Another way in which both Catholics and blacks were discriminated similarly was in schools. Catholic schools were under funded and overcrowded. There was no law to say that Catholics weren’t allowed to attend public schools, Catholics were sent to catholic schools to receive a catholic education. Blacks in America however did not have the choice that Catholics had. Like Catholics, Blacks were sent to schools that were overcrowded and under funded but not by choice but rather because they weren’t allowed to attended public schools.
2. According to sources A, B+C, how did some blacks show their opposition to racism in the United States of America?
There were different methods that blacks in the USA resorted to in order to show their opposition to racism. The most well known and successful of which would have to be the Protests and Marches led by Martin Luther King. The protests and Civil Disobedience started after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. On the day of her trial, a group of people, namely Martin Luther King, met to decide what to do. It was decided that in protest to Rosa Parks arrest, they would attempt to convince as many Blacks as possible to boycott the buses for a day.
At a special meeting about the boycott Martin Luther King talked to thousands of people and they agreed to carry on the Boycott until conditions on the buses improved. The Boycott went on for just under a year when the supreme court of the US declared that “Alabama’s laws requiring segregation on the buses was unconstitutional and had to be changed. After the success of this Boycott, Martin Luther King’s belief that civil rights could be obtained through peaceful civil disobedience was confirmed.
In 1954 it was ruled that Blacks were allowed to attend the same schools as whites. In the southern states people were appalled at this. Governor Faubus tried to defy the president by sending state troopers to stop black children from entering a high school. Elizabeth Eckford opposed racism by attempting to enter a high school in little rock, Arkensaw. She was followed and abused by a white mob and was refused entry by state troopers which she believed to be soldiers.
Another way racism was opposed in the United states was a more violent approach. A prime example of this would be the six day riot which occurred in Los Angeles. It started because a white police officer arrested a black youth for turning on a fire hydrant during a heat wave. The riot caused over 40 million dollars of damage, 4000 arrests 34 deaths and 1032 people to get injured.
3. How reliable is source D as evidence for the attitudes of white southern Americans against the Black community?
Before I decide how reliable source D is as evidence for the attitudes of white southern Americans against the Black community, it must be taken into consideration that source D is a Film and its primary aim is to please an audience and make a profit.
The very first scene of ‘Mississippi Burning’ shows segregation of drinking fountains. It shows two different drinking fountains, one a metallic more hygienic one for whites and then a dirty, ceramic, unhygienic drinking fountain for Blacks. This is reliable evidence for the attitudes of white southern Americans’ attitudes towards blacks because segregation was very big in the southern states.
In another clip, an FBI, looking for two missing students talks to the mayor in a barber shop. The mayor states that blacks and whites have different cultures and should be kept apart. This is another reliable piece of evidence of the white southern American attitudes towards the black community. In America at this time, especially in the southern states, there were areas for whites and different more rundown areas for blacks to live. This scene shows probably one of the key reasons that people at this time felt segregation was necessary.
In this clip, a news crew is interviewing people on what they make of the missing students. One woman talks about how blacks get treated as well as they ought to and calls them unsanitary saying “they stink.” I would consider this also to be an accurate piece of evidence of southerner’s views. Most Blacks who worked, worked in manual labour so obviously they were going to smell bad especially when it’s usually hot in the southern states.
Another scene shows a white businessman being interviewed by reporters as he leaves a building. He states that Blacks are a threat to the white mans way of life. I think this would be a reliable piece of evidence. If you look at source A it says that the white mob were spitting at Elizabeth Eckford and shouting things like ‘lynch her.’
In a different clip the FBI agent is in a bar talking to a typical white southerner. The man says that he’d be dead before he’d see Blacks being of equal status in society. He also says that he wouldn’t think twice about killing a Black man. I’m not sure if this is as accurate as the others as I doubt most southerners would kill that easy even if it was a black man.
The final clip that I saw was of a mass meeting with a senior member of the KKK addressing the public saying that blacks and whites where different species and that he would sooner die than see integration. If you look at source G you’ll see that the views of some southern Americans were quite extreme so I’d say that this clip was accurate as well.
