history- Civil rights movement

• Racial conflict

  Conflict between different racial groups
• Civil rights movement


  Movement to secure equal rights and opportunities for black Americans
• The U.S. was a wealthy society but affluence did not bring peace
• The American constitution (1791) said 'all men were created equal'
• The constitution also allowed slavery until 1865
• Even after the abolition of slavery, black Americans were not given equal rights
• Plessy VS Ferguson


  Jim crow laws were passed in southern states that forced racial segregation in places like schools, buses, bathrooms, park benches
• In some states black people couldn't vote or had to prove their literacy
• The KKK persecuted, and even lynched black Americans
• Conditions of change

  • WW2 was a turning point
  • Thousands of black soldiers served in the army & worked in war industries in defence of democracy & freedom but still got treated as second-hand citizens in their own state
  • By 1945, huge numbers of black people had migrated from southern to northern states & from rural areas to urban areas
  • Concentrated black pop in certain areas made it easier to organise protests
• Rise of liberalism


  The colour of someone's skin is unimportant
• New educated black leadership

  Martin Luther King
• U.S. portrayed itself as leader of the free world against evil communism


  The U.S. could not have millions of its own people treated as second hand citizens
• Influence of mass media


  All Americans became aware of the brutal & aggressive treatment of black people
• NAACP (national association for the advancement of coloured people)


  Foundation meant that black people became better organised