1. Challenging Question!
Come up with a detailed mind map as a table of what makes
someone significant?
Think about what significant means..
Think about individual people that you would regard as
significant and think about why you think that
2. Oxford English Dictionary:
1. Sufficiently great or important to be worthy of
attention
2. having a large or major effect
3. important, notable or momentous
3. Use features from our criteria
Are your reasons for each being significant very similar or
are they significant for very different reasons
4. Who have been some of the most significant figures in
History?
Who is the most significant figure in History
What makes someone significant in/to History?
(why do we study certain figures in history?)
5. Hitler –Why is he significant?
- Who is most significant to?
- Who is he less significant to?
Lenin –Why is he significant?
- Who is most significant to?
- Who is he less significant to?
Jesus –Why is he significant?
- Who is most significant to?
- Who is he less significant to?
6. POLITICS, Can you explain how you can be
significant in each of these
CULTURAL, categories?
MILITARY,
SOCIAL REFORMERS, Can their be overlap between
RELIGION these groups? (Can you be
significant in more than one of
ECONOMICS the groups at the same time?)
SPORT
SCIENCE Can you figure it out?:
Which is the most significant
EXPLORATION category to be significant in?
TECHNOLOGICAL
7. If we argue that what makes someone significant is
due to their impact or the changes/development they
have caused over time….
Choose any of the significant figures we have looked at and explain how we
can measure their impact over time
8. Is change different to progress or development?
Progress
definition:
Is progress always positive?
Forward and
onward
movement
towards a goal
For someone/something to progress does
someone/something else have to suffer?
9. Write down what you already
know about Martin Luther
King Jr
From the limited knowledge
you have about Martin Luther
King – summarise him in one
word
Also try and give your
opinions on his significance
as a historical figure
10. Born: in Atlanta, Georgia 1929
Died: assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee
1968
Wife: Coretta Scott King
Profession: Pastor of Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church. Montgomery, Alabama
Famous for: Being the unofficial leader of
the Civil Rights movement in the USA
during the 1950s and 60s. Delivered his ‘I
have a Dream’ speech in Washington in
1963
Awards: awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1964
11. ‘If King had never Lived, the black struggle
would have followed a course of development
similar to the one it did. The Montgomery Bus
Boycott would have occurred, because King did
not initiate it. Black Students…..had sources of
tactical and ideological inspiration besides King.’
Professor Clayborne Carson
12. As you can probably tell there is divided opinion over
the role played by Martin Luther King in the Civil
Rights Movement
Some believing he was the most instrumental figure in
the Movement during its key developments of the
1950s and 60s,
Whilst others believe that his role was not as great as
some argue and that the movement would have
succeeded with or without King.
13. The civil rights movement was a worldwide political
movement (But mainly refers to the USA) for equality of
oppressed minorities (mainly on racial grounds) occurring
between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it
took the form of campaigns of Civil Resistance aimed at
achieving change through non violent acts.
Some activists used violent methods.
The process was long and tenuous in many countries, and
many of these movements did not fully achieve their goals
although, the efforts of these movements did lead to
improvements in the legal rights of previously oppressed
groups of people.
14. What had happened to African Americans before the
1950s?
When Did the Civil Rights Movement begin? (Page 76 of A
level Book)
Who was influential in starting the Civil Rights
Movement?
Was King involved in starting the movement?
What role did King play in leading the movement?
What role did King play in getting reforms? Civil
rights, Social and economic reforms for Blacks.
How important were other individuals?
What impact did he have after his death?
15. Reasons for tensions – page 3
US Government structure and reasons why the South
wanted slavery – page 6 and 7
Map of where black people were located – page 9
16. The first white settlers in American was White British
and Europeans.
Those in the southern states liked slavery and those
on the north didn’t.
When whites moved westward to new land the
question of whether to allow slavery in these lands
was raised.
The Republican Party and its leader Abraham Lincoln
were opposed to the expansion of slavery whilst the
south were in favour of it. The South in Protest to
Lincoln becoming President set up their own nation
called the Confederation States of America (the
Confederacy)
Lincoln sent northern armies to bring the south back
to the United States which caused the Civil War.
Lincoln introduced the Emancipation Act in 1962 and
was passed by Congress after his death in 1865 – this
abolished slavery.
