USA: A divided unionPart 2:1954late 60s.

1
USA A divided union?Part 21954-late 60s.

• CIVIL RIGHTS
• Racism in the 1950s.
• Equal Education.
• The Little Rock Incident.
• The Montgomery Bus Boycott.
• Direct Action Gathers Pace.
• Martin Luther King.
• Successes of the Civil Rights Movement.
• Failures of the Civil Rights Movement.
• KENNEDY AND JOHNSON
• Kennedy and the New Frontier.
• The Achievements of the New Frontier. ( Poor,
  Economy and Civil Rights )
• Why did Kennedy find it difficult to introduce
  his New Frontier policy?
• Johnson and the Great Society.
• Difficulties in achieving the Great Society.
• Johnson and the economy.

2
Racism in the 1950s

• Limited progress had been made during WWII.
• Problem was more acute in the Southern states.
• Many southern states introduced Jim Crow laws
  which segregated facilities e.g. parks,
  restaurants, schools etc.
• Black Americans had the vote but were often too
  intimidated to vote.
• Black people had to sit literacy tests to get the
  vote- many failed.
• Black schools were of a weaker standard.
• Best universities were closed off to black
  students.
• 18 of white Americans lived below the poverty
  line- 56 of Black Americans did.

3
Struggle for Equal Education

• Legal to have separate schools for white and
  blacks.
• Black schools always below standard.
• NAACP ( National Association for the Advancement
  of Colored People ) complained about segregated
  schools in the 1940s. Judge Waring ruled that
  states had to provide equal education- but said
  nothing about integration.
• Brown v Board of Education of Topeka ( Brown v
  Topeka 1954 ) Parents of 8 year old Linda Brown
  sued the town of Topeka from preventing their
  daughter from attending the nearby all white
  school and forcing her to walk some distance to
  the all black school. Brown won the case and the
  judge declared that segregated education could
  not be equal as black schools had poorer
  facilities.
• 17 May 1974 US Supreme Court declared that
  schools could not be segregated- not all accepted
  the decision.
• Not until 1964 that all schools in US were
  forced to become desegregated.

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Little Rock Arkansas

• Brown v Topeka was meant to end segregation in
  schools. Not all states accepted the decision-
  including Arkansas.
• September 1957 9 black students were to start at
  Little Rock High School.
• Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, sent in
  thousands of National Guardsmen to stop the
  students from entering the school.
• Federal Government declared this illegal - Guards
  were withdrawn leaving the 9 students to defend
  themselves against a white mob.
• President Eisenhower sent in 10,000 Federal
  troops to protect the students.
• 1958 Faubus tried to close all schools in
  Arkansas unless the government ended its ban on
  segregated schools.
• US Surpeme Court declared all segregated schools
  illegal.
• Not until 1964 that all schools obeyed this
  decision.

5
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955

• Incident is normally seen as the start of the
  Civil Rights movement.
• Montgomery law stated that black people had to
  sit at the back of buses and had to give up their
  seats if a white person wanted them.
• 1 Dec 1955Rosa Parks ( NAACP activist ) refused
  to give up her seat.
• Local Civil Rights Activists set up the MIA (
  Montgomery Improvement Association ) led by
  Martin Luther King which led a year long boycott
  of the buses and organised private transport.
• Dec 1956 the Supreme Court declared Montgomerys
  bus laws illegal.
• Bus Boycott was first example of non-violent
  direct action and showed how powerful black
  people could be if they worked together.
• Boycott attracted worldwide attention and public
  sympathy.

6
Direct Action Gathers Pace

• 1959-60 civil rights group stepped up their
  campaigns.
• 1960 Tennessee 500 students organised sit ins
  in restaurants, libraries and churches.
• May 1961- white and black members of CORE (
  Congress of Racial Equality ) began freedom
  rides in the southern states. They deliberately
  rode on buses run by companies that were ignoring
  the laws banning segregation. By September 70,000
  students had taken part affecting 100 cities and
  20 states.
• By 1961, the civil rights movement had become a
  national movement.

7
Martin Luther King

• Main figure in Civil Rights movement.
• Believed in non-violent form of protest.
• In 1961 he led the Voter Education Act which
  aimed to get more black people to vote.
• 1963 King led a march on Birmingham, Alabama
  which had refused to desegregate. The police
  turned on the marches and over 1000 - including
  King- were arrested. President Kennedy forced the
  governor George Wallace to desegregate Alabama
  and release the prisoners.
• August 1963 200,000 black and 50,000 white
  Americans marched together in Washington in order
  to put pressure on Kennedy to pass a civil rights
  bill. It was here that King gave his famous I
  have a dream speech.

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Successes of the civil rights movement

• Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial
  discrimination and segregation in all walks of US
  life.
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was
  created to deal with complaints.
• Voting Rights Act 1965 outlawed minimum literacy
  and wealth levels from being a bar to voting.
• 1967 Supreme Court stated that any state which
  criminalised interracial marriages were acting
  illegally.
• 1968 Civil Rights Act extended to outlaw unfair
  distribution of welfare housing.

