The Supreme Court decision ran ahead of public opinion. Four years after the ruling was passed in 1956 there still were no desegregated schools. This anti discrimination measure of desegregated schools only tended to increase racial tension and not diminish it. For example when black children were on their way to desegregated schools they were always jeered at and insulted. In a town in Arkansas called Little Rock during the year 1957 federal troops had to be deployed to protect black students because white people were being incredibly unpleasant to blacks after Little Rock had been ordered to integrate and its governor felt he had to refuse. He had to do this because if he implemented the new system of desegregated schools he would have lost the next election. Most governors of Southern States had the problem of working out what to do so there was tension between state governments and the federal government.
There was die-hard resistance to the implementation of desegregating schools and progress was slow. Many groups were causing terror and trying to make life difficult for black people and everyone who supported them, most notably the Ku Klux Klan. The slow legislative progress was frustrating many blacks and white liberals as they had raised expectations, which were unfulfilled and led to frustration and more tension. After World Was Two blacks had raised expectations as they had fought with courage and bravery so they were entitled to first class citizenship and have some respect. What was happening wasn’t good for the USA as they said things like America was the “Country of freedom and dreams,” and they cannot tell other countries what to do with such heavy racism and discrimination going on they’re contradicting themselves.
My conclusion is that before Brown v Topeka there were many major problems in America with racism but after the case the problems exacerbated. After the desegregation of schools there were more social problems, political problems and constitutional problems. The main reason for the problems was because of the strength of the opposition, much of America being very racist.
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2) “The Civil Rights Movement achieved a great deal in the 1950’s and 1960’s.”
Do sources A to F prove that this interpretation is correct?
Explain your answer using the sources and knowledge from your studies. (15 marks)
It is highly obvious to me that the Civil Rights Movement did accomplish something during the 1950s and 1960s, but how much they accomplished is what I plan to investigate.
It can be seen that the Civil Rights Movement accomplished a great deal because of a substantial number of reasons. Firstly statistics show that there is a difference in the number of black children who went to desegregated schools in 1956-57 and 1961-62. It shows that there was progress because the number of black students did increase in 60% of the States, for example in Texas, during 1956-7 there were 3400 students estimated to be going to desegregated schools while in 1961-2 there were estimated to be 4300 students going to desegregated schools in Texas, and the Civil Rights movement did much to help this cause. Secondly many pictures show black students on their way to desegregated schools in the 1950s. They show that the interpretation that the Civil Rights Movement achieved a great deal in the 1950s and 1960s is true because they show the depth of hatred the Civil Rights Movement was trying to overcome with normal, young students walking to school with many people jeering and booing, which is ruthless. In 1967 Martin Luther King, a non-violent activist said that the Civil Rights Movement had done a lot through non violent means with a minimal loss of life, which shows that the Civil Rights Movement achieved a substantial amount. ‘remarkable record of achievement…through non-violent action.’ Fourthly, during the 1950s and 1960s there were many race riots going on in the USA which show that the interpretation that the Civil Rights Movement achieved a great deal because it shows that blacks now have more pride than before and are now standing up for themselves. In 1967 a young black said, ‘we made big news. They called this the country’s worst race riot in history…we got the record man.’
(Source D)
This shows the growth of black pride. You can look at the percentage of black people of voting age registered to vote in the South both before the voting rights act in 1965 and after the voting act in 1971. By looking at this, you can see that the interpretation that the civil rights movement achieved a great deal in the 1950s and 1960s was a success because it shows that in most Southern States, there was a substantial increase in the number of Black people voting. For example in Arkansas, before the voting rights act was passed in 1965, 42% of black people of voting age voted. In 1971, after the voting act was passed the percentage of black people of voting age who voted was 81%, which is a radical increase.
However, there are two sides to the coin and there are a substantial number of reasons why other people believe the Civil Rights Movement didn’t achieve anything. If there was progress, it was patchy and uneven.
Firstly, if you look at an estimated percentage of the number of black students who went to desegregated schools in 1956-7 and 1961-2, most states only had a minor percentage increase in black students going to desegregated schools, with only two States near to 1%. This says the progress is so low that it is insignificant. Some people might even argue that the only reason Texas had such a substantial fragment of black students going to desegregated schools was because it’s a cattle and oil State, and unlike most states the amount of segregation is weaker there and therefore it was a magnet for blacks and so is an exception. Secondly there are many pictures which show white people attacking young black students going to school in the 1960s which isn’t much of a change from the 1950s as it shows animosity, this is against the fact that the Civil Rights Movement achieved a great deal in the 1950s and 1960s.
Thirdly Martin Luther King said that non violence can only go so far and violence is inevitable, he said there are ‘limitations of non-violence.’ In my opinion, if the Civil Rights Movement fights violence with violence they are not making life better. As the saying goes ‘violence solves nothing.’ Fourthly, in the 1960s there were many race riots, for example in Detroit in August 1967, and during these riots there was racism and intense violence which is hardly ever a good thing and because of many race riots and violence the Civil Rights Movement didn’t achieve too much. Lastly if you look at how many black people voted in the Southern States before (1965) and after the Voting Rights Act was passed (1971) some States showed only a minimal increase in the number of black people who voted while in some States the percentage even decreased. This is also against the fact the Civil Rights Movement achieved a great deal in the 1950s and 1960s.
My conclusion is that it is obvious to me that the Civil Rights Movement put in a lot of work in trying to stop racism and make society fairer and enhance it further. There is plenty of evidence to support the interpretation that the Civil Rights Movement achieved a great deal in the 1950s and 1960s but there is also evidence against the interpretation from both the sources and my own knowledge but I think that on the whole there was undoubtedly progress in many important areas, but there still remained much to be done to create a truly fair and just society.
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