🔴| Obstacles Essay

Question 1

Factors

5

Answer 1

1. Lack of Political Influence
2. Popular Prejudice
3. Legal Impediments
4. KKK
5. Divisions in the Black Community

Question 2

Introduction

Background Only - FIQ Exp, LOA and other factors needed

Answer 2

• During this period, life was very different for white and black people in America. Racist attitudes towards black people can be traced back to the slave trade, in which white Americans bought and owned black people.
• This was furthered by the Civil War which led to an increase in racist views as the confederate states fought to defend racism.

Question 3

Lack of Political Influence:

KU

2

Answer 3

• Firstly, in 1876 the Supreme Court ruled that states could govern themselves as they saw fit. This led to many states excluding black people from voting by imposing literacy or income qualifications which would prevent black people from voting specifically. Literacy tests would contain impossible questions, such as ‘how many bubbles are there in a bar of soap’.
• Secondly, Presidents at the turn of the century and into the 1920s and 1930s did very little to appease the growing racial tension. For example, Herbert Hoover demonstrated racism in his want to personally purge the Republican party of all black people to capture the votes of white democrats in the South.

Question 4

Lack of Political Influence:

Analysis

Answer 4

• Lack of political influence was therefore an obstacle to achieving civil rights because very little of the black community had any form of influence within the white house or to have their say on government policies.
• Alabama’s voter registration dropped by 150,000 African Americans in 2 years, which demonstrates this.

Question 5

Lack of Political Influence:

Analysis+

Answer 5

• However, it can be said that lack of political influence was less of an obstacle because although the likes of Herbert Hoover were openly racist, it is important to note that not all presidents thought this way.
• An example of this is FDR, who did not openly sympathise with the black plight, but his New Deal did help black youths by creating training positions for them, suggesting he did not want a split country.

Question 6

Lack of Political Influence:

Evaluation

Answer 6

• Overall, lack of political influence was the most important obstacle to the achievement of civil rights for African Americans. The Government had a wide range of influence on the country’s attitude and the power to make major changes. African Americans lack of voting rights meant that they had no power to elect individuals who would be their voice within politics.
• This was heightened by the Government’s blatant racism, an example of this being Calvin Coolidge who allowed a KKK march in front of the White House which sent a strong message to an already divided country that white was best, and this would not be changed.

Question 7

Popular Prejudice:

KU

2

Answer 7

• Firstly, in the South African Americans were kept in poorly paid and unskilled jobs, such as agriculture work with few trade union rights. This, alongside brutality in the South, led to many black people migrating to cities in the North, Midwest and West.
• Secondly, by 1930 there had been a major occupational shift as more black men held blue collar jobs than agriculture jobs, although racial discrimination in industries like car plants was still widespread.

Question 8

Popular Prejudice:

Analysis

Answer 8

• Popular prejudice was therefore an obstacle to the achievement of civil rights because the migration of Black people and the occupational shift caused a lot of job competition between African Americans and the poor white people.
• This ultimately led to race riots in the summer of 1919, where 70 black people were lynched in relation to the riots which shows how damaging this was for the black community and how it would therefore hinder them in achieving civil rights.

Question 9

Popular Prejudice:

Analysis+

Answer 9

• However, it can be said that popular prejudice was less of an obstacle because although there were a lot of racist attitudes, not everyone did discriminate against black people or at the very least gave them equal opportunity.
• For example, although Henry Ford saw whites as superior, he found black people to be more loyal, and by 1926 he had 10,000 black employees.

Question 10

Popular Prejudice:

Evaluation

Answer 10

• Overall, popular prejudice was a very important obstacle to the achievement of civil rights for African Americans because the severe prejudice in America is what led to black people being seen as so inferior and therefore undeserving of civil rights.
• An example of such prejudice can be found in Lynd’s study of Middleton which found that although black and white children attended the same schools, churches and cinemas were still segregated, demonstrating how black people were seen as beneath white people in such basic areas of life.

Question 11

Popular Prejudice:

Evaluation+

Answer 11

However, lack of political influence was a more important obstacle because this allowed such racist people to be in power, allowing them to assert racist values which can be argued as a factor in allowing popular prejudice to continue in America.

Question 12

Legal Impediments:

KU

2

Answer 12

• Firstly, a law in Alabama stated, ‘No white female nurse to nurse in a ward in which negro men are placed’, which both impacted black male’s rights to healthcare and pushed the agenda that black people were to be feared and kept away from ‘innocent’ white people.
• Secondly, a law in Florida stated, ‘All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation, are hereby forever prohibited’, which shows that something so common as marriage was looked down upon and banned between a black person and a white person.

Question 13

Legal Impediments:

Analysis

Answer 13

• Legal impediments were therefore an obstacle to achieving civil rights because African Americans were not protected by the law, and instead many were put in place to directly put them at a disadvantage and segregate them from society.
• After 1875 the Congress passed no laws to protect black people and indicated it was the responsibility of state authorities who didn’t have any obligation to protect black Americans, subsequently allowing for Jim Crow laws and hindering their ability to fight for their rights.

