Question - What was the incident at Kent State? Why is this event significant?

What was the incident at Kent State? Why is this event significant?

Answer: 

The Kent State shootings involved college protesters being shot to death by US National Guardsmen. It was significant because it showed the growing violent nature of the protests growing in the USA and marked a point where in the armed forces were turning against protesters.

Question - The website states that the anti-war protests related to the Vietnam War divided the USA bitterly.

The website states that the anti-war protests related to the Vietnam War divided the USA bitterly. What evidence does the website provide to show this bitter divide?

Answer: 

The anti-war movement, which was particularly strong on college campuses, divided Americans bitterly. For some young people, the war symbolized a form of unchecked authority they had come to resent. For other Americans, opposing the government was considered unpatriotic and treasonous. 

Question - Explain the issues that American government began to face within its own armed forces and on the home front as the Vietnam War dragged on.

Explain the issues that American government began to face within its own armed forces and on the home front as the Vietnam War dragged on.

Answer: 

As the war stretched on, some soldiers came to mistrust their government’s reasons for keeping them there, as well as Washington’s claims that the war was being won. Bombarded by horrific images of the war on their televisions, Americans on the home front turned against the war as well: In October 1967, some 35,000 demonstrators staged a mass antiwar protest outside the Pentagon. Opponents of the war argued that civilians, not enemy combatants, were the primary victims and that the United States was supporting a corrupt dictatorship in Saigon.

Question - What event, related to the Civil Rights Movement, occurred in February of 1960? Explain its significance.

What event, related to the Civil Rights Movement, occurred in February of 1960? Explain its significance.

Answer: 

The Greensboro Sit-in occurred. Four freshmen at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College began a wave of student sit-ins designed to end segregation at southern lunch counters. These protests spread rapidly throughout the South.

Question - How is the response of the community to the Rosa Parks incident a fight for civil rights?

How is the response of the community to the Rosa Parks incident a fight for civil rights?

Answer: 

Rosa Parks’ actions and the resulting the bus boycott was protesting the segregation in society and the lack of rights for African Americans in terms of treatment on public transportation such as buses.

Question - According to the website, what/who inspired Martin Luther King Jr.?

According to the website, what/who inspired Martin Luther King Jr.?

Answer: 

He understood the larger significance of the boycott and quickly realized that the nonviolent tactics used by the Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi could be used by southern blacks. “I had come to see early that the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Gandhian method of nonviolence was one of the most potent weapons available to the Negro in his struggle for freedom,” he explained.

Question - According to the website, even though the government had passes laws in favor of desegregation, why was “black activism” still necessary?

According to the website, even though the government had passes laws in favor of desegregation, why was “black activism” still necessary?

Answer: 

Even after the Supreme Court declared that public school segregation was unconstitutional, black activism was necessary to compel the federal government to implement the decision and extend its principles to all areas of public life rather than simply in schools.

Question - Explain the significance of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

Explain the significance of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.

Answer: 

The Brown decision demonstrated that the litigation strategy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) could undermine the legal foundations of southern segregationist practices. It involved ending segregation in education.

Question - According to the website, why is the history of black Americans and their strife for civil rights significant to the history of the United States?

According to the website, why is the history of black Americans and their strife for civil rights significant to the history of the United States?

Answer: 

Because it was symbolic of the fight for rights for all people. As well, such movements have not only secured citizenship rights for blacks but have also redefined prevailing conceptions of the nature of civil rights and the role of government in protecting these rights.

Question - According to the website, what led to a decline in protest activity after the 1960’s?

According to the website, what led to a decline in protest activity after the 1960’s?

Answer: 

Severe government repression, the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, and the intense infighting within the black militant community caused a decline in protest activity after the 1960s.

Question - What is “Bloody Sunday”? Explain its significance.

What is “Bloody Sunday”? Explain its significance.

Answer: 

On March 7 a planned march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery ended almost before it began at Pettus Bridge on the outskirts of Selma, when mounted police using tear gas and wielding clubs attacked the protesters. News accounts of “Bloody Sunday” brought hundreds of civil rights sympathizers to Selma. Many demonstrators were determined to mobilize another march, and activists challenged King to defy a court order forbidding such marches. Dramatically increased the resolve of the Civil Rights Activists.

Question - Briefly explain the views of Malcolm X and how they differed from that of Martin Luther King Jr.

Briefly explain the views of Malcolm X and how they differed from that of Martin Luther King Jr.

Answer: 

Malcolm X, the activist and outspoken public voice of the Black Muslim faith, challenged the mainstream civil rights movement and the nonviolent pursuit of integration championed by Martin Luther King Jr. He urged followers to defend themselves against white aggression “by any means necessary.” 

Question - What is the lasting legacy of the Civil Rights movement on America?

What is the lasting legacy of the Civil Rights movement on America?

Answer: 

Overt forms of racial discrimination and government-supported segregation of public facilities came to an end, although de facto, as opposed to de jure, segregation persisted in northern as well as southern public school systems and in other areas of American society. In the South, anti-black violence declined. Black candidates were elected to political offices in communities where blacks had once been barred from voting, and many of the leaders or organizations that came into existence during the 1950s and 1960s remained active in southern politics. Southern colleges and universities that once excluded blacks began to recruit them.

Question - In what ways did the Civil Rights movement not only advance the rights of African Americans but other minority groups as well?

In what ways did the Civil Rights movement not only advance the rights of African Americans but other minority groups as well?

Answer: 

The modern African-American civil rights movement, like similar movements earlier, had transformed American democracy. It also served as a model for other group advancement and group pride efforts involving women, students, Chicanos, gays and lesbians, the elderly, and many others.

Question - To what extent is racial discrimination still an issue that faces the United States (and the world) to this day?

To what extent is racial discrimination still an issue that faces the United States (and the world) to this day? 

Answer: 

Despite the civil rights gains of the 1960s, however, racial discrimination and repression remained a significant factor in American life. Even after President Johnson declared a war on poverty and King initiated a Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, the distribution of the nation’s wealth and income moved toward greater inequality during the 1970s and 1980s. Civil rights advocates acknowledged that desegregation had not brought significant improvements in the lives of poor blacks, but they were divided over the future direction of black advancement efforts.