17. Passing of Civil Rights bills in the 19th
Century - Page 12 of A level book
No real change, still subordinate and live in
poverty – page 13
Introduction of Jim Crow Laws and KKK –
page 15
Supreme court upholds Jim Crow Laws in
Plessy Vs Ferguson 1896 - page 16
First signs of black protestors/campaigners
– page 17
W.E.B DuBois – First Black Civil Rights
Activist? – do your own research into his
significance
18. Once Blacks were freed from slavery, whites were
looking for ways to assert their dominance and keep
their lives separate from those of blacks.
By separating blacks in all forms of life such as
schooling, housing, bars, work, public
spaces, transport – whites could still discriminate and
victimise black people.
De Facto Segregation – Segregation in fact rather than
in the law
De Jure Segregation – Segregation set out in the Laws
19. Between the years of 1910 and 1970 – over 6 million
Blacks moved from the southern states to the northern
states
20. Black groups and A. Phillip Rudolph - Page 28
The NAACP start to push changes – page 29 and 31
21. Truman – first president since Lincoln to help Blacks
– page 48-9
Truman’s stance required considerable courage. In
the face of threats on his life. It was a political
gamble to show support for blacks in the South
especially as Truman’s ideas were deliberately
misrepresented
Truman told his sister that he really beleived that
such changes were essential for the USA’s national
well being, in respect of law and order, economic
advancement and its proclaimed leadership of the
free world against Communism.
Page 53 - his importance overall
Conclusions - page 54-6
22. High Court Bans Segregation
in Public Schools!
Page 57,8,9
24. Put this title in the middle of a
Lincoln
mind map and put these
Truman important figures/institutions
The NAACP around them and see if you can
Randolph explain/give examples of what
they have done so far for the
W.E.B Dubois
Civil Rights movement
The Supreme Court
25. Rosa Parks was on a bus and there was a
white man standing up as there was no seats
left.
The Bus driver ordered her to stand up for
the white man – she refused. She was
arrested and charged with violation of the
Montgomery city bus segregation ordinance.
Parks was an NAACP member and had been
looking for a chance to challenge the laws.
The NAACP wanted the church on their side
to increase black support so asked Martin
Luther King if they could use his church for
meetings
26. The community agreed that King would be the best
leader ( a compromise candidate) as the National
NAACP didn’t want to get involved
King now became the leader of the MIA (Montgomery
Improvement Association)
Page 140-1 of GCSE book – summarises what happens
Significance? Page 65-6 of A level book
27. Importance of individuals – melba pattillo p69
Eisenhower doesn’t want to help but has to - 70
Very Significance – 71
28. Page 74 –
Importance of Brown and
importance of Black
individuals, and NAACP
29. King was criticised by his friend for giving
the “impression that everything depended
on you” during the Montgomery bus
boycott
NAACP leader Roy Wilkins described King
as “presumptuous and self-promoting”
However, King felt he needed to publicise
the cause to get people behind it
Eg. In 1958 he chose a jail sentence rather
than pay a $10 fine – initially he denied it
was a ‘publicity stunt’ but later said…
‘sometimes it is necessary to dramatize an issue
because many people are not aware of what is
happening.’
30. Some blacks disliked King’s anti-Vietnam stance as
they felt it damaged the movement and alienated
President Johnson
73% of whites and 48% of blacks disagreed with his
opposition to war
60% believed this had hurt the civil rights movement.
I know it can hurt the SCLC but I cant ignore
Vietnam.!
31. King didn’t believe he was the leader of Montgomery -
85
Importance of setting up the SCLC
Sit ins – Did he lead? No! page 86-7
I hate Vietnam!
32. CORE director James Farmer explained
“we planned the freedom rides to create a crisis. We were
counting on the bigots in the south to do the work for us. We
figured the government would have to respond if we created a
situation that was headline news all over the world.”
Significance – although CORE initiated the Freedom
Rides, King used them to unite CORE, the SCLC and
SCNC and to work together. It worked to get Attorney
General Bobby Kennedy (JFK’s brother) to enforce the
Supreme rulings on Interstate travel desegregation
33. King described Birmingham as ‘by far’ America’s ‘worst
big city’ for racism – he knew that the city’s Public
safety commissioner Bull O’Connor was a hot-
tempered, determined segregationist who had clashed
with Eleanor Roosevelt years before.
