College Axia Material
Worksheet 4
Leaders and Legislation of the Civil Rights and Black Power
Movements
Identify leaders of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements and their contributions to their
respective causes. How did these social pioneers forge the way for this important ratification?
What legislation was relevant during these critical times?
Part I
Complete the following matrix by identifying 10 leaders or legislative events from both the Civil
Rights and Black Power movements. An example is provided as a model.
Leader and
Associated
Legislation, if
any
A. Philip
Randolph
Date(s
)
Organization and/or Cause
Contribution
1941
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters, which fought
Discrimination
His threat to march on
Washington to protest
discriminatory treatment caused
former President Franklin D.
Roosevelt to react with new
policies on job discrimination.
With the help of some whites and
freed blacks she was able to help
free slaves from the south and
get them to the north
Washingtons accommodating
attitude ensured his popularity
with whites, allowing him to
become the spokespersons for
blacks for the next 20 years.
This helped to organize the
Montgomery Improvement
Association. Led to bus boycott
that helped blacks use nonviolent actions to obtain the end
of segregated seating.
Continued the march of James
Meredith. He advocated black
power, he wanted to create new
institutions for blacks
Carried out a one-person march
to encourage the black population
to vote and forget the fears they
had before. He was later shot but
he had enough supporters that
keep that march going.
Harriet
Tubman
Underground Railroad
Booker T.
Washington
1895
Politics of Accommodation- called
for whites to make an investment
in the black race by educating
them
Rosa Parks
1955
Stokely
Carmichael
Late
1960s
Montgomery Improvement
Association-defied the law by
refusing to give her seat on the
bus to a white man
Secretary head and of the
NAACP
Black Power
James
Meredith
1966
Black Power
ETH 125
John F.
Kennedy
1964
President of United States
Abraham
Lincoln
1863
President of United States
Lyndon Baines
Johnson
1964
President of United States
W.E.B Dubois
Late
1800s1900s
1962
Niagara Movement
Voter
registration
organizing
SNCO/COFO
Helped change the unfairness by
developing the civil rights act of
1964
Support for the homestead act.
Signed legislation entitled the
national banking act.
Ratified the 24th amendment
outlawing the poll tax that
stopped blacks from voting
Encouraged protests where the
blacks would have political
movements for plans of action
To help register black voters and
build community organizations
Part II
Once you complete the matrix, use the space below to write a 100 150 word response,
answering the following questions;
What is civil disobedience?
Describe the role civil disobedience played in the Civil Rights Movement.
Was civil disobedience effective? Explain.
Civil disobedience it the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a
peaceful from the political protest. Civil disobedience was a major factor in the civil rights
movement. Blacks and sometimes whites chose which laws they would fallow according to the
way they view their constitutional value. As long as it did not involve violence, it was viewed as
civil disobedience. Those who were charged with civil disobedience were usually willing to accept
suffering without retaliation and fought forces of evil, not the people who were doing evil. Civil
disobedience was not about humiliating but rather trying to win friendship and understanding. In
some ways, civil disobedience was effective because the end result was achieved, and there
were few people who were killed to achieve the goal. There were a few that died for the cause but
in the end there, murders strengthened the cause.
ETH 125