The Slave Trade - LT Scotland



Voices of

Freedom (Part 2)

A Country Divided

Although the slave trade had been successfully abolished in Britain, this did not help the hundreds of thousands of slaves already working on plantations in the southern states of America where slavery was still legal. There were lots of separate states in the USA, each working differently like small individual countries with their own laws but joining up for bigger things such as their army or navy. That’s why it is called the United States of America.

However the southern states had thousands of plantations growing things like sugar, cotton and tobacco which needed many workers. The southerners said they could not exist without slaves. In the northern states slavery was not legal. They did not have big plantations and therefore did not need any slaves. There was growing tension between the northern and southern states over the issue of slavery and things got worse when a new president was elected in 1860.

When Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States of America there were many problems in America around this time. Lincoln wanted to free all of America’s slaves but he wanted to keep the northern and southern states together, but he could not do it. Six weeks after he was elected, the southern states set up on their own, calling themselves the Confederate States of America and declared war on the northern states. America was now a divided country at Civil War.

Activity – Put today’s date and the heading ‘A Country Divided’ in your jotter. Look at the map of America on the next page and create a table in your jotter with two columns. One for the North and one for the South. Look at each of the statements and try and match them up in your table. The first two have been done for you.

North South

Wanted North and South to be one Wanted to break away from the

country northern states.

Wanted a strong central government Wanted to control power

which would take charge of the locally and was against paying

economy and help industry grow. tariffs on manufactured goods.

Free At Last

Many black people rushed to fight for the North, including black slaves who managed to escape from the plantations in the South. But President Lincoln said they could not be soldiers. He did not want to upset people in the South by allowing runaway slaves to fight in his army. But this did not work. The war lingered on and on with hundreds of thousands of Americans killed and in 1863 Lincoln announced that all slaves were to be set free and black people could now join the Northern army.

However despite that fact that many signed up to fight for the North they were kept segregated from white units within their own army and to begin with they were not even allowed to fight! They were also paid less money, given less adequate food and medicine and given poorer fighting equipment. The war ended in 1865 and with the help of black soldiers the North was victorious. Sadly however President Lincoln was assassinated just five days later.

Activity – Put the heading ‘Free At Last’ in your jotter together with todays date. Watch the short clip and read the letter below written by a black soldier to a local newspaper. Imagine you are a black soldier in the Northern army. Write a short diary entry saying how you feel about not being able to fight for your country. You could also mention the poor treatment and equipment.

After you watch the clip, try and think of a question to ask the teacher

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was one of America’s most famous and successful presidents. As a result of his Presidency three important changes were made to the American Constitution. This is the document drawn up by what is called the founding fathers of the United States of America – the men who organised the first government of the USA – the document contains all the rules and regulations about how the government should run the country and how it should treat the American people.

Thirteenth Amendment 6th December 1865

The abolishment of slavery

Fourteenth Amendment 9th July 1868

Black people are made full citizens of the USA

Fifteenth Amendment 3rd February 1870

All black men given equal voting rights

with white men

`Homework – There is a famous monument in Washington, the capital of the USA, dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. Design your own monument to Abraham Lincoln which includes an inscription (piece of writing on the monument) explaining why Lincoln is worthy of being remembered as a famous and successful President of the USA. If there is time the teacher will show you the animated Abraham Lincoln biography to help you.

Separate but Equal?

Despite the best efforts of President Lincoln and others who supported the civil rights movement in America, almost 100 years after slavery was abolished black people were still suffering in their own country but this time for other reasons. In 1896 the highest court in America, the Supreme Court, ruled that separate but equal facilities were acceptable in the USA. This meant that it was acceptable to keep black people and white people apart – this is called segregation. In the 1950s in America it was common to see black people and white people being kept apart on buses, on trains, in hotels, restaurants, schools, churches, cinemas and even public toilets and drinking fountains.

Watch the clip carefully and try and think of any questions you could ask.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

When people talk about the American Civil Rights Movement many point to the events which took place in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 as the start of the movement.

The Supreme Court of America had ruled in 1954 that keeping people apart on buses was unconstitutional (unfair and against American beliefs) but like many rules and decisions made by the Supreme Court, some states in the south simply chose to ignore the ruling.

