Chapter 5 history questions:

1. What was the VEP /Why was the VEP funding cut off in Mississippi?- The VEP was an
organization set up by Robert Kennedy in order to channel student energies away from
the more highly publicized sit-ins and Freedom Rides and relieve the federal government
of the pressure to intervene. Few new voters were registered and so the VEP cut off
funding in Mississippi.

2. Who was the new governor of Birmingham, Alabama in 1963?- George Wallace was the
new governor of Birmingham, Alabama. In 1963, after his inauguration, he vowed: “I say
segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!’. Martin Luther King saw
Wallace as ‘the most dangerous racist in America today’.

3. What was Project Confrontation? Why did Martin Luther write his letter from jail in 63?-
Project Confrontation, devised by King, aimed to desegregate, businesses, such as
large retail stores and force them to employ black and integrate their facilities for
customers (blacks were not allowed to use the same toilets as whites, or try on clothes
before buying them). The plan was for a peaceful march, from the Baptist church to the
city center, to disrupt traffic and carry out a very public boycott of city-center stores in the
busy shopping days leading up to Easter. The demonstrators were met by police with
batons and dogs, which attracted more marchers, more police violence and more
publicity. Consequently, he was arrested and put in solitary confinement. King wrote his
letter as a response to a big advertisement in the Birmingham News in which a group of
white clergymen criticized Project Confrontation, saying it was illegal and led by ‘outside
agitators’. In this letter King explained his non-violent philosophy, and talked about how
hard it was to explain to his six-year-old daughter why she couldn’t go to amusement
parks being advertised on TV. King also warned that if peaceful demonstrators were
dismissed as ‘rabble rousers’, millions of people would instead turn to black nationalism
and a ‘frightening racial nightmare’ would ensue.

4. Why was the Birmingham campaign impactful?- Because, with America’s image at home
and abroad severely damaged, the federal government was forced to act. Senior federal
officials were sent to start talks between King and Birmingham businessmen. The latter
were losing money because of the boycott and disorder. Under huge pressure from
Washington, they gave in and agreed to desegregate their businesses, which included
stores, cinemas and restaurants. Most importantly, the mayor and city council agreed to
desegregate schools. King proclaimed a ‘magnificent victory for justice’.

5. Bullet point the ways the March in Washington was successful/and not successful-
Successful:
a. A quarter of a million people (80,000 of which were white) attended from
Chicago, Detroit and New York as well as from Birmingham and other cities in the
south.
b. It was the biggest demonstration in US history.
 c. Many Americans saw (some for the first time) blacks and whites united, marching
together and saw that it was not threatening.
d. It was broadcast live for three hours on US television and was widely covered in
many other countries but not the USSR.
Not successful:
e. The march did not lead to a swift passing of the Civil Rights Bill. Many in
Congress were not moved and southern Democrats were disappointed that
Kennedy had supported the march. Malcolm X was correct when he claimed that
no one in Congress changed their mind about the bill as a result of the march.
f. In the South, segregationists remained as entrenched as ever. Less than three
weeks after the march, a bomb was thrown into a church in Birmingham. Angry
blacks rioted in Birmingham, attacking white shops and the police.
g. President Kennedy was killed in November.

6. Why was the Freedom Summer significance?- because as a result of the 600
mostly-white students who headed south for Mississippi’s Freedom Summer, an event
which caused national outcry occurred. A black Mississippian and two white New
Yorkers went to investigate the burnt-out remains of a black church in Neshoba County;
they were arrested. When they were released (after the police notified the KKK), they
were followed by three vehicles and were never seen or heard from again. In 1967, the
deputy sheriff and six others were convicted, and this was the first time a Mississippi jury
had convicted Klansmen in connection with the death of a black man, albeit of the lesser
charge of conspiring to violate the civil rights of the victims. Despite the continuing
violence, the work went on. The students organized black voter registration, wrote press
releases and taught black children in Freedom schools. For these volunteers, it was a
transforming experience, a summer that changed them forever. According to the activist
Fannie Lou Hamer, many black Mississippians came to see that some ‘white folks are
human’.

7. Why did Martin Luther choose Selma?- Only 1% of blacks were registered to vote in
Dallas County, where the town of Selma is situated. Due to the staunch opposition in
Selma, King saw Selma as a ‘symbol of bitter-end resistance to the Civil Rights
Movement in the Deep South’. He figured that a successful campaign would be a fitting
tribute to the four girls killed in Birmingham the previous year.

8. What was Bloody Sunday, 1965?- On March 7, 1965 around 600 people crossed the
Edmund Pettus Bridge in an attempt to begin the Selma to Montgomery march. State
troopers violently attacked the peaceful demonstrators in an attempt to stop the march
for voting rights. After ordering them to ‘turn around and go back to your church’, two
minutes later the police charged. Men and women, young and old were mown down and
gassed. Police on horseback then charged into the fleeing, falling demonstrators. Five
women were left unconscious and 57 people were taken to the hospital for treatment.

9. Why was Selma and success?- The Selma campaign put the voting rights issue right at
the top of the political agenda, and opinion polls showed that there was widespread
 support for reform; indeed the historian Stephen Oates describes it as both the
movement’s finest hour and King’s finest hour.

Martin Luther King Malcolm X

Background ● Ph.D in Theology ● Born into poor family

● Born into middle class
family
● No highschool degree
● Father died when he
was 6 by white men
● Grew up in hostile
environment

Religious and Political beliefs ● Christian ● Member of Nation of

● Was against Islam- black
segregation for white seperationist
and blacks organisation
● Wanted economic ● Believed black people
power for blacks should be
● Followed ideals of independent of white
Gandhi people
● non-violence ● Fought using
violence- using all
methods necessary

Organization's goals and ● Involved in SCLC ● Involved in UNIA

methods

Significant Achievements/ ● Led the black boycott

Significant Failures

Place in History ● Won 1964 Nobel

Peace Prize

Both:
Both fought for civil rights
Both disagreed with each other
Both went to jail
Both assassinated
Both wanted justice and equality for African Americans
Powerful orators
Both died at 39
Had educated wives
Held global views
Both wrote letters from prison about the “struggle”
Both helped to pass laws
Restlessness among young people and they became frustrated with SCLC and NAACP- non
violence approach
Malcolm died in 1965- represents the ghetto and black members that are not wealthy- particular
audience
Stokely Carmichael- Born in Trinidad, organised voter registration in south, SNCC more
militarized with his leadership, popularized "black power"
Black Panthers- set up to protect community from police harassment- women and men were
able to join
Moscow, Olympics in 1968- struggles had reach sports and international community

Notes on Martin Luther King Video: