USA: Opposition to the Civil Rights Movement
- Created by: oliviajade26
- Created on: 29-03-18 12:06
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- The KKK and Violence
- The Ku Klux Klan
- set up in 1865 after black salves won their freedom
- KKK wanted to stop black Americans from gaining equality
- operated mostly in Southern states
- terrorised black American families by intimidation and violence
- included murder, often by lynching
- illegal execution usually carried out by a mob
- included murder, often by lynching
- only WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) could join
- they wore hoods as membership was secret
- many Southern states law enforcement officers were involved/ sympathetic
- also attacked Jews, Catholics and liberals
- set up in 1865 after black salves won their freedom
- The Murder of Emmett Till, 1955
- a 14 year old black boy who went to Mississippi in 1955 to visit family
- Carolyn Bryant said he made sexual advances to her at her store
- his cousins said he only wolf-whistled her
- Bryant's husband and his half-brother abducted Emmett the next night
- they beat him severely, shot him and threw him in the river
- his body was found three days later with a weight around his neck
- they beat him severely, shot him and threw him in the river
- Till's mother had an open viewing of the body in Chicago
- this led to extensive media coverage, fuelling widespread shock and outrage
- the defendants were acquitted but later sold their story to a magazine, admitting to the murder
- The Ku Klux Klan
- Political Opposition
- State Opposition
- the views of Southern governors and local state mayors ensured there was strong opposition to the civil rights movement
- they believed that only having white judges and juries was the best way to uphold justice
- they thought that segregation was their right and would always find ways to oppose racial mixing
- Federal Opposition
- attempts to introduce an effective Civil Rights Act were opposed by Southern members of Congress
- Dixiecrats (Democratic Party) had very strong views about keeping segregation
- by 1954, they had rejoined the Democrats because they believed they could have more influence there
- they wanted to protect states' rights to retain laws that guaranteed white supremacy
- Presidents needed the Dixiecrats support so had to take their views on board
- they were fearful that the Dixiecrats would disrupt government, and this hindered the cause for civil rights laws
- Types of Resistance
- e.g. shutting down all state schools to prevent integration
- others used more devious ways
- e.g. making school admission test biased against black students
- some refused to end literacy tests and continued to disrupt opportunities for black voters
- in this way, officials could claim to follow the letter of the law but not stick to the spirit
- some refused to end literacy tests and continued to disrupt opportunities for black voters
- e.g. making school admission test biased against black students
- White Citizens Councils (WCC)
- often began as oppositions to school integration in their local area
- opposed any integration and used economic means to stop it as well as protesting and violence
- in some towns WCC members sacked black employees who were involved in civil rights activities
- members feared that integration would lead to more calls for political and economic equality for black Americans
- opposed any integration and used economic means to stop it as well as protesting and violence
- often began as oppositions to school integration in their local area
- State Opposition
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