Alabama was one of the states in the south which chose to ignore the ruling of the Supreme Court. In Montgomery the segregation laws on buses provided seats for both blacks and whites but in separate sections of the bus. White people would sit at the front of the bus and blacks would sit at the back. If all the seats were full then a white person was allowed by law to ask the driver to make a black person stand and give up their seat. If a black person got on the bus and all the black seats were taken but the white seats were empty they had to stand in the black section until a black seat became available even though there were empty seats at the front of the bus.

On 1st December 1955, a 42 year old black woman called Rosa Parks was making her way home from her job at a local department store in Montgomery. Every day she would board bus number 2857 for her journey home to Cleveland Avenue. You can see from the diagram on the left exactly where Rosa Parks sat on the bus that day.

On the following page you will read what happened to Rosa Parks on that historic day……

Activity – Think Pair Share - You will now watch a short DVD about Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. With a partner, take notes during the DVD and then together write a short poem or song about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks.

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King was the minister of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. After Rosa Park was arrested the local community asked King to lead the campaign to end the segregation of black and white passengers on the city’s buses. The successful desegregation of Montgomery’s bus companies raised the profile of both Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement.

King went on the form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SLCC) and used this group as his basis for improving the lives of black people in the United States of America. King’s main philosophy was non-violent protest. He strongly believed that the use of violence would not help black people achieve equal civil rights in America. King had studied the tactics of Mahatma Gandhi who had successfully used non-violent protests to end British rule in his country of India. Speaking to the bus boycotters in 1955, King was clear that he would not use violence.

“In our protest there will be no cross burnings. No white person will be taken from his house by a hooded negro mob and brutally murdered. There will be no threats or bullying. Love your enemies and pray for them.”

Listen to the first part of King’s speech and think of a question to ask the teacher

Martin Luther King gained worldwide fame through his work with the bus boycotters, the Freedom Riders, the restaurant sit-ins, the protests in Birmingham, Alabama and perhaps most famously his March on Washington in 1963 when over 200,000 people gathered in the US capital to listen to his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech which was recently voted the most inspirational speech of all time. Later that year King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest man ever to win it. He was still only 35 years old.

In July of 1964 after many meetings with Martin Luther King, the then President of the United States of America, Lyndon B Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Act 1964 which expressly prohibited any kind of discrimination based on race, religion or colour and also gave the government the power to enforce desegregation.

Listen to the second part of King’s speech and think of a question to ask the teacher

Activity – Collect your copy of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech and, working with a partner, complete it with your own words relevant to Scotland. While you are working on your speech your teacher will play King’s speech set to music to inspire you!!

Homework – Using the information in this booklet and research on the internet complete a short fact-file on the life of Martin Luther King.

Little Rock Nine

A small town in a quiet part of America became famous throughout the world in 1957 when nine black children in Little Rock, Arkansas decided to take advantage of the Supreme Court decision of 1954 that ‘separate education facilities are inherently unequal’. The Supreme Court was really saying that schools should be integrated not segregated. Two years after this ruling not one single black child attended a white school in the southern states of America but when the Central High School in Little Rock decided to open it’s doors to black students, nine brave teenagers stepped forward to change the lives of every black school pupil in the southern United States.

There was a problem however. The Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, was strongly against integration. He sent state soldiers to the school to prevent the nine black students getting in and an angry and hostile mob of white protestors intimidated the students. People around the world were horrified at the actions and attitude of the white people who were against integration.

The first black student who tried to get in to Central High School was 15 year old Elizabeth Eckford. Here is how she remembers her attempts to get to school:

“My knees started to shake and I wondered if I would make it to school. The crowd moved closer and closer. Somebody started yelling ‘drag her over to this tree and we’ll take care of that nigger.’”

The President of the United States however was no longer willing to allow southern states in America to ignore the rulings of the Supreme Court so he ordered Faubus to remove his state soldiers and instead he sent in 1,000 Federal troops to protect the nine students. The soldiers would escort the black students around the school all day for a year. The events in Little Rock attracted worldwide attention to the Civil Rights movement.

The picture above is one of the most famous images from the Civil Rights movement. It highlights the hatred and intimidation suffered by the Little Rock Nine. Can you imagine what it must have felt like for Elizabeth Eckford as she made her way through that crowd every day just to go to school to get an education?

As you can imagine life for the Little Rock Nine after the Federal troops left was very difficult.

