HIS 200 Applied History PDF

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Summary

Voting Rights Acts honored African American citizens to vote and how the unfair laws were brought to the forefront to begin. Martin Luther King Jr. was a resilient civil rights leader to get the law passed as an instrument to President Lyndon B. Johnson....

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Module 5 Short Responses – Question 1 In the space below, specify which historical lens you'd like to use for this exercise.

For this exercise I would use the economic lens. Through this lens I would like to view how African Americans financially struggled. Although, they were free the south was not supportive in their transition towards equality and neither was the government. The lack of support kept African Americans from getting well paid jobs, better housing, or having enough money to pay the poll tax to vote.

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 2 Next, formulate a research question about the civil rights movement (historical time from 1954 – 1968), using the lens you've chosen.

How was the civil rights movement affected economically during the time of change? Were African American's new rights helping them gain advance financially to help the economy in America?

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 3 First, go back and review the research question you developed in Step 1. For Step 2, first name two different primary sources that you might use to answer that question. Be as specific as you can. Your primary sources should be found using the Shapiro Library.

Bubar, J. (2020, March 9). THE JIM CROW NORTH. New York Times Upfront, 152(10), 18+. Retrieved from https://linkgale.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/apps/doc/A618566911/GIC? u=nhc_main&sid=GIC?d=0981ba8a I will use this newspaper article from the New York Times about the Jim Crow law and how it affected African Americans that moved to the northern states to find better opportunities. But, as the excerpt from the article explains, "Although many black people did find better economic opportunities and a safer environment up North, they also discovered that they hadn't left racism and segregation behind entirely but instead encountered them in new ways. Wolters, R. (1970). Negroes and the great depression: The problem of economic recovery. Greenwood Publishing Group. Soto, Michael. Measuring the Harlem Renaissance : The U.S. Census, African American Identity, and Literary Form. University of Massachusetts Press, 2016. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1842566&site=edslive&scope=site.

Each of the sources above have interesting parts that offer views about how African Americans were depicted and treated once they returned from World War I and their contribution to the depression. The Harlem Renaissance article offers supporting evidence to the economic, social and cultural struggle that the African Americans endured moving from their home in the south to relocating in the north with New York being one of those states and the epicenter of it was Harlem. The following quote offers an example of what African Americans experienced when relocating: "Thurman's novel traces the early life of Emma Lou Morgan as she travels from Boise to Los Angeles to Harlem, always in search of personal and professional fulfillment. Along the way, she encounters the "peculiar conflict"— interracial color prejudice, or "colorism"— because her skin is, according to the novel's third- person narrator, "too black": she appears to have been "dipped, as it were, in indigo ink when there were so many more pleasing colors on nature's palette."2 Unable to find a job worthy of her intelligence or ambition, Emma Lou instead works as a maid for a white Broadway actress."

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 4 Next, name two different secondary sources you could use to answer your research question. Again, be as specific as you can. Your secondary sources should be found using the Shapiro Library.

For my secondary source I will use "Race and New Deal Coalition". With this source I will support the argument that the states and whites benefited economically through the New Deal by denying or excluding African Americans from benefits that all citizens should have been considered. For example, as stated in this article the "New Deal programs were anything but race-neutral - or, for that matter, gender-neutral - in their impact. Some, like the initial Social Security old-age pension program, were established on a racially invidious, albeit officially race-neutral, basis by excluding from coverage agricultural and domestic workers, the categories that included nearly 90 percent of black workers at the time. Reed, A., Jr. (2008, March 20). Race and the New Deal Coalition. Retrieved July 28, 2020, from https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/race-and-new-deal-coalition/ Another source I will use is "Ghost Town-Almost: The Depression Hit a Negro Town". This source will offer a view of how disproportionately the depression hit Negroes harder than whites due to the economic disadvantage they were in at the time, as well as having little to no support from state and federal government. Thompson, I., & Clarke, L. (1935). Ghost town—almost: The depression hits a negro town. Opportunity, Journal of Negro Life, 13(9), 27 "The Great Depression of the 1930s hit African Americans disproportionally hard; the collapse of cotton prices drove thousands of Southern sharecroppers to the brink (Thompson and Clarke, 1935)"

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 5 Construct a thesis statement that provides an answer to the research question you posed

in Step 1. Base your response on the historical evidence that's been presented in this course so far, as well as any research you may have done on your own.