‘to cure injustices you must expose
them before the light of human
conscience and the bar of public
opinion.’
34. The SCLC’s actions in Birmingham
were carefully planned – King was
leading rather than being led.
As Police and their dogs turned on
protestors, King continued to march
knowing his arrest would gain
national attention and inspire others.
This was where he wrote his
inspirational ‘Letter from a
Birmingham jail.’
Birmingham was headline news –
Connors water hoses tore clothes off
student’s backs. The SCLC succeeded
its aims of ‘filling the jails’
35. Birmingham was the first time King really led the
movement
‘there was never a more skilful manipulation of the
news media than in Birmingham.’ SCLC Staff member
The Kennedy administration admitted that
Birmingham was crucial in persuading them to pass
the Civil Rights act of 1964.
‘we are on the threshold of a
significant breakthrough
and the greatest weapon is
mass demonstrations.’
36. Page 94-5
I have a
Dream!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57lotnKGF8
37. Despite the success of Washington King’s Leadership
was still criticised
King was indecisive in deciding whether the SCLC
should concentrate on educational programmes or
more glamorous direct action.
Harlem blacks called King an ‘Uncle Tom’
King admitted in 1965 he and the others had failed to
assert the leadership the movement needed.
38. a landmark piece of legislation in the United
States that outlawed major forms of discrimination
against racial, ethnic, national and religious
minorities, and women. It ended unequal application
of voter registration requirements and racial
segregation in schools, at the workplace and by
facilities that served the general public
39. King had fought for ‘Freedom’ in the traditional sense
of a right to vote – this had been achieved by the 1964
Civil Rights Act
Now he now began to define ‘freedom’ in the form of
economic equality. – he now called for a better
distribution of wealth in the USA. He now embarked
on his ‘Poor People Campaign.’
“I got these people the right to eat
hamburgers …and now I’ve got to help
them get the money to buy it.”
40. King was finding it very hard to keep Blacks from rioting and causing
violence in their frustration
People were also beginning to be influenced by the growing influence
of the Black Panthers/Black Power Movement.
There were huge divisions between the SCLC, SNCC, CORE and
NAACP as they disagreed about tactics - led to failed protest
campaigns in Chicago and Meredith in 1966
Leadership of the movement was slipping from king and going towards
more extremist leaders like Stokely Carmichael
“Maybe we just have to admit, the day of
violence is here, and we just have to give
up……Blacks are very, very close to a
public Split.”
41. The following evening, King stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel and
spoke with Jesse Jackson, who was standing in the courtyard below. Ralph
Abernathy, another friend and civil rights leader, was stepping out of the room
In March 1968, Kinga single shot from 100campaign for the rights theblack sanitation
to join them when went to Memphis to yards away hit King in of neck.
workers. On March 28, he led a March that turned violent, a sign of the increasing
militancy of black rights movements, which contrasted to King’s nonviolent
King collapsed and was taken to nearby St. Joseph’s Hospital, where emergency
teachings.
surgery failed to save his life. He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m., an hour
after being shot.
He returned to Memphis on April 3 and delivered a speech now called “I’ve been to
the mountaintop,” atspeaking at Charles Mason Temple. In it, he expressed that he
Robert F. Kennedy, the Bishop a campaign rally that night, echoed the ideals
was not afraid of death. died for: “What we need in the United States is not
that King had lived and
division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the
“Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead,” he
United States is not violence and lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and
said. “But it really doesn't another, and a feeling ofbecausetoward thosethe still
compassion toward one matter to with me now, justice I've been to who
mountaintop. Andcountry,mind. Like anybody, I would like tothey a long life—
suffer within our I don't whether they be white or whether live be black.”
longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do
God'saftermath He’s allowed me to was characterized by widespreadlooked over, and
The will. And of King’s shooting go up to the mountain. And I've outrage and
I've seen the Promised Land. I out in more than 100 cities across want you to know
violence, with riots breaking may not get there with you. But I the U.S. While
tonight, thatleadersa people,King get to the Promised Land.”
civil rights we, as close to will advocated unity, militant black leaders called
for a violent struggle.