Despite their difficulties, and even the closure of the school for a whole year by Governor Faubus, the Little Rock Nine all graduated successfully from Central Rock High School and in 1999, almost 40 years later, President Bill Clinton presented all nine with the highest civilian award in America, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Activity – Snowballing – Imagine you are a news reporter sent over from Britain to cover the Central High School story. Use the information from the short video clips and on this page to think of three questions you would like to ask the black students. Write your questions on a piece of paper which you then throw to another pupil in the class. When you receive a piece of paper, answer one question on it before throwing it on to someone else!

Restaurant Sit-Ins

On 1st February 1960, four students ordered sodas, coffee and donuts from a Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their order was refused. The students were sitting at a whites-only lunch counter.

Like many cities and towns in the South, Greensboro continued to operate a policy of segregation. When the four black students sat down at the ‘Whites Only’ counter opposite them was a sign on the wall.

After refusing to move, the four students returned the next day with 80 more black and white protestors. The students were following the non-violent teaching methods of Martin Luther King, and despite horrific intimidation, they continued their daily protests and were joined by over 70,000 protestors in cities all over the South.

Each night on the television viewers across America watched as the peaceful demonstrators were taunted, verbally assaulted, beaten and attacked and taken to jail. However campaigners like Martin Luther King realised that the media was an important weapon for the Civil Rights movement. The television, newspaper and radio coverage of the treatment of black demonstrators was not good publicity for the restaurant owners and they were losing money. King also knew that the court system couldn’t cope with so many young people being arrested. The jails were bursting at the seams and the courts couldn’t cope with so many trials so the students were usually released after a night in jail but it was still good publicity for the Civil Rights movement.

The Freedom Riders

Later in 1960 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public areas such as restaurants, waiting rooms and rest rooms was unlawful. A group of black and white students from the North formed a group called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and decided to find out if desegregation in these areas had actually taken place.

Their plan was to travel by bus in May 1961 from Washington in the North to New Orleans in the South to check and see if waiting areas and toilets in each of the bus stations had been desegregated. The students became known as ‘Freedom Riders’ and the bus journeys were called ‘Freedom Rides’.

The first few legs of the journey passed without incident but as soon as the buses began to arrive in the South, the trouble started. Some of the worst violence took place in the state of Alabama, a stronghold of the Ku Klux Klan. Students were dragged from their seats and beaten and the buses were firebombed. The violence was so bad that even Martin Luther King tried to get the students to stop their journey because he feared for their safety.

"You could see baseball bats, you could see hammers, you could see pieces of chain. You knew why they were there. . . .And you knew it was very soon going to happen. At that moment. . .I bowed by head, and I prayed. And I asked God to give me the strength to be non-violent. I asked God to forgive them for whatever they might do. " Jim Zwerg, a white Freedom Rider.

Eventually the violence and television coverage was so bad that the new President of the United States, John F Kennedy, sent one of his advisors to travel on one of the legs of the journey. His name was John Seigenthaler and his job was to try and keep the Freedom Riders safe. As you can see from the images he was not very successful.

For what was to prove to be the final leg of the journey, President Kennedy sent Federal Troops to escort the Freedom Riders travelling to Jackson in Mississippi but on their arrival the Governor of Mississippi charged each of the Freedom Riders with trespassing, breach of the peace and intent to incite a riot and put all of them in the infamous Parchman State Prison. However the Freedom Rides were arguably the most successful part of the Civil Rights movement because of the publicity they created. New orders were issued to all interstate bus companies that ended segregation at interstate bus stations and at the end of 1961 the US government ordered the end of segregation at airports and railway stations.

Activity – put the heading ‘Freedom Riders’ in your jotter together with today’s date and collect a map of the Freedom Riders journey to colour in and stick in your jotter.

After watching the Freedom Ride clips collect a homework sheet from the teacher

1963: A Year To Remember ?

1962 was a quiet year for the Civil Rights Movement but the same cannot be said for 1963. Many major events were to take place in 1963 that would have a significant impact on the success of the whole civil rights campaign.

May: Birmingham, Alabama

Martin Luther King leads a protest march which includes over 1,000 school children through Birmingham, Alabama, ‘the most racist city in the US’. The local police chief, Bull Connor, is a known racist and he was waiting for the protestors. In full view of TV cameras he authorised his men to use fire hoses, billy clubs and dogs to attack the peaceful demonstrators. America watched in horror as the children were savagely beaten and attacked and over 900 were put in prison.

