Civil rights - source related study.

Authors Avatar

Katie O’Hara- 8720

St Marks school- 13156

Civil rights coursework

07/02/02

1.) What can you learn from source A about what is happening at Little Rock High school in September 1957?

Source A is from a book entitled “the long shadow of little rock,” it is an eyewitness account of Elizabeth Eckfords enrolment at Little Rock High school in 1957. Elizabeth Eckford describes what it, was like for a black child to attend a predominately white school. In her account she express her feelings and experiences of how a white crowd came towards her calling her names and shouting “lynch her.”  A very disturbing image and one that no one should be exposed to.

She goes on to describe, how a guard prevented her from entering the school, with a bayonet, “ I tried to squeeze pat him, but he raised the bayonet.” This is a particularly brutal and sadistic image as the guard is an official authoritative representative of law and order, who is they’re to protect all students. Yet here Elizabeth Eckford is exposed to individual prejudice, from the guard not because of anything that she has done but because of the colour of her skin. The bayonet reminds the reader of how blacks were treated, they weren’t given the same respect or rights as humans, and instead they were often hit or abused in public, which is the case in this source. Elizabeth Eckford also experiences individual prejudice from the old woman, when she looks for help in the mob; she turns to an elderly lady who she said, “Seemed to have a kindly face,” but when she looked at the woman she spat in her face. The women rejected her and seemed to hold a personal prejudice against her, but it is evident from the text that they had never before met as she refers to her as “an old woman.” I think that Elizabeth Eckford would have been embarrassed, disgusted at the way she was being treated, afraid by the threats of the crowd, who were threatening to “lynch her”, and yet determined, to get her equal rights and education, whilst being humiliated by the crowd, which becomes apparent, from her sombre and depressed tone.

Although being a minority black student in a primarily white school, Elizabeth Eckford holds a certain composure, poise, dignity and grace. She tries to resist the crowd, in a non-violent manner; by trying to into school, but is prevented by a guard and his bayonet, she then tries to resist the crowd by finding a “friendly face in the mob- someone maybe to help.” Elizabeth Eckford perhaps isn’t a very good judge of character, as the old woman with a “friendly face” spat at Elizabeth Eckford when she looked at her. This shows that she may have experienced this type of prejudice previously as she has a practice and an understanding of how to resist the mob. The old lady seems to personally hate her and olds terrible bigotry and prejudice.  From these violent and disturbing images we can learn that in the south when the laws passed, were in favour of blacks and they became a step closer to equal rights, the southerners took the law into their own hands. They made the limited opportunities given to blacks almost impossible to live out. Whites did not think that blacks were entitled to the same civil rights as them, and as basic human beings because of the colour of their skin. The account of Elizabeth Eckford suggests that the situation, opportunities and legal rights of blacks were nowhere near what they should have been and once they were received they experienced discrimination and intimidation from whites. Therefore I can conclude that the situation of blacks in the south was very unjustified and dire, the opportunities they were given were nowhere near as good as those of whites especially in education.

2. Study sources A, B and C. Does the evidence of sources B and C support Elizabeth Eckfords account of events at little rock (source A)? Explain your answer?

The evidence may differ in sources because of their origin and purpose, yet in these sources there are some reoccurring features such as the including of a “mob.”  Source B an article for the well respected newspaper the New York Times in September 1957. The source describes the reaction of black students to Little Rock high school a formerly “white only” school. The source describes the reaction of white people to the arrival of black students, and how there was a widespread “roar of rage,” in source A Elizabeth Eckford also describes the crowds rage, “they glared at me with a mean look.” In both sources there are descriptions of crowds, however in source A, the crowd is described as a “mob” whereas in source B it is just described as a “crowd.” In both sources the crowd has been depicted very negatively, there is no remorse or a sense of reasoning or even understanding, when it comes down to the blacks being in Little Rock High School. However in Source A the incident is described more violently and disturbing whereas in source B instead of being violent there seems to be more of a presences of hysteria and panic “shriek and wail.” In Source B there is also no evidence or information, to support the claims made in Source A, of there being a guard preventing them from entering the school, “ I tried to squeeze past him, but he raised his bayonet.” Neither is there any information to support the violence of the mob, “ the crowd came towards me,” and in Source A, there is no mention of the “crying girls.” The sources may differ because Source A is a eye-witness account and therefore more reliable than Source B, which is from a newspaper based in New York in the North and the events which are taking place are happening in the South. This also shows that the news is spreading and the seriousness of event, as the North wanted to know what was happening in Little Rock High School, in the south. I think that Source B probably has a more objective viewpoint than Source A, has it is written by a journalist, who are employed to be objective. However the journalist would have probably been white and therefore may have been slightly prejudice towards blacks and sympathetic towards the whites.

Join now!

However source A is from an eyewitness account and is therefore quite reliable, as they were there at the time. Nevertheless the source has been written by Elizabeth Eckford herself, and therefore maybe slightly one-sided, as she is talking about herself. The source was also written for a book and therefore Elizabeth Eckford may exaggerate the extent and seriousness of the incident to enable herself to be presented as a “hero.” Nevertheless most of the information Elizabeth Eckford gives out in Source A is supported by sources B and C. Source C is a picture taken of Elizabeth Eckford ...

This is a preview of the whole essay