What can this picture tell us?

Noticing details
 Civil Rights
Making
links

Starter: What
image do you get
of the Civil Rights
Movement from
this picture?

How successful was the struggle for Civil Rights

in the 1950s?
http://network.blendedschools.net/bsn
tube/videos/2235/civil-rights-photo-m
ovie

Think: What does the video clip tell you about the Civil
Rights movement in American after 1945?

Imagining
 Learning Objectives
Key Questions for this unit are:

- What was the state of civil rights in America in c. 1950?

- Did the Second World War have an impact on the

position of African Americans?

- Why was the struggle over desegregated education in

the 1950s important?

- What was the importance of the Montgomery Bus

Boycott?
 Civil Rights
• Civil rights are the rights
you have as the citizen of a
country.

• The US Constitution was

supposed to guarantee that
all people were treated
equally- they should all be
allowed to vote in elections,
to be educated, to travel
freely, to earn a living.

• Yet the USA was clearly

failing many of its black
citizens.
World War Two and African Americans
• Selective Service Act of 1940
forbids discrimination in the calling
up and training of Black soldiers
• At first, navy only employed Blacks
as kitchen staff, army and air
force refused to train black
officers and pilots
• Due to campaigners, 600 Black
pilots saw service by 1945, Black
women were employed too
• More than 1.5 millions US
servicemen were stationed in
Britain
• Frequent trouble between Black
and White Americans
 Making links
Task One

'England is devoid of racial

consciousness... [the
English] know nothing at all
about the conventions and
habits of polite society that
have developed in the US in
order to preserve a
segregation in social
activity’

Think: What can this source tell us about the attitudes of

White soldiers in the US army during World War Two?
 Back in America
• By the end of 1944 nearly 2
million Blacks Americans
were working in war factories

Riots in Detroit: June 1943

• Riots lasted for three days

before Federal troops
restored order.
• 34 killed, 433 wounded,
destroyed property valued at
$2 million.
 What effect do
you think WWII
had on the
hearts and minds
of African
Americans?

Discuss with a partner

and then write an
answer in your exercise
books.
Listening to others
 Impact of World War Two
• Many Blacks returned from abroad with renewed
hope after experiencing integration
• Membership of NAACP rose from 50,000 to 450,000
• Eyes of the world were on the US
• President Truman gave much attention to civil rights
• Ended segregation in armed forces
• Tried to pass anti-lynching bill but this was rejected
by Congress

I’ m just a Negro
soldier
Fighting for
"democracy!'
 Perseverance/
Managing
Main Task distractions
• Design a leaflet to be sent to the government setting
out the grievances of the black people in the southern
states of the USA. Refer to the contribution of black
Americans to the US war effort in the Second World
War.

• Use the fact sheets to help you.

20 minutes

Extension: What would be the first step towards ending

the grievances of the black people in America? Explain
your answer.
 Plenary

Towards the end of the war a journalist asked a young girl how
Hitler should be punished...

“Paint him
black and
send him
to
America!”
 Thinking
Lesson 2:
Jim Crow Laws 1876-1965

Starter:
In 1896 an American court
allowed segregation,
separation of students along
racial lines, if it was ‘separate
but equal.’ What do you think
separate but equal means?

The struggle between the Federal government and individual

states
 Learning Objectives

Key Questions for you to keep in mind are:

- What were Jim Crow Laws?

- Why was there a struggle between the

federal government and individual states?

- In what ways were the Jim Crow laws

failing African American civil rights?
 Listening to others

The struggle between the federal

government and individual states
• The USA had a ‘federal’ structure which means
that some laws are made by central government
and apply to the whole country, while others are
made by the states themselves and only apply in
that state.

Task: How did this federal structure allow for the

discrimination of African Americans to take place?
Discuss with a partner and then write an explanation in
your exercise books.
 Background – Jim Crow Laws
• Many Southern and border states enforced the so-
called ‘Jim Crow’ laws

• These laws segregated everyday facilities such as

parks, buses and school.

States that
enforced Jim
Crow laws (in
orange)

Think: Is it possible to be separate but equal?

• Black Americans had officially been given the right to
vote in early in the century, but in some states various
practices were used to prevent them from voting- most
commonly, the threat of violence.
• Law officers (police) not only failed to stop attacks on
black people, they frequently took part in them. White
juries almost always acquitted whites accused of killing
blacks.
• Black Americans faced official and legal discrimination
in areas such as employment and education. In the
South, white teachers earned 30 per cent more than
black teachers.
• The best universities were closed to blacks. In 1958, a
black teacher called Clemson King was committed to a
mental asylum for applying to the University of
Mississippi.
What does this picture show us?
And this?
 Working effectively Managing
alone distractions
Main Task
Use the information in the textbooks to create a mind
map about the Jim Crow laws. Include the following
headings
 School
 Travel
 Leisure 20
 Housing minutes
 Voting

Extension:
What effects will the lack of a proper education and
not being able to vote have on Black people? Think about
housing, standard of living etc
 Plenary

• What image do you have of America in the 1950s?

Listening to
others