June: Murder of Medgar Evers

Medgar Evers was the leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in Mississippi and he had helped James Meredith become the first black man to attend that city’s university in 1962. Evers was shot in the back by Ku Klux Klan member, Byron De La Beckwith, as he pulled into the driveway of his home. After initially being found innocent, De La Beckwith was successfully convicted in 1994.

August: Graduation of James Meredith

James Meredith was the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi and he successfully graduated in 1963. When he enrolled in the university in October 1962 the riots outside were so bad that President Kennedy had to send 3,000 US Marshals and Federal Troops to control the white crowds but two bystanders were killed and almost 200 people including 150 soldiers were injured. Three years later Meredith narrowly survived a snipers bullet while taking part in a solitary civil rights march from Tennessee to Mississippi.

August: March on Washington

On August 28 1963 250,000 men, women and children gathered beside the Lincoln Memorial to pressurise the US government to pass the Civil Rights Bill that had stalled in the US Congress (parliament). The day was a huge success for the Civil Rights movement as many US TV channels showed the event live on TV and people all over the world listened to Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech.

September: 16th Street Church Bombings

Just two weeks after the March on Washington, four members of the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham, Alabama placed a box of dynamite in the basement of the local Baptist Church and detonated it when 26 children were inside. Three 14 year old girls and an 11 year old girl were killed in the blast and the remaining 22 were injured some very seriously. Only one member of the gang was caught and in front of an all white jury was found not guilty of murder but guilty of possession of dynamite and fined $100.

November: Assassination of JFK

John F Kennedy was the youngest ever President of the United States of America when he was elected in 1960. He had been elected after the closest Presidential election in American history when he beat his rival by 34.2 million votes to 34.1 million. One of the reasons JFK won the election was the number of black votes he had received after making many speeches and promises to improve the civil rights of black Americans but he had failed to deliver on many of these promises. However in the last 6 months of his life he had been trying hard to push through a Civil Rights bill which would give all black people equal rights in America. Sadly on November 22nd 1963 during a trip to Dallas, Texas, an assassin’s bullets ended his life.

Activity 1 – put the heading ‘1963 – A Year To Remember?’ together with today’s date then answer the following questions in your jotter in full and proper sentences.

1. Why do you think Martin Luther King chose the city of Birmingham, Alabama as the location for his next protest?

2. Knowing what you have learned so far about civil rights in America, why do you think the killer of Medgar Evers would have originally been found not guilty of his murder?

3. Give two reasons why you think the ‘March on Washington’ was so successful?

4. Most of the people in America were horrified by the assassination of President John F Kennedy. But not everyone involved in the Civil Rights Movement was upset. Why do you think that may have been?

5. Of all the events that occurred in 1963 which do you think was the most important for the Civil Rights Movement. Make sure you give a reason for your answer.

Peer Assessment – when you have finished the five questions swap your jotter with someone else in class and mark their answers. This is called peer assessment. You should be looking for a proper underlined heading with today’s date and their answers should be in full and proper sentences with capital letters in the right places. At the end of their work write a positive comment about their answers.

Activity 2 – Select an activity from one of the following 5 choices.

A. Working with a partner, create a bright and colourful poster showing all the major civil rights events of 1963.

B. Imagine it’s December 1963 and the boss at your newspaper has asked you to write a report about everything that has happened this year. Make sure your paper has a name and a catchy headline.

C. With a partner create a radio or television show interview with a proper script. One of you should be the interviewer and the other Martin Luther King discussing the events of 1963.

D. Pick any one of the 6 events and write a letter to someone involved expressing your thoughts and feelings on what has happened. For instance you could write to Jackie Kennedy, Mrs Evers, Martin Luther King, James Meredith, Bull Connor or even a KKK member.

E. With a group of at least 3 people create a short mini-play about the events of 1963. Make sure that each person has a speaking role and get a camera from your teacher to record it for the rest of the class!

Ku Klux Klan

Throughout the 20th century, whilst black people campaigned for better civil rights in America, one sinister group was always in the background, the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan was a secret organisation formed in the South after the American Civil War who at their peak it is estimated had over 3 million members. Members of the Klan argued that anyone who was un-American was a threat to the traditional way of American life. In reality this meant they believed blacks were inferior human beings who did not deserve civil rights and they were also against Catholics and Jews.

