SECTION A

1

• SECTION A
• Study the source and then answer the question
  which follows.
• An American family watching TV in the 1950s
• What does Source A tell you about life the USA
  during the 1950s? 2
• To answer this question you must place the
  picture in its historical context by

2

• b) Describe the main features of the consumer
  boom that occurred in the
• USA during the 1950s. 4
• Begin your answer by identify what you are
  actually being asked to do main
• features means main things that happened, in
  this case in the consumer boom.
• Write a simple list as a plan suburbs, cars, TV
  sets, shopping malls.
• Write the answer, including all four main
  features, explaining a little about each
• one, whilst trying to link them together.
• For example
• The consumer boom of the 1950s was because the
  USA was very prosperous at
• the end of WW2. There was a baby boom and many
  people bought houses in the
• newly built suburbs that grew up around American
  towns. The most popular
• consumer goods were cars and television sets. Car
  ownership made life in the
• suburbs possible. Advertising on TV encouraged
  the consumer boom and
• increased sales of cars and other consumer goods.

3

• (c) Study Source B below and then answer the
  question which follows.

Texas 35, Arkansas 37, Louisiana 30,
Tennessee 52, Mississippi 5, Alabama
15, Virginia 24, North Carolina 31, South
Carolina 16, Georgia 29 Florida 35.
Source B Statistics showing the percentage of
black people registered to vote in the southern
states of the USA in 1960
Question How useful is Source B as evidence to
an historian studying the inequality between
black and white people in the USA in the 1960s?
4
As this is a source evaluation question, you are
expected to comment on the usefulness of the
source as evidence for a particular focus of the
question. For example Source B is useful
because it tells the historian about the
inequalities between black and white people in
the 1960s. These inequalities were a result of
the discrimination against black people in the
southern states. In Alabama, for example, only
15 could vote. The source is less useful because
it only includes figures for the States where
there was discrimination and because it only
gives figures for 1960. For this reason, it
cannot be used to extrapolate about all of the
1960s. In 1965, for example, black Americans
were all given the right to vote.
4

• Study Source C and then answer the question which
  follows.
• Source C
• To the world he will be remembered as the
  President who helped to bring the thaw in the
  Cold War. The real change came, however, only
  after Cuba. That crisis, taking the world to the
  edge of a nuclear war, left its mark both on him
  and on Mr Khrushchev ... He was not hopeful of an
  early improvement in relations. But he worked for
  such an improvement, as did Mr Khrushchev, and it
  came. But he will be remembered as much for
  anything for his youth and friendliness he was
  a true liberal, a thinker himself no less than a
  man of action.
• Taken from The USA 1917-80 , a secondary
  school history book written by Nigel Smith, a
  history teacher (published 1988)
• Question
• The source is suggesting that JF Kennedy will be
  remembered as the President who helped to bring
  the thaw
• in the Cold War . Is this a fair interpretation?
  
  6
• In your answer you should give arguments for and
  against this view. You should also comment on the
  
• authorship of the source and use your own
  knowledge.
• This question is asking you to use your own
  knowledge to judge an interpretation of history.
• The examiners will expect you to provide evidence
  that looks at both sides.
• You could use quotes from the source to support
  your conclusions.
• For example

5

• (e) President Kennedys New Frontier was a
  great success that benefited all of the people
  in the USA How far do you agree with this
  statement? Explain your answer fully.
  8
• This question is testing factual recall and your
  ability to provide a supported argument that
  examines both
• sides of the interpretation.
• Begin by planning you answer Identify the key
  words highlighted in red (but not in the exam!)
• What was the New Frontier?
• What did it promise to do? (It was a little vague
  on this but poverty, civil rights and women's
  issues.)
• What would have represented a great success and
  did it benefit all of the people of the USA?
• For example
• It would be true to say that JFKs New Frontier
  was a partial success, but that it did not
  benefit everyone.
• Before he was elected Kennedy promised a New
  Frontier of social reforms that would solve the
  social
• problems that faced the USA in 1960. These
  included poverty, civil rights and womens
  issues. JFK failed to
• deliver fully, although he made it possible for
  his successor, Lyndon Johnson to do so.
• JFK did support the Civil Rights campaign and
  gave some black Americans top jobs in the
  Government. He
• failed to get a Civil Rights Act through
  Congress because of opposition from Southern
  Democrats. This same
• opposition stopped his plans for helping the
  elderly.

6

• SECTION B
• Questions
• Explain why the buses in Alabama were
  segregated. 4
• This question is testing recall of knowledge.
• You will need to explain about why the buses in a
  southern State were segregated, by explaining
• what segregation and discrimination were.
• Describe the different ways in which Black
  Americans suffered from segregation. 4
• This question is testing recall of knowledge. You
  will have to describe the nature of segregation,
• providing examples like lunch counters, schools
  and drinking fountains.
• (c) The only reason why segregation ended in the
  USA was because of the tactics used by the Civil
  Rights Movement.
• How far do you agree with this statement?
  Explain your answer fully.
  8
• This question is testing recall of knowledge. It
  is also testing your ability to provide a
  supported
• argument that examines points for and against the
  statement.
• Plan by
• Begin by picking out the key words (shown in red
  but not in the exam!)

7

• (c) The only reason why segregation ended in the
  USA was because of the tactics used by the Civil
  Rights Movement.
• How far do you agree with this statement?
  Explain your answer fully. 8
• For example
• There is no doubt that the Civil Rights Movement
  (CRM) made a major contribution
• towards ending segregation. It was led by Martin
  Luther King. He believed in using
• peaceful methods of protest. The success of the
  Montgomery Bus Boycott showed that
• public sympathy could be gained by non-violent
  protest. Sit-ins at segregated lunch
• counters, Freedom Riders, voter registration
  campaigns and legal challenges like Brown
• vs. Board of Education of Topeka and mass
  rallies, like the March on Selma and
• Washington, were all important in ending
  segregation, because they changed peoples
• attitudes.
• There were, however, related factors that led to
  the end of segregation. These included
• the Cold War, TV, youth rebellion, popular music
  and the attitudes of Presidents like JFK
• and LBJ and new laws.
• Television and cinema coverage of the reaction of
  white racists to peaceful protestors
• embarrassed the government and this led to the
  Johnsons Civil Rights Act of 1964. At