegal for people from different races to live together
what was the Bantu authorities act?
Created new regional authorities for Africans, which were based in the reserves, and dispensed with the old Natives Representative Council, an elected national body representing all Africans.
What was peonage?
Peonage: Debt slavery, in which business owners required workers to labor until they paid off a debt.
Little rock, Arkansas and its conclusion
Blossom plan: A plan that allowed the superintendent to choose the African American students who would be integrated into previously white-only schools. The purpose was to comply with Brown on a minimal basis
The NAACP sued for immediate integration, but the federal court ruled that the Blossom Plan met Constitutional requirements
nine (out of 80 applicants of the 200 black children in the white area) African American students attempted to attend Central High School
The Little Rock Nine had to endure constant harassment inside the school walls
who was Malcom X?
focused on the conditions of AA living in the urban north
attracted thousands to the NOI promoting self reliance and faith
"The Ballot or the Bullet" -> "only mean that black man should control the politics and the politicians on his own community”
Argued AA were justified in using any means necessary to defend themselves if the government was incapable of protecting them
Created the organization of African American Unity
1965 he was assassinated
what was the Prohibition of mixed marriages act & immorality act?
Prohibition: prohibited white South Africans from marrying people from other races
Immorality: prohibited all sexual relations between whites and non-whites.
what was the promotion of bantu self government act?
Divided the African population into eight (THEN TEN) distinct ethnic groups.
The members of each group were assigned a White commissioner-general
Abolished the representation of black africans in the parliament
They had to live in assigned districts
What was the KKK?
Initially formed as a secret social organization but in a short time evolved into a vigilante group
Montgomery Bus Boycott
is often considered to be the starting point of the African American Civil Rights Movement
2º December: Women's Political Council organize a one-day bus boycott (pamphlets)
Outcome
Desegregated buses (short-term)
Transformed the attitude of Southern African Americans (from fear to defiance)
it showed that a united African American movement could successfully challenge Jim Crow laws + spawned movements in other cities
elevated Martin Luther King Jr to a national figure + promoted non-violent resistance (long-term)
creation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Who was Lyndon Barnes Johnson?
president
made speech focused on voting rights and televised nationally
proposed more legislation
What was the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act / Pass Law act & the group areas act?
Reservation: Segregated every service and public amenity & made it mandatory for all businesses to provide separate facilities for whites and non-whites
Pass Law: Forced all African to carry extensive documentation, including personal information & Made it possible to enforce segregation by limiting where black people could be.
Group areas: Based on the premise that blacks should live in rural areas & The plan was to relocate out of the big cities and into townships outside of cities, which allowed them to serve the urban economy but not participate in it.
what was the SEPARATE REPRESENTATION OF VOTERS ACT?
Removed all Coloureds from the electorate
THIS SHOWS the lengths to which the government would go in order to implement apartheid, and clearly demonstrated how it was prepared to ride roughshod over constitutional niceties in order to get its way
What was the disenfranchisement of african americans?
It was based on a succession of legislation, new constitutions, and techniques employed in the South to prohibit Black people from registering to vote and voting.
What were the Freedom Rides and Freedom Summer?
Freedom Rides
They sought to test a 1960 decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Virginia that segregation of interstate transportation facilities, including bus terminals, was unconstitutional as well. white mob attacked the riders with baseball bats. Kennedy sent 600 federal marshals to the city to stop the violence
Freedom Summer
Aims:
To combine voter education, registration and political activism
Running freedom schools to teach literacy and civics to adults and children
Implementation:41 Freedom schools were established/Potential voters were tutored in how to interpret the Mississippi Constitution/Freedom summer leaders worked with local African American Mississippians to promote an alternative political party
Outcome: Lack of registered voters most emphatically demonstrated the need for federal enforcement of voting rights / paved the way for Voting rights act of 1965
What was the NAACP and SCLC?
NAACP: national association for the advancement of colored people
Purpose: “secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution”
SCLC: the Southern christian leadership conference
Purpose:“delve deeper into the struggle and to do with greater reliance on non violence and greater unity”
Schools could only accept students from one race; African education was dependent on native affairs department, while other depended on ministry of education. Separated school boards and had effectively two education systems with independent curriculums
what were the repressive laws?
The Suppression of Communism Act of 1950: "the promotion of disturbances or disorder"
Public safety Act of 1953: The government has the authority to suspend the Constitution and declare a state of emergency
Criminal Law Amendment Act: allowed courts to impose severe penalties on those found guilty of committing acts of civil disobedience by breaking apartheid laws
The Native Administration Act of 1956 permitted the state to "banish" Africans found guilty of persistent political offenses to remote rural areas
What did Truman do after the Roosevelt era?
took specific steps to advance some aspects of African American’s rights. He desegregated the military and supported civil rights legislation in 1948. However, he did little to stop Jim Crow in the south.
Civil rights act 1964 & Voting rights act 1965
Civil rights act: the act encompassed voting rights, public accommodations, desegregation of public facilities, limits on discrimination
Voting rights act:
In january 1965, the SCLC, led by Martin Luther King Jr opened a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama
White community response included threat and violence
"Bloody Sunday"
The effect of the law was swift: within two years more than half of southern African Americans of legal age were registered to vote
What was the SNCC and the NOI?
SNCC: the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee
Leading force in voter registration in the rural South Dedicated itself to the philosophy and methodology of non-violent direct action
NOI: the Nation of Islam \
Was founded to prepare and educate Africans Americans (original people) for the struggle to take back the Earth and mal it a peaceful paradise again
The fruit of Islam (FOI) was created to protect schools and mosques
What was the extension of university education act?
Now each university had to accept only one race, and an African university would only accept one tribe.
what were the censorship laws?
Allowed the government to establish a Board of Censors: rule the restriction/ banning of any material produced in South Africa or imported
Anything that might upset the political, moral or religious sensibilities of the White public and the values of Christian nationalism should be banned