To be a member of the Klan you had to be a native-born American, white, Protestant and over 16 years of age. Local Klan groups were called Klaverns and the overall leader of the Klan was led by the Grand Wizard of the Empire. To hide their identity Klan members wore white robes and white pointed hoods.

What Did The Klan Do?

▪ Klansmen would march through towns threatening people and warning others to leave.

▪ Klansmen would burn large crosses near the homes of people they wanted to frighten.

▪ Klansmen would kidnap, whip, mutilate and murder their victims.

▪ Perhaps more infamously there were known for lynching many black Americans.

Some policemen, judges and local officials were members of the Klan which allowed them to get away with so many crimes. Very often the presence alone of the Klan was enough to frighten and intimidate black people and would stop them from doing things such as registering to vote or demonstrating in the streets for civil rights.

Lynching

Lynching was the word used to describe the kidnap, torture and murder of blacks in the South. For a black person who had done something wrong in the eyes of the Klan they might be whipped to death, hanged or even burned alive. And very often they had done absolutely nothing wrong at all but if they fell into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan they could expect a terrifying experience. The table below shows the number of lynchings of blacks in the South over a 50 year period.

Years Number of Lynchings

1880-1889 614

1890-1899 1,115

1900-1909 792

1910-1919 569

1920-1929 281

The Ku Klux Klan attracted many members for a variety of reasons such as high unemployment and, as well as policeman and judges who knew they could get away with their crimes, poor and uneducated white people were attracted to the sense of protection provided by the Klan. Many blacks in the South were superstitious and lived in remote farm shacks and when men in white robes appeared outside their homes with guns, ropes and burning torches it did not need much imagination for them to believe that white ghosts had come to kill them.

Activity – Put the heading ‘Ku Klux Klan’ in your jotter together with today’s date then complete the following tasks.

1. Create a bar graph showing the lynching of black people in the South between 1880 and 1929 using the information from the table above.

2. Collect a copy of the KKK cartoon and complete the speech balloons first THEN stick the picture into your jotter.

Watch the Ku Klux Klan clip carefully as your teacher may ask you some questions afterwards

Freedom Summer

The power and intimidation of the Ku Klux Klan were highlighted by a significant event during the Freedom Summer of 1964. In June of that year Martin Luther King helped to organise a group of students from the North to come down to the South to states like Alabama and Mississippi who had the worst records for black voter registration in America.

Despite black people being allowed to vote since 1870, many southern states did their best to ensure that the registration process for black people was lengthy, complicated and in some instances almost impossible. For example in Selma, Alabama 15,000 black adults had the right to vote but only 335 had been able to register. Unlike white people, blacks had to complete long registration forms which sometimes had up to 100 questions and not only did they have to get all questions correct they were not allowed to make any spelling mistakes.

So many students from the North’s universities in New York, Boston and Chicago travelled south to help black people complete these registration forms to get as many black voters registered as possible. Three such students were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. While driving through Mississippi the three men were arrested by the local sheriff “for investigation”. After being questioned and released their car was ambushed later by members of the Ku Klux Klan, including the sheriff. All three were tortured, beaten and shot to death and their bodies dumped in a local swamp.

The disappearance of the three young men, who were all in their early 20s, caused a national uproar in America. The new President, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to look into the mystery and for six weeks the case captured the imagination of the American public. During their search the FBI found the bodies of seven murdered black man who hadn’t even been reported missing.

When their mutilated bodies were eventually discovered six weeks later the FBI offered a $25,000 reward and an informant came forward with information which led to the arrest of the sheriff, his deputy and 17 other men. Despite overwhelming evidence, which included all 17 men admitting to membership of the Ku Klux Klan, 11 were found not guilty including the sheriff. The jury of 12 men and women was all white. None of the guilty men served more than 6 years in jail. Years later a female juror admitted she had been visited and threatened by members of the Ku Klux Klan. You can see from the image below that the sheriff and his deputy were not too worried about the trial.

[pic]

Despite an unhappy conclusion to the trial the whole episode helped to galvanise the Civil Rights movement in the United States. For the first time it seemed that people in the North were directly affected and the publicity from the case helped to drive the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Civil Rights Act 1964

No racial discrimination allowed in public

places such as restaurants and hotels.

