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Extent of Civil Rights progress in the 1950s (Civil Rights Act 1957…
Extent of Civil Rights progress in the 1950s
Transport
White Response
The Ku Klux Klan strongly opposed desegregation and soon turned to violence. Some African American residents of Montgomery were intimidated or attacked by hooded KKK members; there were incidents of sniping and bombings of churches.
Positives
The Montgomery Bus Boycott showed how the African American population could have a greater impact if they came together behind a cause and used their economic power. It inspired several other protests using direct action, notably the Tallahassee Bus Boycott of 1956-58.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Negatives
On 30th January 1956, Martin Luther King's house was bombed. Although his wife and their year-old daughter were unharmed, the front of the house was damaged and the windows were blown out.
Civil Rights Act 1957
White Responses
Negatives
The Civil Rights Act had very little immediate impact.
The Civil Rights activists were disappointed that the act did not go as they wanted
The two acts only improved the number of African Americans registering to vote by 3%.
Positives
It was the first time in 82 years that the federal government had acted to try and improve the civil rights of African Americans.
The most important result was the ineffective Civil Rights Act of 1957 was that congress had passed another civil rights act in 1960. This Act was significant because it introduced Federal inspections of the process used by state governors to register voters and penalties.
Schools
Little Rock Nine
Positives
When the president intervened to protect the students it showed the willingness of the state to endorse the fight for civil rights for African Americans; this also showed that the government could overrule state governments to enforce its law
The events were also widely publicised, increasing support for the cause and general knowledge of the situation. The publicity also made bad reputation for the US and caused further incentive to take action
Negatives
Very negative response from public made it difficult for children trying to attend newly integrated schools (eg. Little Rock Nine)
integration took a very long time (Little Rock school remained segregated until 1970 despite the Little Rock Nine in 1957), and black students were still wary of attending these schools due to the strong hatred exhibited by white supremacists
The schools in Little Rock were finally closed by Governor Faubus when it was insisted that they should be integrated.
White Response
Even state troops were mobilised to stop the Little Rock Nine from attending, ordered by Governor Faubus, so the students could only start 3 weeks later, on September 25th
The group of students had to be protected by the army the entire year and received many threats and much abuse during their time in attendance. Their families were also continuously harassed
Much of the white population in Arkansas was very opposed to the integration of schools, and they formed angry mobs outside schools that were undergoing integration
Brown vs Board of Topeka
White Response
The white-only Summer Elementary School of Topeka refused to enroll Linda Brown
Positives
The NAACP took this case along with 4 other similar cases to the Supreme Court after it was rejected in the local court, where NAACP lawyers argued in the case that segregated schools damaged African American students psychologically even if the facilities were equal (though they often weren't). On May 17th 1954, the court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional, destroying the previous legal precedent of Plessy vs Fergusson.
integration in the Deep South started
the government had finally showed support for the african american rights
publicity also increased awareness and outrage over the situation and caused bad publicity for the US abroad
Negatives