Prescribed subject 4: Rights and protest
Source M
Excerpts from President Lyndon B Johnson’s Voting Rights Act Address, 15 March 1965.
This was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purpose. The great phrases
of that purpose still sound in every American heart, north and south: “All men are created equal” –
“Government by consent of the governed” – “Give me liberty or give me death.” (…)
Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and
should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason
which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than
the duty we have to ensure that right.
Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply
because they are Negroes. (…)
The command of the Constitution is plain. There is no moral issue. It is wrong – deadly wrong – to
deny any of your fellow American the right to vote in this country. There is no issue of States rights
or National rights. There is only the struggle for human rights.
Source N
Excerpts from the text of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
SEC. 2. No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be
imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of
the United States to vote on account of race or color. (…)
SEC. 3. (b) If in a proceeding instituted by the Attorney General under any statute to enforce the
guarantees of the fifteenth amendment in any State or political subdivision the court finds that a test
or device has been used for the purpose or with the effect of denying or abridging the right of any
citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color, it shall suspend the use of tests and
devices in such State or political subdivisions as the court shall determine is appropriate and for
such period as it deems necessary.
Source O
R. Weisbrot. Freedom Bound (1990).
As in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, legal change found its catalyst in social disorder.
The historian David Garrow has argued persuasively that at Selma, Martin Luther King refined to a
new sophistication the tactic of precipitating racist violence in order to win media coverage and, in
turn, public support that could translate into legislation. The spasm of one-sided violence at Selma
helped solidify a stronger, more quickly formed consensus for civil rights action than had occurred
in 1963, when violence in Birmingham involved black rioters as well as rampaging while police. The
nation had also traveled far in those two years, becoming more sensitive to the indignities as well
as the dangers blacks endured in seeking their rights.
Source P
A news photograph taken during the Selma to Montgomery March, March 1965.
Read sources M to P and answer questions 13 to 16. The sources and questions relate to Case
study 1: Civil rights movement in the United States (1954–1965) – Legislative changes: Voting
Rights Act (1965).
13. (a) What is the message of Source O?
[3]
(b) What evidence is there in Source M to suggest that President Johnson
supported voting rights legislation?
[2]
14. With reference to its content, origin and purpose, what are the values and
limitations of Source P for students studying the activities of Civil Rights Movement
activists in working for voting rights?
[4]
15. Compare and contrast Sources M and N with regard to the federal government’s
commitment to voting rights.
[6]
16. Using the sources and your own knowledge, assess why, how and to what
effects civil rights activists fought to secure voting rights for African Americans.
[9]
MARK SCHEME GUIDELINES
13. (a) Award [1] for each relevant point up to a maximum of [3].
(b) Award [1] for each relevant point up to a maximum of [2].
14. The focus of the question is on the value and limitations of the source.
- If only value or limitations are discussed, award a maximum of [2].
- Origins, purpose and content should be used as supporting evidence to make relevant
comments on the values and limitations.
- For [4] there must be at least one reference to each of them in either the values or the
limitations.
15. Apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and
award credit wherever it is possible to do so.
16. Apply the markbands that provide the “best fit” to the responses given by candidates and
award credit wherever it is possible to do so.
- While it is expected that there will be coverage of at least two of the sources, candidates are not
required to refer to all four sources in their responses.