In Source H, a journalist travelling through southern American states shows the dramatic changes he has seen. He sees and says such things as “the black’s and whites lunched together...” which shows us the laws of segregation had been demolished, showing improvement in their lives. He as also seen great changes such as black policemen and black men and women working in the courthouses, something that would never have been seen 30 years ago, this now tells us that all blacks are given the same equal opportunities as white people. This source mightn’t be wholly reliable as we don’t know weather or not the person writing it is black or white but is useful as we se the amazing changes in black’s lives, for the better throughout the years.
In source I it shows the position of African Americans from 1960 to 1996:
“1965 – 280 number of black elected officials 1993 – 7,552”
This tells us that life has improved somewhat as the black’s house hold income, high school graduation rate, black Americans as a percentage and the number of blacks elected officials had risen, Showing us that, to an extent, there lives have undoubtedly changed. Then there are the points such as the unemployment rate rising as does the numbers of discrimination complaints, maybe things have got worse? Or maybe black’s now aren’t scared to put in a discrimination complaint as they now know it would follow through the court of law. This source is reliable, as it is facts taken from libraries to a book. This is very useful as we see the change in there lives.
Source J disagrees with the question. It acknowledges that there are many blacks living “in, middle class” as lawyers, teachers and bankers who are the
Q.5 Part 2
“Elite” of all blacks. Source j also shows that a majority of black people remain in “the same social and economic depression” while he tries to “more or less” say that whites are superior to blacks. . This might be true as the black unemployment rate is higher than the white and that blacks usually get the less paid jobs. Not all schools have intergraded either, only 50 per cent have. The source also states that “many blacks remain trapped in dreadful conditions in the ghettos” where drug and crime escalate. This source completely disagrees that the blacks lives have improves since the 50’s.
Source K again shows us blacks getting treated unfairly, as the policemen who beat up blackman Rodney King were not found guilty of assault. Although there assault was caught on amateur video, they got away with it. This gives us a memory back to the 50’s where William Zanzinger was given only a 6 month sentence for murdering a black waiter called Hattie Carroll, this proving to us that some things never change. This source is both reliable and useful as we can see even though the civil rights movement was successful, there is still discrimination towards blacks people out there.
In conclusion sources J and K disagree with the question, and are both reliable, but the other three agree although source J and K show no change I don’t think this is overwhelming, and that the other sources are and there lives have improved but not undoubtly.
