In sources four and five judicial discrimination is shown. Both of these sources relate to fear and lack of justice. Source four shows a girl in fear for her life, just because she is black.
Source five shows that even in court black people couldn’t get justice. It clearly shows legal discrimination against black people. The courts were supposed to be unbiased but because William Zanzinger had killed a black woman he only got a six-month sentence, this shows great injustice and is proof that the courts were biased. This confirms that the fear the girl felt in source four is based on reality.
- I think that source seven is a fairly reliable source. It is an extract from a very reputable newspaper and because it is an eyewitness account, and not an opinion, this would suggest a very reliable account of this event.
Although, because the New York Times is a northern liberal newspaper it would be written mainly for northern white people who were sympathetic to desegregation. This suggests that there may be an element of bias in this source and that the emotive language and use of words such as “hysteria, shrieking and wailing” could be used to draw the reader’s attention to the racism of the white people in this area.
I think that source nine is a fairly reliable source but because a black person is referring to white people write it, it could tend to be a bit biased. Although, when this source is examined thoroughly we see at the end of this source she acknowledges the decent white people when say says, “ Just then a white man sat down beside me and put his arm around me and patted my shoulder. He raised my chin and said ‘don’t let them see you cry’ “. This shows us that because she speaks kindly of a white man the source may not be unbiased, but it is uncertain.
I think that source ten is very reliable as opinion polls are very objective evidence. Also, Gallup, the company who set this opinion poll is very reputable and this poll would have been conducted in a very professional and scientific manner. This provides strong objective evidence of white peoples attitudes towards desegregation and is backed up by what is said in sources seven and nine.
The only problem with this source is that people may have given false answers but this in unlikely as the poll would have been carried out very professionally and people wouldn’t have been worried about what answer they gave.
4. Source eleven, although not reliable, is extremely useful to us as it shows the opinion of a white politician at this time. This shows us how he represented the view of most Southern white people. Also, it shows how he tried to justify segregation when he says “separation promotes mutual harmony…segregation is not discrimination”. It also says “segregation is desired and supported by the vast majority of the members of both the races in the South” and because it is contradicted by all the other sources examined we see this source is biased. This source helps us to understand why black people resorted to protesting in the street.
5. Sources eight and ten show white peoples contempt towards black people.
Source eight shows a picture of a black girl trying to get into a ‘white’ school with women and girls all around her mocking her. Nearby, two guards can be seen making no effort to try and assist the girl. This is consistent with the girl’s account of this situation in source nine. In this source it is all women throwing verbal abuse.
Source twelve shows the bitterness, which white people felt towards Negro’s. Also, this source shows that not all white people were racist as two can be seen eating with the black woman and they are subjected to the same physical abuse from these men that she is getting. This tells us a lot about their attitude, as they have no apparent fear of being put under arrest for committing this crime.
6. ‘The lonesome death of Hattie Carroll’ is a song written by Bob Dylan. It is about a rich man murdering a poor woman and getting a small sentence.
This source shows no direct reference to racism, as there is no indication that William Zanzinger is white or that Hattie Carroll is black. To anybody examining this song without knowing anything about it, it would seem as if Bob Dylan was writing about injustice because of social status.
However, looking at source six we see different people’s opinions on Bob Dylan’s motives for writing this song. The first person to question his motives was Patrick Humphries, a writer. On a BBC radio program called Mavericks he said “ In Dylan’s case at this time he was very sincere about the political songs, what he called the finger-pointing songs.” This would lead us to believe that Dylan had sincere motives for writing this song, and as everybody knew that Hattie Carroll was a black woman, was promoting the civil rights campaign.
The second person looking at this was Dylan’s ex-girlfriend Joan Beaz. She stated that “ One of the ironic things was that after 20 years after the fact, people at marches saying, “Is Bob coming? We heard Bob’s comings.” He never went.” This is an untrue statement as Bob Dylan played at a march when Martin Luther King gave his ‘I have a dream’ speech and this shows us that this source may be biased.
The third person to comment on Bob Dylan on this show was called Bernice Reagan, a black student activist in Albany, and also the daughter of Hattie Carroll. She stated that “ At a certain point in his career he was a voice of a generation…so Bob Dylan, he has a power and he handled his voice with integrity.” She is saying that she trusts Bob Dylan and as Hattie Carroll was her mother, she feels this song is supporting her mother and the civil rights movement.
All this evidence shows that people thought Dylan was promoting the civil rights movement, and although he may not have done this intentionally, this is what he did through his powerful songs.
7. I do not fully agree with this statement. Although life for blacks did change a great deal for the better, there was still a lot of improvement to be made. The first step to change was when black militants to promote ethnic pride formed the term ‘black’ to be used instead of ‘Negro’ or ‘coloured’. Blacks were first taken to the West Indies and sold as slaves. Black people had no rights whatsoever and were seen as uncivilised slaves who were only valuable as property which could be sold. After the civil war many black people moved north and got jobs but although the law had changed the attitudes of northern white slave owners didn’t. Blacks were given freedom by the federal government but segregation became law, as many white people were afraid of the black’s freedom.
Sources one to twelve show hatred towards blacks and shows how black people were discriminated everywhere they went. They were given menial jobs and never got promotion, even if they were more qualified than other applicants, they were discriminated in court, for example, William Zanzinger killed a black woman and got only 6 months imprisonment and they were forced to go to separate schools and those who didn’t were taunted and abused. Also, blacks were disenfranchised, which meant they had no say in the countries political issues at all.
Source thirteen shows life improving for black people, as anti-discrimination laws were formed and racial discrimination in the work area was outlawed (although this did lead to positive discrimination). Blacks were now given the right to vote and laws against anti-racial marriages were against the constitution.
Source fourteen shows how bus companies improved as it shows a picture of a black woman (Rosa Parks) sitting in front of a white man which meant that black people could now sit where they liked on the bus. Though this is a positive change it doesn’t indicate changes in any other conditions.
Source fifteen shows position of African Americans and, with a few exceptions, there is a dramatic change in figures. The only problem is that these figures do not show those for white people, and for all anyone knows, they could be worse off.
Source sixteen is a journalist’s view in 1963. He states that “blacks move easily through white brick country court house”. Although this statement is contradicted by source seventeen this man only observed what was happening as he was passing through and this was probably an accurate account.
Source eighteen is an extract from “Civil Rights in America” by Tony Lancaster. He states that only a small majority of blacks were rich or part of an elite.
All this evidence shows that although life for blacks had changed there were still major improvements to be made.