Civil Rights DBQ
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Directions: Analyze the primary documents and answer the following questions. You will
use these documents, along with outside information to write a critical evaluation of the
Civil Rights movement.
Document A: Woolworth Counter Strike
Primary source: "A group of Negro Students . . . ," photograph, 1960.
Background information: In 1960, students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, a
historically black institution, defied segregation by sitting at the luncheon counter of the F.W. Woolworth
store in Greensboro.
1. What method of resistance is illustrated in the photo above? What were the intentions of the men
seated in the chairs?
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Document B:
Document C:
Richmond Times Dispatch (September 2, 1958)
City of Norfolk Ballot (November, 1958)
2. According to this cartoon how did states respond to
the orders of the federal court? Provide evidence.
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3. What is this ballot asking the voters to decide and
what will happen if the Governor is petitioned?
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Document D: George Wallace, January, 1963 Inaugural Address
….. Today I have stood, where once Jefferson Davis stood, and took an oath to my people. It is very
appropriate then that from this Cradle of the Confederacy, this very Heart of the Great Anglo-Saxon
Southland, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generations of forebears before us done,
time and time again through history. Let us rise to the call of freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our
answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South. In the name of the greatest people that have ever
trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny . . . and I say . . .
segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever…..
4. Who was George Wallace calling a Tyrant? How is Wallace suggesting the people of the
“Southland” respond to the tyranny?
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Document E: -Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963)
“…You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You
are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action
seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is
forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation
of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not
afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent
tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so
that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and
objective appraisal, we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will
help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and
brotherhood…”
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” how does King explain the purpose and effectiveness of
nonviolent direct action?
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Document F: - Black Panther Party Platform, 1966
We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.
We believe we can end police brutality in our black community by organizing black self-defense groups that
are dedicated to defending our black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all
black people should arm themselves for self defense.
6. What do the Black Panthers suggest should be done about police brutality? How do they justify
their beliefs?
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Document G: Elaine Brown Black Panther Party
7. Why does the Black Panther Party advocate for the use of guns? What do you think the images on
the document suggest?
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Document G: Malcolm X Press Conference, New York City 1964
“It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.
It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or rifle. We believe in obeying the law. The time has come
for the American Negro to fight back in self-defense whenever and wherever his is being unjustly
and unlawfully attacked.”
8. What does the speaker mean by ‘we believe in obeying the law’?
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Document H: Robert F. Kennedy, Eulogy for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.1968
“For those of you who are black – considering the evidence that there were white people who were
responsible – you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move
in that direction as a country…or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand
and comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land,
with an effort to understand with compassion and love.
9. What is the speaker recommending regarding the direction of the Civil Rights movement?
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Document I:
Source: Statement by the minister of defense of the Black Panthers, May 2, 1967
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the black people in
particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature which is now considering legislation aimed
at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless at the very same time that racist police agencies
throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality, murder, and repression of black people.
Black people have begged, prayed, petitioned, demonstrated, and everything else to get the racist power
structure of America to right the wrongs which have historically been perpetrated against black people. All
of these efforts have been answered by more repression, deceit, and hypocrisy. As the aggression of the
racist American government escalates in Vietnam, the police agencies of America escalate the repression of
black people throughout the ghettoes of America. Vicious police dogs, cattle prods, and increased patrols
have become familiar sights in black communities. City Hall turns a deaf ear to the pleas of black people for
relief from this increasing terror.
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for black people to arm
themselves against this terror before it is too late.
10. According to this statement, what reasons to the Black Panthers give for arming themselves
against a racist government?
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