A-Level History: The Civil Rights Movement in the USA, 1945–68

This material covers the African American struggle for civil rights from the end of the Second World War to the assassination of Martin Luther King and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, a theme that appears in several A level History options on the United States (for example AQA's 'The American Dream: reality and illusion, 1945–1980' and the civil rights themes studied with OCR and Pearson Edexcel).

The material follows the movement in three phases. The first covers federal action and the courts before mass protest: Truman's Committee on Civil Rights and the desegregation of the armed forces, Brown v. Board of Education and the 'all deliberate speed' of Brown II, and Eisenhower's reluctant intervention at Little Rock. The second covers the years of non-violent direct action: the Montgomery bus boycott and Browder v. Gayle, the Greensboro sit-ins and the founding of SNCC, the Freedom Rides, the failure at Albany and the lessons applied in Birmingham, the March on Washington, Freedom Summer and Selma, with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as the legislative outcomes. The third covers the northern ghettos and the challenge to non-violence: Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, Watts, Black Power, the Black Panther Party, the Kerner Commission and the Fair Housing Act.

Throughout, the questions ask you to compare the contributions of different actors: presidents, Congress and the Supreme Court; national organisations such as the NAACP, SCLC, CORE and SNCC; and local people. The quiz combines chronology questions, multiple-answer questions testing exact knowledge, and short scenarios such as the Little Rock crisis. The flashcards fix the key cases, laws, campaigns and dates. The written work sets eight explanation and essay-style tasks, such as how far federal government was responsible for the progress made, each with a reference answer and key points. The oral exam asks you to argue your judgements aloud, one question at a time, with brief feedback at the end.

Date ranges differ between specifications, so check which years and which themes your own paper covers.

• Explain the contribution of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson to civil rights
• Explain the significance of Brown v. Board of Education and the limits of its implementation
• Describe the main non-violent campaigns from Montgomery to Selma and explain why some succeeded and others failed
• Explain the provisions of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
• Explain the rise of Malcolm X, Black Power and the Black Panthers
• Assess the relative importance of different organisations and individuals

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the civil rights content of the A level History USA options (for example AQA 2Q, The American Dream: reality and illusion, 1945–1980).