Chicago and end of MLK

Created by

Euan C

Cards (37)

What was the black population of Chicago?
700,000 of the 3 million residents were black
Where was the black population concentrated?
In the ghettos of the South and West side
What did black Americans in Chicago suffer from?
Unemployment, housing and education problems
How bad were Chicago schools?
They were so crowded they only attended in half day shifts
Why was King restricted from other NY?
Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell told King to keep out of NY City
Why was King restricted from other Northern cities?
A local NAACP leader told him to keep out of Philadelphia
What form of protest occurred in Chicago in the early 1960s?
In 1961 there were 'wade ins' over the segregated South beach
What occurred in Chicago in 1963?
Over half of the 500,000 black students boycotted their inferior segregated schools for a day in protests, but no improvement came
Who was the Mayor of Chicago?
Daley, who relied heavily on black voters and so was not racist
When was King's Chicago campaign?
1966
What divisions occurred in Chicago?
Local Chicago activists and SCLC members squabbled
How many appeared at the July 1966 rally?
Only 30,000 turned out
What was the SCLC accused of?
Mayor Daley accused them of encouraging rioting
How much did riots in Chicago cause in damages?
$2 million
Who did people blame for the damages?
Many influential white Americans blamed King and asked him to leave
What happened to the latter part of the campaign?
The SCLC campaign withered without the media leading to limited impact on social and economic issues
Why was the protest not as successful as Montgomery?
The population of Chicago was too large and so it was unmanageable and divided
How did Mayor Daley outwit King?
He stopped the marches by threatening fines rather than filling jails and SCLC couldn't pay the fines
What did the police do in Chicago which was different to previous attempts?
They protected marchers on certain occassions
What did William Dawson say?
He was a black Congressman who represented Chicago since WW2 and opposed mass action, believing it caused trouble
What incident occurred involving CORE?
500 CORE marchers defied King and entered the suburb of Cicero to publicise the fact they couldn't live there
What happened in Cicero?
The whites reacted with violence such as bottles, racist abuse and rocks
What is one example of the police protecting marchers?
800 police protected 700 marchers on one occasion
When did riots occur?
In July 1966 in West side ghettos
What did King attempt to do in 1967-68?
Create a coalition surrounding poverty which was called the Poor People's Campaign
What was the aim of the Poor People's Campaign?
To recruit representatives of the poor in an effort to exert political pressure upon federal government to enforce change
When was King killed?
In 1968 he was shot and killed in Tennessee
What did King's death trigger?
Rioting in Washington, Chicago, Baltimore and Kansas City
How widespread were riots upon King's death?
There were major riots in 100 cities with 46 dead, 3000 injured and 27,000 arrrested
How much property damage came due to the riots after King's death?
$145 million of property damage
Who was the SCLC's new president after King?
Ralph Abernathy
What did Abernathy decide to?
Continue with King's campaign, however it was a failure that the SCLC never recovered from
What did King's death remove?
The one person able to unify the black population and command broad respect from whites, bridging the racial divide
What did King plan for his march on Washington?
An initial 2000 poor people to descend on Washington
When was the descent on Washington?
12th May 1968
What occurred in Washington?
Thousands of women led by Coretta King formed the first wave of demonstrators
What formed in Washington?
Resurrection City, where protestors stayed for over a month until they were forced out after the assassination of Robert Kennedy