This KS3 History quiz is about racial unrest and civil rights in the USA. The USA is known as the 'land of the free', yet black Americans had to campaign long and hard in history for equal civil rights. Things were starting to change by the 1950s, for example, in 1954, the US government passed a law that it was no longer legal to segregate schoolchildren. The 1950s and 1960s saw many protests by civil rights groups. The majority of these were peaceful, for example, sit-ins. In 1960, students formed the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) to organise them.
As well as the SNCC protests, many other civil rights groups were campaigning. In the city of Montgomery, Martin Luther King Jr. set up the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Their aim was to end all forms of segregation. In 1963, Birmingham in Alabama was said to be the most racially segregated city in America. The town authorities obtained a legal ban on civil rights protests but the SCLC protested anyway. Many people were arrested, including Martin Luther King.
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You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - The civil rights movement in America
The city had closed public facilities to avoid having to desegregate
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Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
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This was a peaceful way of protesting that makes it hard for businesses or public buildings to carry on as normal
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He took part in the Freedom Rides and was later to become important in the Black Power movement
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He used non-violent tactics
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King's birthday is a national holiday in the USA
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There were race riots in anger at his assassination in many US cities
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About 50,000 of them were white
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The speech inspired millions of Americans
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It was about how the police treated a black driver. The same happened in 1992 when arresting police officers were declared innocent of beating a black prisoner
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