Civil Rights Era Study Guide Name______

Ch. 28 American History Period____

Directions:The following questions will be answered with a partner. Use your textbook and answer each question thoroughly on a separate piece of paper remembering to put the question in the answer. Discuss the answers with each other to insure they are accurate.

Learning Goal: Students will understand how Americans responded to discrimination during the civil rights era through individuals involved, protest movements, and laws.

Section 1: Reconstruction and Jim Crow (Pages 872-875)

  1. Explain how African Americans’ civil rights were violated in the decades following reconstruction.

Although African Americans were no longer enslaved after the Civil War, their civil rights continued to be violated for decades to follow. Southern states passed black codes, which were laws that limited the freedoms of former slaves. African Americans were subjected to literacy tests or poll taxes as a way to limit their right to vote. Jim Crow laws sought to separate races in public places in the South and blacks faced continuous threats of violence from organizations such as the Ku Kluk Klan. The 1896 Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson, states that segregation based on race is legal. African Americans face discrimination throughout different parts of society in the decades following reconstruction.

  1. Describe the ways African Americans reacted to discrimination and segregation.

The racism African Americans were experiencing in the South caused them to move north and create organizations to bring attention to the issue of discrimination. The Great Migration was a time period from 1916 to 1917 in which more than 500,000 African Americans moved to northern cities such as Chicago, Detroit, and New York. In addition, African Americans leaders and white activist formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 to bring attention the discrimination in the South.

Section 2: The Modern Civil Rights Movement (pages 876-883)

  1. Explain how civil rights’ supporters challenged segregation.

Civil rights’ supporters challenged segregation in the courtroom and through protest movements in the 1950’s. Segregation was challenged in the courtroom and eliminated in schools with the historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) decision to integrate schools. The Little Rock school board ordered the local HS to integrate nine students in 1957. The governor refused to let them in and eventually the President ordered the military to escort the black students in. The students became known as the “Little Rock Nine.” After the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1955, African Americans organized a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, where they refused to ride the bus in protest. In addition, civil rights supporters continued their fight by organizing sit-ins in 1960; like the four African-American students that refused to leave a lunch counter until their demands were met.

  1. Describe how segregationists tried to stop integration.

Segregationist tried to stop integration by organizing groups and using local law. Southern whites that were against integration formed organization such asWhite Citizens Councils and the Ku Klux Klan continued to intimidate, beat, and even murder African Americans in the South. The Governor of Arkansas, OrvalFaubus ordered National Guard troops to prevent “the Little Rock Nine” from entering Central High School in 1957. African Americans protestors, on top of being physically and mentally abused by segregationists, were also arrested and sent to jail by local police.

Section 3: Kennedy, Johnson, and Civil Rights (pages 884-891)

  1. Summarize how people in the civil rights movement helped bring about change.

Those against segregation, fought for change by organizing and protesting. In 1961, the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) staged Freedom Ridesin an attempt to desegregate buses that traveled from state to state. Civil Rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King, continued to encourage non-violent protests and knew that Eugene “Bull” Connor would use violence to stop the protesters. The March on Washington, in 1963, was a demonstration with over 250,000 attendees.

  1. Describe what the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act achieved.

After many years of protest and anguish by African Americans, laws were finally passed by the U.S. Congress to address the issue of segregation and voting inequality. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made segregationillegal in public places throughout the United States. As part of the law, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was created to end discrimination in the workplace. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped ensure that all African Americans could register to vote. In addition, the act banned literacy tests and poll taxes, and allowed federal officials to register voters to increase the number of African American voters.

  1. Explain what happened to the civil rights movement in the late 1960s.

The focus of the civil rights movement shifted between leaders that wanted to continue the non-violent struggle and those that wanted to be more aggressive. The Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) and Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted to continue non-violence as a means of achieving equality. Malcolm X and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)began to reject nonviolence and cooperation with whites. Instead, they urged “black power” as a way to create black only organization to fight racism. The Nation of Islam and Malcolm X urged a separatist ideology for blacks, which is to separate from whites. African Americans, regardless of protest strategy, became increasingly frustrated with the lack of political and economic power they had.

Section 4: The Equal Rights Struggle Expands (pages 894-900)

  1. Explain how other minorities fought for civil rights.

The success of the civil rights movement encouraged groups such as Latinos and Native Americans to fight for equal rights. Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) in 1962 to combat unfair pay and working conditions. In 1965, the UFWOC organized a massive grape boycott against California grape growers that refused to recognize the union. The Native American community faced many challenges, such as poverty, disease, and a loss of recognition in tribal in laws. In 1968, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded with the intent of demanding rights for people on the reservation. As a response to continued protest, Congress passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 to give tribal governments more control over social programs, law enforcement, and education.

  1. Identify what the women’s rights movement hoped to and actually achieved in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

The American women’s movement, in the 1960s and 1970s, fought for equality in many parts of society. In 1972, women’s groups urged Congress to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and add it to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA would ban discrimination on account of sex. Although the ERA passed through both chambers of congress, it failed to be ratified by the states. The women’s rights movement did have some achievements thanks to leaders such as Betty Friedan. In 1966, Friedan helped found the National Organization for Women (NOW) to bring attention to women’s issues such as inequality in pay and job promotions. In 1972, the Higher Education Act (Title IX) was passed by Congress to outlaw discrimination against women in colleges.