Katie Risolo

EDU 509
DBQ Assessment
Civil Rights Movement
DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION
This question is based on the accompanying documents. It is designed to test your ability to work
with historical documents. Some of these documents have been edited for the purposes of the
question. As you analyze the documents, take into account the source of each document and any
point of view that may be presented in the document.
Historical Context:
The Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968) is understood as the collected efforts of many
different groups and individuals fought to achieve justice and equal treatment for all
African-Americans. Several events shaped the time period, particularly those that either
showed the extent of injustice and unfair or violent treatment, as well as took direct
action against injustice. Additionally, significant events were those where Civil Rights
leaders could celebrate a concrete victory, such as a court decision or a change in law.
Task:
Using information from the documents and your knowledge of social studies, answer the
questions that follow each document.
Describe the hardships African-Americans in the United States faced before and
during the Civil Rights Movement.
Discuss actions taken by the government, groups, and/or individuals to make a
change during this period.

Document 1: Woolworths Department Store Counter - Greensboro, North

Carolina (February 1, 1960)
Four A&T State University freshmen students, Ezell Blair, Jr.,, Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil
& David Richmond walked downtown and sat down at the whites-only lunch counter at
Woolworth's. They refused to leave when denied service and stayed until the store closed.

Question 1: Why werent these four college students served at the lunch counter?
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Question 2: What is the advantage of protesting nonviolently instead of using force?
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Document 2: School Integration in the American South, 1960

The massive effort to desegregate public schools across the United States was a major goal of the
Civil Rights Movement. Brown v. Board of Education (1954), now acknowledged as one of the
greatest Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century, unanimously held that the racial
segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
State

Total Black Enrollment Integrated with "Whites"

Alabama

267,259

Arkansas

104,205

98

Delaware

14,063

6,196

District of
Columbia

89,451

73,290

Florida

201,091

512

Georgia

306,158

Kentucky

42,778

12,000

Louisiana

261,491

Maryland

130,076

28,072

Mississippi

271,761

Missouri

82,000

35,000

North Carolina

302,060

34

Oklahoma

39,405

10,246

South Carolina

255,616

Tennessee

146,700

169

Texas

279,374

3,300

Virginia

203,229

103

West Virginia

24,010

12,000

Total

3,020,727

181,020

(Source: Current, Richard D., Harry Williams, and Frank Freidel, American History: A Survey, 1961)

Question 3: Which states seemed to be more successful in integrating black and white students?
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Question 4: Which states had no school's integrated with whites? Why is this so?
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Document 3: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Letter from a Birmingham Jail
(April 16, 1963)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to national prominence in 1955 as the leader of a boycott of the
city-owned bus line in protest of its discrimination against African-American riders. From this
time on, until he was murdered in 1968, Dr. King remained the most prominent AfricanAmerican civil rights leader. Kings leadership of demonstrations and open defiance of racist
laws led police to arrest him a number of times. While in the Birmingham, Alabama, jail in the
spring of 1963, King wrote an eloquent defense of his belief in nonviolent resistance. This
excerpt comes from that essay:
My Dear Fellow Clergymen:

Iindicate why I am here in BirminghamI have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia....

Several months ago the affiliatein Birmingham asked us toengage in a non-violentaction program ifdeemed necessary. We
consented, and when the hour came we lived up to our promise. So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was
invited here. I am here because Iorganizational ties here.

But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and
carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus
and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom
beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned
about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of
mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live
with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider
anywhere within its bounds.

Question 5: How does Dr. King react to accusations that his actions were unwise and
untimely?
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Question 6: According to Dr. King, what does segregation do to the segregator? What does
segregation do to the segregated?
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Document 4: March on Washington Flier (August 28, 1963)

Civil rights organizations demanded the right to vote, full access to jobs and education, and an
end to segregated public accommodations. These demands were met with strong resistance and
violence from local governments. On August 28, 1963, work in the nations capital came to a halt
as thousands of demonstrators made their way to Washington, DC to participate in the largest
demonstration up to that time in the citys history. By the end of the day, an estimated 250,000
people participated in the march to demand social justice.

Question 7: What were the goals of the march?

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Document 5: Police Response to Non-violent Civil Rights Demonstrations in

Birmingham, Alabama (1963)

Question 8: How did the police respond to people involved in non-violent demonstrations?
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Question 9: Why did police officers react to non-violent protests in such a way?

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Document 6: Migration Map

Question 10: Which area of the United States faced a large population loss? Which area of the
United States faced a large population gain?
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Question 11: What are some causes as to why African-Americans migrated?
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