Researching the civil rights movement from an economical view, I will examine how the African American community struggled to advance financially in order to improve their lifestyle including housing, education, and acceptance in society especially the south.

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 6 Name three specific historical events that can be considered contributory causes of the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Briefly explain why you believe each of these events contributed to the passage of the Act.

1) The assassination of JFK- His death accelerated the acceptance of his agenda in both political parties which potentially played a major role in the passing of the Voting Rights Act. JFK was a symbol of what we could be as a country and Lyndon B. Johnson made it a priority to carry on his legacy with supporting the civil rights movement. 2) Bloody Sunday- Nonviolent protesters were killed and that caused distress within the African American community which made them fight even harder for equal rights. In addition, the media coverage of this violent event shed light on the injustice and people could not deny the imbalances in society any longer. 3) MLK's Arrest- This helped gain more support for the civil rights movement for Martin Luther King Jr. was such a dominant figure and his arrest brought attention to the African American community and the causes he was fighting for.

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 7 Based on what you read about the passage of the Voting Rights Act on Page 1 of this learning block, name one event that was part of the course of this bill's passage by Congress.

The event that was part of the course of this bill's passage by Congress was the Fifteenth Amendment which guaranteed the right to vote for all male citizens. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 and 1960 was passed as well, but it was ineffective due to it being watered down by Southern opponents in Congress.

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 8 Name three specific consequences caused by the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

1) The white-dominated state legislators responded to the Voting Rights Act by enacting new measures to limit the effectiveness of African American voting. For example, they turned some formerly elective offices into appointive ones and changing many other elective offices to "at-large" seats, which diluted the impact of new black voters.

2) The redrawing legislative and Congressional districts to maximize white voting power and limit the effectiveness of African American votes. 3) The voter registration surged among African Americans in the states of the Old South, the region directly targeted by the law's "special provisions".

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 9 One of these scholars relied heavily on evidence about the substance of today's political debate. Which scholar was that? What sort of evidence did he use?

The scholar who relied heavily on evidence about the substance of today's political debate is David M. Kennedy. Kennedy used the evidence of modern political debate topics/issues such as gay marriage, as well as abortion rights to get his point across. Kennedy also used issues of war and peace. As the article explain, "They simply do not lend themselves to the kind of compromising that is the stuff of "normal" politics. They might be called Solomonic issues, where the interests at stake are indivisible and the only solutions acceptable to stakeholders are unitary, not comprehensive."

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 10 One of these scholars relied heavily on evidence about the political process. Which scholar was that? What sort of evidence did he use?

The scholar who relied heavily on evidence about the political process is Richard Pildes. Pildes used the evidence of political structure on both the south and southern party politics. He explains that. "the VRA initiated the rise of a genuine political system in the South, which meant the destruction of the one-party monopoly and the emergence, eventually, of a more normal system of competitive two-party politics". This act changed the political system in the south from that point on."

Module 5 Short Responses – Question 11 1. What is the topic of this essay? Does the author make it clear in the introduction? 2. What is the author's thesis?

3. What kind of sources and evidence do you think the author will use to support his thesis?

1) The topic of this essay is how a group of African American students led the first sit-in in Charleston.at one of the many segregated businesses to take a stand for civil rights. No, I do not think the topic was clear in the introduction of the article. It was not until the third sentence that the author mentioned the protest. 2) As the article states, "By examining the effort to desegregate public facilities through the lens of the first sit-in in Charleston, this article will illustrate how a small, committed group of local high school students and teachers played an integral, though overlooked, role in the civil rights movement.", This is the author's thesis.

3) I believe the author would use journals, books and newspaper articles, as well recorded interviews to support his thesis....