Questions tagged [civil-rights]
Questions related to the history of citizen rights, either granted or protected by governing political bodies of a given society, applying equally to all within the geographical or political borders of that society.
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How was immigration from Latin America handled before the passage of the Immigration & Nationality act of 1965?
I know that in the United States, before the passage of the Immigration & Nationality act of 1965, immigration was controlled by the Immigration Act of 1924.
It limited the number of immigrants ...
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What did MLK, Jr. mean by "Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor"?
In his famous 1968 "I've been to the mountaintop" speech in support of the striking Memphis Sanitation Workers, Martin Luther King, Jr. made a reference to then-mayor Henry Loeb:
You know ...
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How did Martin Luther King Jr. Day become a day of service?
Martin Luther King day was officially declared a national day of service by the King Holiday and Service Act of 1994. But I have been able to find no discussion on the internet of how the idea ...
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Who said this quote about assimilation?
I remember when I was in school, a teacher told us about a famous quote in American History, something along the lines of :
"In the 20th century, the negro will be integrated and not assimilated&...
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Did Martin Luther King, Sr. change his name as an allusion to the Semitic root M-L-K?
Martin Luther King, Sr. was given the name Michael King at birth. Shortly after touring the Holy Land, he changed his name to Michael Luther King, and then to Martin Luther King. (This source seems to ...
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Are there historical examples of countries using pandemics as an excuse for banning protests?
Australia was recently in the news for restricting the right to protest during a surge in COVID cases:
Hundreds of fines have been issued and dozens charged in Sydney after
anti-lockdown protesters ...
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Where did Asian Americans go to school during the 'separate but equal' era?
I know that Brown vs. Board of Ed. desegregated schools. Reading Through History has a great video that clearly summarizes what this landmark case was about. However, everything I've heard about Brown ...
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What was the status of Shia Muslims in the Ottoman empire?
It's my understanding that the Ottoman Empire was mostly tolerant of other religions throughout most of its history*.
For example, they welcomed Jews who had been exiled from Spain during the ...
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How far did Malcolm X get with taking the United States to the United Nations?
In Malcolm X's original The Ballot or the Bullet speech, delivered in Ohio on 3 Apr 1964, just after he left the Nation of Islam, he outlines his case for taking the civil rights movement to the ...
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Is there audio of Malcolm X's original The Ballot or the Bullet speech?
Malcolm X's famous Ballot or the Bullet speech - his first after leaving the Nation of Islam and "ranked 7th in the top 100 American speeches of the 20th century by 137 leading scholars of ...
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Who was the VP during these Civil Rights milestones?
I came across a tweet today with this image and text, which looks very wrong to me:
Putting Kamala Harris as VP into perspective.See the red box? Until then, she would have been enslaved.See the ...
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Has Section 2 of the 14th amendment ever been enforced?
But when the right to vote at any election ... is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State ... the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of ...
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Which "Wonders of the World" book does Malcolm X refer to in his autobiography?
In the Autobiography of Malcolm X, he references reading a book called "Wonders of the World". He lists no author or publisher. A Google search for "Wonders of the World book" ...
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What happened to the Heart of Atlanta motel after the ruling of Heart of Atlanta v. United States?
The Heart of Altanta Motel was a resort motel in Georgia that infamously sued the United States for the right to discriminate against customers against the provisions of the public accommodations ...
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What do the numbers on this 1960s anti-integration sign mean?
I was reading a CNN article this morning that features the below image:
Protests over integrating schools is not new. In 1965 members of a parents’ association picketed outside the Board of Education ...
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How many barons did Magna Carta apply to? [closed]
How many barons had their rights improved by Magna Carta when it was signed in 1215?
And how did this number evolve later?
The supervising council consisted of 25 barons, but I presume more barons ...
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To what extent was nonviolence effective in challenging racism (Civil Rights Movement)? [duplicate]
I am primarily looking for examples of violent protests in the 1960's which failed. I am hoping to find a protest that was a means of self-defense that resulted in more violence. I am trying to prove ...
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Was Martin Luther King's leadership conference Southern Christian or Southern Baptist?
Most sources refer to the civil rights organization Martin Luther King led as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), but some refer to it as the Southern Baptist Leadership Conference (...
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Is there an example of a civil rights movement supporter with a record of being against it?
I wonder if someone knows any example of a public figure who was (or is now) perceived as anti-civil rights movement in the values or decisions they stood for, but then switched their public agenda ...
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How did American colonial rights and conditions compare to those within the British Isles?
A major point of contention between American colonists and British administrators was that the American colonists, being the descendants of Englishmen, allegedly should have been entitled to ...
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Does anyone know a quote, from an opponent of MLK (e.g. a sheriff) which presents him as radical? [closed]
This is for some research I am doing about the life of Martin Luther King.
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What were the most common reactions to Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
I'm curious about the general reactions to historical events in civil rights by people wanting to keep the status quo. However, this information is hard to find. News clippings I can find are ...
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What was the most effective instrument used to disenfranchise the black population in Louisiana?
According to the Wikipedia page on Jim Crow Laws:
In Louisiana, by 1900, black voters were reduced to just 5,320 on the rolls, although they comprised the majority of the states population. By 1910, ...
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Southern Manifesto main idea
What is/are the central idea(s) underlying the Southern Manifesto of 1956? Is it a concern with local autonomy vs. federal power? Is it racism?
I have found out that it repudiated the Supreme Court ...
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Did the founding members of the Black Panthers ever mention the role of Malcolm X in creating their group?
