Civil Rights and the Party System

Carter, The Politics of Rage, pp. 7-194.

Study questions will be posted the day before class.

4 Responses

Subscribe to comments with RSS.

Ivette Peña Martinez said, on March 17, 2009 at 7.44pm

The Journal of American History
1) Why was it that WWII started grass roots rebellion and not any other war before this?
2) In this article it says that both blacks and whites benefitted tremendously from the new deal act but did they both benefit equally?

Truman and the Historians
3) Why is it that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were considered to be locked in this conflict? Shouldn’t there always be room for diplomacy?

Free Speech in the Age of McCarthy
4) Why would F.D.R. promise collaboration between U.S. and U.S.S.R. if the tensions were rapidly growing between the two?
5) Why was the McCarthy era allowed to survive that long if censorship and stripping of privacy is what this country is all about?
6) Why was communism such a threat if the CPUSA had such small amount of members?

The Political Context of McCarthyism
7) How did McCarthy become so influential? Was it only because he was such a great demagogue?
8) Could it be that because McCarthy and McCarran were of Irish-Catholic backgrounds they tried to create a different other so that they could be more appealing to their Anglo-Protestant population?
9) Where was the Supreme Court when it came time to protect people rights?

Reply
Ivette Peña Martinez said, on March 17, 2009 at 7.45pm

The Journal of American History
1) Why was it that WWII started grass roots rebellion and not any other war before this?
2) In this article it says that both blacks and whites benefitted tremendously from the new deal act but did they both benefit equally?

Truman and the Historians
3) Why is it that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were considered to be locked in this conflict? Shouldn’t there always be room for diplomacy?

Free Speech in the Age of McCarthy
4) Why would F.D.R. promise collaboration between U.S. and U.S.S.R. if the tensions were rapidly growing between the two?
5) Why was the McCarthy era allowed to survive that long if censorship and stripping of privacy is what this country is all about?
6) Why was communism such a threat if the CPUSA had such small amount of members?

The Political Context of McCarthyism
7) How did McCarthy become so influential? Was it only because he was such a great demagogue?
8) Could it be that because McCarthy and McCarran were of Irish-Catholic backgrounds they tried to create a different other so that they could be more appealing to their Anglo-Protestant population?
9) Where was the Supreme Court when it came time to protect

Reply
Heather Granados said, on March 23, 2009 at 11.57am

The Politics of Rage, Dan Carter.

1) What methodologies were employed in Alabama in 1963 to deny blacks their most basic democratic rights?
2) What was the primary reason why George Wallace lost the election of 1958 for Governor? How did George Wallace ensure victory in the 1962 election, and his firm grip on Alabama during his term?
3) What methodologies did law enforcement and state investigators use to disqualify applicants from the University of Alabama?
4) On what grounds did Wallace challenge the integration of the University of Alabama?
5) What incident marked President Kennedy’s commitment on civil rights? When did he decidedly transition from his earlier neutral position?
6) How did the confrontation between the Federal Government and Wallace in front of the University of Alabama position the governor in Alabama? Did it strengthen his position or did he falter?
7) How did Wallace defend racial segregation? What “congenial terrain” did he pursue so as to not appear as a fanatical racist?
8) What city was the first site of the first integration of public schools in Alabama?
9) George Wallace staked his political career on opposition to integration. How did he account for the open resistance and disorder that took over Alabama? On whose shoulders did the fault lay on, according to Wallace?
10) What did Wallace do, or whom did he encourage did give credence to his claims that integration would inevitably lead to disorder?
11) Were the events surrounding integration in Birmingham similar to the debacle at Ole Miss?
12) What did Time magazine’s cover story symbolize following the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and the killing of four young girls?
13) What was the real turning point in the history of race relations in Birmingham? When were the “men with bombs” no longer safe from police?
14) What fear and paranoia gripped the White southerners in the 1950s and 1960s, and led the whites to perceive the NAACP as a lavishly funded juggernaut?
15) What massacre did Wallace continuously refer to in his campaigns to reassert racial fear?
16) What characteristics did Wallace possess growing up that helps to explain his governorship?

Reply
Davin Ganpat said, on March 24, 2009 at 12.45pm

The Politics of Rage.

1. Was Reuben Kolb’s Jeffersonian Democrats placating to black voters?
a. What led to the low voter turn out of 1901?
b. What type of government did Alabamian planters favored during the 1920s and 1930s?
2. How did Wallace view blacks during his stint in the Air Force?
a. What was his rationale for segregation?
3. Is congressman Carl Elliot’s assessment of Wallace as an opportunist valid?
4. What event forced Wallace to take a stronger stance on segregation?
5. What had changed in Wallace’s political views from the 1958 election to the 1963 election for governor?
a. What tactics did Wallace employ to win the hearts and minds of Alabamians?
6. What did Wallace briefly purpose to develop to defend desegregation orders from the federal government?
7. What was accomplished between the meeting of Wallace and Robert Kennedy?
8. How did confrontation with Wallace influence President Kennedy’s stance on civil rights?
9. What was Wallace’s argument for not complying with the desegregation?
10. What was Wallace’s reason for not abiding to the Supreme Court?

Reply