19.1.7

Opposition to the Civil Rights Movement

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Opposition to the Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement faced opposition at all levels of society. For example the ‘Dixiecrats’ in Congress and the KKK in the Deep South.

Illustrative background for The Ku Klux Klan Illustrative background for The Ku Klux Klan  ?? "content

The Ku Klux Klan

  • A violent white supremacist group, mainly in the South who claimed the Bible supported segregation.
  • Many Southern white church-goers were members of the KKK, including members of the police and legal system.
  • In 1955 in Mississippi, the racist killing of two black men who attempted to register to vote was written off by authorities as a car accident.
  • Nobody was arrested for the crime.
Illustrative background for Opposition to desegregation in the SouthIllustrative background for Opposition to desegregation in the South ?? "content

Opposition to desegregation in the South

  • State governors, mayors and state officials in the South nearly all supported segregation.
  • After Brown v. Topeka in 1954, White Citizens’ Councils were set up to campaign against desegregation as they did not see black people as equal citizens who should be able to use the same facilities as whites.
  • They threatened black families who tried to attend desegregated schools, and even bombed schools.
Illustrative background for Congress and the ‘Dixiecrats’Illustrative background for Congress and the ‘Dixiecrats’ ?? "content

Congress and the ‘Dixiecrats’

  • The most important opponents of desegregation in Congress were called the Dixiecrats.
  • They were a racist political group who had left the Democrats in opposition to a civil rights bill for the military that President Truman attempted to introduce in 1948.
Illustrative background for The ‘Dixiecrats’Illustrative background for The ‘Dixiecrats’ ?? "content

The ‘Dixiecrats’

  • Although they later re-joined the Democrats, they continued to oppose civil rights.
  • The Presidents had to take their views into account because there were enough of them in Congress to effect the passing of laws.

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1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

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11US Independence, 1775-1783

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14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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