Civil Rights & BLM 5H

• Engels
• Middelbare school

Key question 1

1H      6B

2G       7A

3D       8I

4E        9F

5C       10J

1. What did the Jim Crow laws entail? 

Jim Crow laws were laws in the South based on race. They enforced segregation between white people and black people in public places such as schools, transportation, restrooms, and restaurants. They also made it difficult for black people to vote.

2. Why were they called Jim Crow?

The name "Jim Crow" comes from an African-American character in a song from 1832. After the song came out, the term "Jim Crow" was often used to refer to African-Americans and soon the segregation laws became known as "Jim Crow" laws.

3. In general, what is meant by civil rights?

a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States

4. According to the website, why is the history of black Americans and their strife for civil rights significant to the history of the United States?

Because it was symbolic of the fight for rights for all people. As well, such movements

have not only secured citizenship rights for blacks but have also redefined prevailing

conceptions of the nature of civil rights and the role of government in protecting these

rights

5. According to the website, even though the government had passed laws in favor of desegregation, why was “black activism” still necessary?

Even after the Supreme Court declared that public school segregation was

unconstitutional, black activism was necessary to compel the federal government to

implement the decision and extend its principles to all areas of public life rather than

simply in schools.

6. Explain the significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

This legislation outlawed segregation in public facilities and racial discrimination in

employment and education. In addition to blacks, women and other victims of

discrimination benefited from the act.

7. What events brought about the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

The Birmingham Campaign and the Match on Washington

8. What is “Bloody Sunday”? Explain its significance

On March 7 a planned march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery ended almost

before it began at Pettus Bridge on the outskirts of Selma, when mounted police using tear gas

and wielding clubs attacked the protesters. News accounts of “Bloody Sunday” brought

hundreds of civil rights sympathizers to Selma. Many demonstrators were determined to

mobilize another march, and activists challenged King to defy a court order forbidding such

marches. Dramatically increased the resolve of the Civil Rights Activists

9. What does the abbreviation NAACP stand for and when was the NAACP set up?

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was set up in 1909. They funded lawyers for black people who were treated very badly by the courts.

10. When was the Black Panther Party (BPP) set up and what was its aim?

n 1966, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) formed in Oakland, California. Along with Malcolm X, the BPP represented strands of civil rights activism that drew attention to experiences of racial inequality happening in the cities of the north and California. Martin Luther King until 1968 had largely focused on southern issues.

11. When did segregation in the US army end?

In the Second World War, black Americans fought for the USA. In 1948, the US military finally allowed black and white soldiers to serve next to each other. However, the war caused many black Americans to question why they would fight overseas against a racist power like Nazi Germany for freedoms they did not enjoy at home in the USA.

12. Who was Malcolm X?

13. Why did Malcolm X criticize Martin Luther King Jr. and the mainstream Civil Rights Movement?

Malcolm X was a minister, human rights activist and prominent Black nationalist leader who served as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam during the 1950s and 1960s. A naturally gifted orator, Malcolm X exhorted Black people to cast off the shackles of racism "by any means necessary," including violence.

By the early 1960s, Malcolm X had emerged as a leading voice of a radicalized wing of the civil rights movement, presenting a dramatic alternative to Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a racially-integrated society achieved by peaceful means. 

I have a dream..

1. Example of a metaphor: 
the mountain of despair a stone of hope

2. Example of a simile: 

No, no, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.

SONGS

- Elements such as: light in the darkness represent hope while being oppressed.

- Dream

- Overcoming all challenges

I, Too by Langston Hughes

1. The profession of the speaker: a domestic servant.

2. They: the (white) people he serves.

Timeline

1948 - Equal rights for the military

1954 - Brown vs Board of Education

1955 - Brutal murder of Emmett Till

1955 - Rosa Parks - Montgomery bus boycott

1957 - Students are denied access to school in Little Rock

1963 - Protests in Birmingham after murder on 4 black girls

1963 - March on Washington DC

1964 - Civil Rights Act

1968 - MLK was shot

What do you already
know about Black Lives Matter?

Key - 1. Metaphor in the Title

 The “hill” being climbed is not a literal one, but a metaphor for progress. Explanation: The hill in the poem is a metaphor for progress in America.

Key 2. dawn and shade

light and darkness  --> hope vs dispair

dawn --> a new day --> a new start

Key 3. Quiet isn't always peace

Not acting or ignoring a situation is not peaceful. 

What just is... isn't justice.

key 4. Amanda Gorman

Gorman references her own success: she, an African-American woman who was raised by a single mother and who is descended from black slaves, can (thanks to the first black President, Barack Obama, under whom Biden, incidentally, served as Vice-President) dream of growing up to be President. And in the meantime, here she is, Amanda Gorman, reciting for a President.

Key 5 - Langston Hughes

Both poems have hope for a better future as a central theme. 

7. Key - the message 

The poem celebrates the U.S. not as a "perfect union," but as a country that has the grit to struggle with its all-too-real problems. Progress, the poem argues, doesn't happen all at once: it's a slow and sometimes painful "climb" up the "hill" of justice, a climb that takes patience and humility.