Name ________________________________________________ Date _____________
Civil Rights DBQ Question
Directions: The following question requires you to construct a coherent essay that
integrates your interpretation of Documents A-K and your knowledge of the period
referred to in the question. High scores will be earned only by essays that cite key pieces
of evidence from the documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period.
Question: From the 1950s to 1970s leaders of the Civil Rights movement used various
methods to affect change. Analyze the types of resistance and the extent to which the
methods successfully advanced the movement.
Civil Rights DBQ Question/Rubric
Question: From the 1950s to 1970s leaders of the Civil Rights movement used various
methods to affect change. Analyze the types of resistance and the extent to which the
methods successfully advanced the movement.
The A or B Essay
• Contains a well-developed thesis that examines the types of resistance and the
extent to which the methods successfully advanced the Civil Rights movement
• Supports the thesis with an effective analysis of the types of resistance and the
extent to which the methods successfully advanced the Civil Rights movement
o Examines multiple methods of resistance in a balanced manner
• Effectively uses a substantial number of documents
• Supports the thesis with substantial and relevant outside information
• May contain minor errors
• Is clearly organized and well written
The C Essay
• Contain a thesis that addresses the types of resistance and the extent to which the
methods successfully advanced the Civil Rights movement
• Has some limited analysis of the types of resistance and the extent to which the
methods successfully advanced the Civil Rights movement
o Examines some methods of resistance, may be imbalanced
• Effectively uses some documents
• Supports thesis with some relevant outside information
• May have errors that do not seriously detract from the quality of the essay
• Shows acceptable organization and writing: language errors do not interfere with
the comprehension
The D Essay
• Contains a limited or undeveloped thesis
• Deals with the question in a general, simplistic, or superficial manner
• Merely paraphrases, quotes, or briefly cites documents
• Contains little outside information, or information that is inaccurate or irrelevant
• May contain major errors
• May be poorly organized and/or poorly written
The F Essay
• Lacks a thesis or simply restates the question
• Exhibits inadequate or incorrect understanding of the question
• Has little or no understanding of the documents or ignores them completely
• May contain substantial factual errors
• Is poorly organized and/or poorly written
• Is blank or completely off task
Document A: Richmond Times Dispatch (September 2, 1958)
Things to think about:
-What is this document saying about the
state of Virginia’s acceptance of the
desegregation of the school?
Document B: City of Norfolk Ballot (November, 1958)
Things to think about:
-What is this ballot asking the public to vote on?
-What are they petitioning the Governor to do?
-What will be the results?
Document C:
….. 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…..
--George Wallace, January, 1963 Inaugural Address
Things to think about:
-What was the George Wallace’s stance on segregation?
-What impact do you believe it had on the civil rights movement?
Document D:
“…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 we 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…”
-Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963)
Things to think about:
-Why does Martin Luther King, Jr. say tension is not necessarily a bad thing?
-What is Martin Luther King Jr. promoting people do?
Document E:
…All of this is on account of us wanting to register, to become first-class citizens, and if the freedom
Democratic Party is not seated now, I question America, is this America, the land of the free and the
home of the brave where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives be
threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?
-Fannie Lou Hamer, Speech at the Democratic National Convention, July 22, 1964.
Things to think about:
-What is she questioning and why?
-How does she describe the life of the African American in the United States?
Document F:
"Neither the State nor any subdivision or agency thereof shall deny, limit or abridge, directly or
indirectly, the right of any person, who is willing or desires to sell, lease or rent any part or all of his
real property, to decline to sell, lease or rent such property to such person or persons as he, in his
absolute discretion, chooses."
-
California Proposition 14 – Amendment to the Rumford Fair Housing
Act, sponsored by the California Realtors Association - November, 1964
Things to think about:
-What is this document saying about property rights?
-What impact would this have on the civil rights movement?
Document G:
1965 Political Cartoon
Things to think about:
-What importance do the signs have in the cartoon?
-What is the cartoon trying to say about the civil rights movement?
Document H: "Signing the Voting Rights Act," U.S. News and World Report, August 16, 1965.
Things to think about:
-What impact did the Voting Rights Act of 1965
have on the civil rights movement?
-What was the South’s reaction?
-What impact did it have on future elections?
Documents I:
7. 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.
- Black Panther Party Platform, 1966
Things to think about:
-What did the Black Panthers want to end?
-How were they going to end it?
-Did this change the civil rights movement? How so?
Document J: Black Panther Party Poster, NYU Archives Collection – 1969
Things to think about:
-What role is symbolizism playing in the poster?
-What is the poster saying they should do?
-What impact did this have on the civil rights movement?
Document K: The Log, Salem State College (October 24, 1972)
Things to think about:
-What are the arguments being addressed in this article?
-What evidence is there in this document of the
civil rights movement?
-What is the overall reaction to the civil rights
movement?