IB History Civil Rights Movement in the United States - the Role and Significance of Key Actors/groups Questionbank

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Martin Luther King Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail," 16 April 1963.

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace to a substantive and positive peace.

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American editorial cartoon published in a national newspaper, 1964, showing two paths diverging from a crossroads. On one path, a figure in a suit carries a sign reading "Nonviolence" and leads a peaceful march. On the other path, a figure with raised fist carries a sign reading "By Any Means." A signpost at the crossroads reads "Civil Rights."

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Malcolm X, speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, New York, 28 June 1964.

We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. The day of nonviolent resistance is over. We tried nonviolence. We tried sitting in. We tried freedom rides. And every time we tried, they bombed a church. Every time we tried, they beat us. Every time we tried, they set dogs on us. You don't take your case to the criminal; you take your criminal to court. And when a government fails to protect its citizens, those citizens have the right to protect themselves. The philosophy of nonviolence has failed, and those who preach it are keeping black people defenceless in the face of an armed enemy.

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Historian Clayborne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s, published 1981.

The tension between nonviolent integrationism and militant black nationalism was not simply a disagreement between King and Malcolm X as individuals. It reflected a deeper generational and strategic divide within the Civil Rights Movement. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which had begun as an offshoot of King's philosophy of nonviolence, became by 1966 the vehicle through which younger activists rejected both King's gradualism and the NAACP's legalism. Under Stokely Carmichael's leadership, SNCC's call for "Black Power" in June 1966 represented a fundamental reorientation: away from moral appeals to white conscience and towards independent black political organisation. The shift alienated white liberal allies and divided the movement, but it also gave voice to an urban black population whose experience of poverty and police violence was not addressed by Southern desegregation campaigns.

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Martin Luther King Jr., speech delivered at Holt Street Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, 5 December 1955, the evening the Montgomery Bus Boycott began.

We are here this evening to say to those who have mistreated us so long that we are tired, tired of being segregated and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression. We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice. One of the great glories of democracy is the right to protest for right. There will be no threats, no intimidation. We will only say that we will not ride the buses until our demands are met.

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Photograph taken in Montgomery, Alabama, December 1955, showing Montgomery city buses parked empty at a depot during the boycott. African American residents are visible walking along the street in the background.

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Statement by the City Commissioners of Montgomery, Alabama, issued to local newspapers, January 1956, rejecting the demands of the Montgomery Improvement Association.

The City Commission, and we are sure our white people are with us in this determination, will not yield one inch but will do all in its power to oppose the integration of the Negro race with the white race in Montgomery, and will forever stand like a rock against social equality, intermarriage, and mixing of the races under God's creation and plan. The Negroes have made their bed hard and the whites of Montgomery intend to see that they sleep in it. The so-called boycott is the work of outside agitators and professional troublemakers who do not represent the respectable Negro citizens of this city. We call on all loyal citizens to stand firm.

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Excerpt from Chief Justice Earl Warren’s majority opinion, U.S. Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education, 17 May 1954.

“We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race generates a feeling of inferiority... that may affect the hearts and minds of children in a way unlikely ever to be undone. Education is the foundation of good citizenship. To deny it equally to all is to deny the very foundation of democracy.”

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Excerpt from an article published in the Arkansas Gazette, 5 September 1957.

“The arrival of Negro pupils at Central High School was met with resistance and turmoil. Angry crowds gathered early. Shouts of ‘go back!’ and ‘we don’t want you!’ rang out across the campus. The Governor, claiming to prevent violence, called in the National Guard - not to protect the students, but to block their entry. Parents are deeply divided. While some believe the law must be followed, others warn that ‘forced integration’ will destroy community peace.”

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Testimony of Daisy Bates, president of the Arkansas NAACP, before a Congressional committee, 1958.

“What happened at Little Rock showed the world that legal decisions mean nothing without enforcement. Elizabeth Eckford walked alone into that storm not just because of racism, but because the government failed to act quickly.

The crowd’s hate - grown men and women screaming at a child - is the true face of segregation. These were not fringe extremists, but teachers, parents, and students. The NAACP has worked tirelessly to ensure the right to education for all. We are not asking for favours - only for what is already law.”