No segregation in schools, museums,

libraries and hospitals.

No discrimination in employment.

Voting Rights Act 1965

Despite the best efforts of Martin Luther King and the students from the North black people still found it difficult to vote in the South. King had recently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in late 1964 for his civil rights work and he used his new worldwide fame to make one final push for equal voting rights for black Americans.

King chose Selma, Alabama as the site for his next protest and although it was a risky plan that would be met by violent white resistance, the civil rights campaign leaders knew that the publicity would be priceless for their movement in a state where the Governor, George Wallace, had famously been quoted as saying …..

“Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

To no ones surprise the 600 marchers were met by 200 of Governor Wallace’s state troopers and the local police on horseback and were told to turn around. When they refused the troopers attacked with tear gas, bull whips and batons. The demonstrators were beaten, whipped and trampled. Just as King had hoped, television viewers in America and throughout the world were shocked and disgusted by what they saw on their TV screens.

Many people believe that not only did Martin Luther King expect the violence but he even wanted it. He knew that the television images would turn public opinion against the white racists and he was right. In August 1965 President Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which made it illegal for states to place barriers such as reading and writing tests and lengthy complicated registration forms to prevent blacks from voting. As a result of the Act over 200,000 people in Alabama alone were now eligible to vote.

1 2

3 4

Activity – Hot Seating - watch the Selma and Voting Rights clips then together with the information on this page come up with 5 questions for your group to ask the other groups in class. Only one person should answer for the group so remember to discuss before answering!

Yes We Can!!

Today the United States of America could not say that it is a country free of all racial discrimination and there are still problems with black poverty however there is no doubt that the efforts of those people who campaigned for better civil rights greatly improved the lives of black people in America.

Although America went on to suffer other problems and deal with issues such as the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, the Black Panther movement, the Watts Riots and the Mexico Olympic Games there is no doubt that the American people live in a country in which all its citizens have the same rights regardless of their race or colour and perhaps this is best summed up by the election of the country’s first ever black President, Barack Obama, in 2008.

“Fifty-five years ago, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus. The Montgomery Bus Boycott marked a turning point in American history – the moment where we began the march toward the Civil Rights Movement and the eventual outlawing of racial segregation and discrimination.  Rosa Parks and the many other leaders and foot soldiers in that struggle for justice championed our founding principles of freedom and equality for all. I encourage all Americans to honour their legacy – the legacy of Americans who marched bravely, worked tirelessly, and devoted their lives to the never-ending task of making our country a more perfect union.” Barack Obama 1st December 2010

When Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America on January 20th 2009 sitting in the audience that day after receiving special invitations from the new President were Terence Roberts, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas, Elizabeth Eckford, Carlotta Walls, Minnie Brown, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed and Melba Patillo – the Little Rock Nine.

“To look at a man of colour and call him President is something I never thought I would see in my lifetime.” Terence Roberts

Final Activity – with a partner complete a timeline poster showing all the major dates and events of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Separate schools

Separate water fountains and telephone boxes

Blacks had to pass reading and writing tests in order to vote

Black and white people were not allowed to marry each other

Black and white people were not allowed to play board games together

Black and white workers at a cotton mill were not allowed to look out of the same window

Text books printed for black and white students were kept apart in the warehouse

3. Rosa Park’s arrest led to a 13 month boycott of the buses in Montgomery. The protest was led by Martin Luther King and continued despite attacks on many of the black people involved.

1. In the 1950s in southern USA, buses were segregated. Black people had to sit at the back. If the white seats were full, black people had to stand to let white people sit, or they would face a fine.

2. One day in 1955, in Montgomery Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man.

4. A Federal court case ruled that segregation was wrong. The bus companies were losing lots of money and eventually they were forced to end segregation on their buses.

“When the troops left all hell broke loose, they’d taunt you in the corridors and try to trip you. There were water guns and you’d get phone calls at night saying they’d have acid in the water guns next day.” Ernest Green

“We couldn’t fight back or we’d be expelled. That might mean the end of integration.” Jefferson Thomas

LUNCH COUNTER

NO NIGGERS SERVED HERE

May 15 riders severely beaten and hospitalised

May 14 buses attacked and firebombed.

Scene of first violence

Depart 4 May 1961

May 24 over 300 arrested at terminal

New Orleans

May 20 riders beaten again. Federal troops arrive

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