Question 14

Legal Impediments:

Analysis+

Answer 14

• However, it can be said that legal impediments were less of an obstacle because only 16 of the 50 states were considered ‘Jim Crow states’ which adopted these Jim Crow laws.
• The remaining 34 states did not have these laws in place, so it can be argued that African Americans in these states not being impacted would not have the disadvantage which would make it difficult for them to achieve civil rights.

Question 15

Legal Impediments:

Evaluation

Answer 15

• Overall, legal impediments were quite an important obstacle to the achievement of civil rights as they didn’t allow for black people to be proper and respected members in most elements of society, and this disadvantage would make it incredibly difficult for them to achieve any civil rights.
• For example, in North Carolina black children couldn’t even share books that came from white schools which demonstrates a disadvantage in something as basic as education.

Question 16

Legal Impediments:

Evaluation+

Answer 16

However, lack of political influence was a more important obstacle because black people having no political influence meant they had no say on Jim Crow laws being passed or any power to stop them in the first place, which shows how their lack of influence was the ruling issue for them.

Question 17

KKK:

KU

2

Answer 17

• Firstly, one of the many cruel practices of the KKK was lynching African Americans. They would threaten them by lighting crosses near their homes and later returning to kidnap and murder them. This can be evidenced by 416 blacks being killed from 1918 to 1927, majority being in the South.
• Secondly, in 1922 the Dyer anti-lynching bill was defeated in the US senate which enabled the Klan to continue such practices on African Americans and implied support for this.

Question 18

KKK:

Analysis

Answer 18

• The KKK were therefore an obstacle to achieving civil rights because they were a strong organisation.
• By 1924 they had nearly 5 million members, which demonstrates how influential the Klan was and therefore their ability to terrorise black people into submission.

Question 19

KKK:

Analysis+

Answer 19

• However, it can be said that the KKK were less of an obstacle to achieving civil rights because although they were a strong organisation, Klan members were often poor and uneducated which meant that many people treated the Klan as a joke not to be taken seriously.
• This would hinder their legitimate influence in asserting racism in America and subsequently terrorising black people.

Question 20

KKK:

Evaluation

Answer 20

• Overall, the KKK was quite an important obstacle to the achievement of civil rights because their membership and actions created a terror state.
• Klan members provoked fear amongst black Americans and supported the idea that whites were superior, which would influence both groups in different ways to hinder civil rights.

Question 21

KKK:

Evaluation+

Answer 21

• However, lack of political influence was a more important obstacle because it was a long-term struggle for black people to have any say or power in politics, but post 1930s the Klan collapsed due to leadership scandal, laws against wearing masks in public and the $10 membership fee which was expensive during the Great Depression.
• It is true that the Klan was a great obstacle in its time, but ultimately it wasn’t a lasting one.

Question 22

Divisions in the Black Community:

KU

2

Answer 22

• Firstly, Booker T. Washington, the son of a slave, believed that black Americans should educate themselves to be respected by white people. He established the Tuskagee institute in Alabama to educate black children on practical skills according to this belief.
• Secondly, W.E.B Du Bois began the NAACP in 1909 which advocated for civil rights and the end of racist practices, like lynching and segregation, which held influence was the first civil rights movement beyond 1909.

Question 23

Divisions in the Black Community:

Analysis

Answer 23

• Divisions in the black community were therefore an obstacle to achieving civil rights because Washington and Du Bois’ disagreements due to their differing opinions divided support for the overall goal of civil rights which led to their separate movements achieving little.
• Du Bois argued that black people needed legal and political equality before Washington’s idea of economic equality could be obtained, demonstrating this difference in opinion.

Question 24

Divisions in the Black Community:

Analysis+

Answer 24

• However, it can be said that divisions in the black community were less of an obstacle because despite the support being divided, the movements were still gaining a lot of support which was important in a time where black people’s rights, or lack thereof, were largely ignored.
• Evidence of this support can be found in the NAACP’s membership numbers – by 1919 they had 91,000 members.

Question 25

# Divisions in the Black Community: Evaluation

Answer 25

* Overall, divisions in the black community were the least important obstacle to the achievement of civil rights because, as mentioned, individual movements still gained traction and despite not working together such activists made important steps towards civil rights by themselves. * For example, in 1901 Roosevelt invited Washington to the white house, and both him and his successor used him as an advisor on racial matters which shows how the work of Washington allowed for influence towards civil rights on those in power.

Question 26

# Divisions in the Black Community: Evaluation+

Answer 26

Lack of political influence is a more important obstacle because having no power on America’s laws or attitudes made achieving civil rights nearly impossible, but I would argue that divisions in the black community would only, at most, hinder the movement as opposed to preventing it entirely.