9
Failures of the Civil Rights Movement

• Civil Rights Movement revived violent and racist
  groups like the KKK
• Late 1960s race riots broke out all over the
  USA.
• By 1966 most blacks still lived below the poverty
  line.
• Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King
  became unpopular amongst the black community.
  They believed Kings methods were cowardly and
  produced few real benefits.
• Malcolm X became a rival. Believed that blacks
  should use force to get equal rights.
• The Black Power movement led by Stokely
  Carmichael believed that black people should take
  control of their lives and be separate from white
  society.

10
Kennedy and Johnson

• Kennedy and the New Frontier.
• The achievement of the New Frontier.
• Kennedys problems in achieving the New Frontier.
• Johnson and the Great Society
• Johnson and the economy

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Kennedy and the New Frontier

• Became President in 1960.
• Youngest US President.
• Emphasis on youth and idealism.
• Announced his New Frontier in his inaugural
  address vowed to create economic growth, defeat
  discrimination and get the country moving again.
  This included social reforms to end poverty and
  help poor Americans.

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Achievements of New Frontier

• To help the poor, Kennedy
• Increased minimum wage.
• Gave extra money to poorest states.
• Area Redevelopment Act enabled poor communities
  to get loans.
• Housing Act helped people in run down inner city
  areas to get loans to improve housing.
• Social Security Act made more money available for
  payments to the elderly and unemployed.
• Manpower Development and Training Act retrained
  the unemployed.

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Achievements of the New Frontier

• To help the economy, Kennedy
• Cut income tax to give people more money to
  spend.
• Increased spending on defence.
• Increased spending on space technology
• Spent 900million on businesses to create jobs.

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Kennedy and the New Frontier

• To improve Civil Rights, Kennedy
• Committed himself to the cause of Civil Rights.
• Stood up to governors in the Southern States.
• In June 1963 he tried to pass a Civil Rights Bill
  but was assassinated before it became law.
• He remains one of the great what ifs of history
  having achieved only a small part of what he set
  out to do.

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Kennedys problems in achieving the New frontier.

• To help the poor
• Minimum work did not have a huge effect.
• Slum clearance led to housing shortage.
• Housing loans did not help those who could not
  afford the loans.
• To help the economy
• Economy grew quickly.
• New technologies did not stop unemployment- fewer
  workers were needed.
• To help Civil Rights
• Rate of black unemployment was twice that of
  white under Kennedy.
• Many southern blacks moved north.
• Political Problems
• Failed to get Republicans of Democrats (
  especially from the Southern States!! ) to
  support him.
• He promoted younger ( often black ) people- this
  annoyed the older, white politicians.
• There were fears over how much government money
  he was spending.
• His youth went against him he was seen as being
  too inexperienced

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Key Questions!!

• What was meant by segregation?
• What was meant by civil rights.?
• What were the lives of Black Americans like in
  the 1950s?
• Why was education such a key issue in the
  struggle for civil rights in the 1950s?
• What were the key achievements of the civil
  rights Movement?
• To what extent was the Civil Rights Movement a
  success?
• What impact did martin Luther King have on the
  civil rights movement?
• What was meant by the New Frontier?
• To what extent did Kennedy succeed in achieving
  his New Frontier?
• What difficulties did Kennedy face in achieving
  his New Frontier.?
• Why did president Kennedy face problems in his
  attempt to improve civil rights in the years
  1961-63?
• What were the achievements of the New
  frontier.?

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Johnson and the Great Society.

• Became President after Kennedy.
• Talked of creating a Great Society.
• Wanted to take Kennedys reforms further-
  unconditional war on poverty.
• The Successes
• More successful than Kennedy in getting measures
  passed by Congress- partly due to the sympathy
  given following Kennedys assassination.
• 1964 The Civil Rights Act.
• 1965 Medical Care Act for the elderly and those
  dependent on welfare.
• 1965 Voting Rights Act ended literacy and
  property tests before voting.
• 1965 Immigration Act ended racial quotas on
  immigration.
• 1966 Model Cities Act funded slum clearance.
• 1966 Minimum wage increased from 1.25-1.40.
• First ever black American appointed to the White
  House and the Supreme Court.

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Difficulties in achieving the Great Society.

• He was not a show man like Kennedy.
• By late 1966 the war in Vietnam ( which Johnson
  had got the country deeply involved in ) was
  costing a lot of money.
• Because of the above, Johnson dropped his policy
  of zero poverty in 10 years.
• The Democrats in congress criticised him for the
  war in Vietnam.
• The Republicans attacked him in Congress for
  spending too much money on welfare reform.
• There was racial tension and rioting in several
  cities in the summer of 1968.
• There were many protest movements during the 60s
  which criticised the Johnson government -
  especially its involvement in Vietnam. ( Student/
  Women/Black Nationalists )- See Part 3

19
Johnson and the economy.

• He cut taxes which helped the better off.
• He improved transport- railways and highways.
• Increased funding for universities which helped
  the middle class.
• He introduced many consumer laws.
• BUT
• Unemployment increased.
• Inflation increased.
• The main reason being the cost of the war in
  Vietnam was getting out of control.

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Key Questions!!

• In what ways did President Johnson improve Civil
  Rights in the years 1963-68?
• Why was President Johnson unable to build his
  Great Society in the years 1963-68?
• To what extent did President Johnson succeed in
  achieving his Great Society?