I'm trying to find out if the Black Panther Party (BPP) ever said (preferably in an interview of some kind) whether Malcolm X or the Nation of Islam's more active approach to civil rights helped to ...
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Were women the property of men prior to 1919 in the UK? [closed]
It was suggested in a TV interview that I saw that prior to 1919 in the UK, women were owned by men. An example to solidify this, was women taking on their husbands last name.
My question is:
Were ...
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What does MLK mean by "lonely island" and "vast ocean"?
In the speech, "I have a dream", M.L. King says the following:
One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
What ...
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How were interracial relationships between African-Americans and Latinos treated in Southern states before the Loving decision?
There are two states in the American south that historically had large numbers of both African-Americans and Latinos, as well as laws banning marriage between black people and white people: Texas and ...
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Discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland pre-1968
The NICRA sought to prevent discriminatory allocation of government jobs and council housing. The victims of such discrimination were the Catholic/Republican minority - at least, that's how that ...
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In segregated South, would Asian-Americans be treated as "colored" or as whites?
During racial segregation in USA many businesses had signs that either restricted service to a particular race or that directed different races through different entrances.
Some examples of this ...
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Why did LBJ, a staunch segregationist, champion and sign the 1964 Civil Rights Bill?
Lyndon B. Johnson with regards to the 1964 Civil Rights Act..
From the Atlantic
The times called for a leader who could subdue the vast political and administrative forces arrayed against change—...
user27618
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How successful (or not) was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 concerning employment discrimination?
In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which greatly increased the federal government’s power concerning personal property. Using the Commerce Clause and the recent SCOTUS decision in Wickard v....
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Did the Bill of Rights apply to slaves?
In the pre-Antebellum particularly during the 1850's did slaves and free blacks have rights? Or even citizenship perhaps?
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How did desegregation affect the jobs of black school teachers in the South?
In its October 6, 1954 issue, the Southern Presbyterian Journal published a report from US News & World Report that suggested that black teachers in the South would be rendered unemployed by ...
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Why didn't the zeal of social change brought by ending slavery continue after the US civil-war ended? [closed]
After the US civil war when slavery was (kinda) ended, is there a argument to be made that with the zeal of anti-slavery social change people must have been feeling that they, at least in the north, ...
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Did the Kirk-Holden War happen?
I have been doing research on Reconstruction Era micro-conflicts, out of curiosity, and came across this brief paragraph in a Wikipedia article about the Kirk-Holden War:
The Klan retaliated and ...
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Did the "I have a dream" speech make a big impact at the time it was spoken?
Most Americans know the famous "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King. Was this speech actually influential back in 1963 or did it become famous afterwards?
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Accuracy of the Show "I Go On Singing"
I recently saw a show about the life of Paul Robeson called I Go On Singing. It was a good show, but it contained several assertions that made me wonder.
Tens of thousands of slaves escaped to ...
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Was it normal for New York schools in the late 1960s to be desegregated?
I am currently researching late 1960s America in order to being writing a story. The story is set in 1966 in New York. So were schools (specifically Middle Schools) in New York desegregated by this ...
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Were Rosa Parks and Freedom Riders the first ones to use a bus to protest/change?
Buses have been around since the turn of the century. Specifically motor mass-produced buses since 1910 according to wikipedia. Now Rosa Parks did her famous civil action bit in 1955 of refusal to ...
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What is the extent to which Malcolm X's activism was influenced by his Muslim beliefs?
Have been researching the role of religion on the Civil Rights movement and while I am aware that Malcolm X identified as a Muslim it is unclear as to how this belief influenced his (and his ...
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When did "whites only" signs (racial segregation) become illegal in the USA?
I'm trying to find out when racial segregation and specifically "whites only" signs became illegal in the USA.
Researching Wikipedia has not led me to a clear conclusion. It seems like segregation ...
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Why did human and civil rights gain a foothold at the time they did? [closed]
Even though the idea of human equal rights has a rather long history, it wasn't a reality up until the late 18th century. Nobles still had more or less absolute power over the lower classes. The lower ...
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What percentage of NAACP in the 1910s was Jewish? [closed]
However, by the mid-1910s, the NAACP had several prominent Jewish members. Brothers Joel and Arthur Spingarn served as board chairman and chief legal counsel, respectively. Herbert Lehman served on ...
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Did Martin Luther King's political outlook change during the civil rights movement?
From the Montgomery bus boycott to his death in 1968, Martin Luther King always used nonviolence as a strategy. Did his political outlook change (and why) throughout the civil right movement until ...
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How was Martin Luther King Jr. viewed by white Americans at the time? [closed]
In today's United States, MLK Jr. is universally regarded as a hero and patriot (...or as universally regarded as one can be in this nation). By that, I mean all races, all political parties—everyone ...
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Was violent or nonviolent protest more effective in the context of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement?
Was violent or nonviolent protest more effective in the context of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement? It seems like a simple question, but on further examination it is a challenge to discern. The ...
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What is "Egyptland" in the context of the 1960s black civil rights movement in the US?
Title of Chapter 10 of MLK book From Civil Rights to Human Rights. Egyptland is the name of chapter 10, and I was wondering why this might be and what it is referring to.
Thanks for your help!
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In Montgomery, Alabama, how common was it to be arrested for sitting in the incorrect section of the bus?
Rosa Parks' arrest, which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, is the most famous case, while Claudette Colvin is often listed as the first. (Sometimes she is listed as first, other times as the first ...
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