Use this book to answer the following discussions: Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of the United States. NY: Harper-Collins, 2003. Plagarism free and number each discussion.
Discussion 1
How did social practices and political policies regarding black Americans align with the principles of a “people’s war”?
Discussion 2
How did Americans respond to the government’s cold war foreign policies?
Discussion 3
We’ve reached the Sixties! If nothing else, this is the era of the modern civil rights movements. So that’s where we’ll begin.
How did southern blacks reject Jim Crow society after 1955? How did those actions expand after 1960?
Respond to this in own opinion (Paige)
Southern blacks rejected Jim Crow society after 1955 through revolt, protests, boycotting, etc.. A major turning point in 1955 was in Montgomery, Alabama, when Rosa Parks refused to obey the law of segregation on city buses and sat down in the front of the bus, the “white” section (450). She was arrested and put in jail and southern blacks began to fight back against Jim Crow laws. Zinn states, “It forecast the style and mood of the vast protest movement that would sweep the South in the next ten years” (451). Martin Luther King was very respected in the time, but new leaders such as Malcolm X and Huey Newton were starting to replace Martin Luther’s position as hero. These leaders preached that blacks should defend themselves (461). While there were still peaceful methods of protest, more violent and desperate measured ensued. In the early 1960’s black people rose in rebellion all over the South, and in the late 1960’s Zinn states they were engaging in “wild insurrection in a hundred northern cities” (450). In the 1960’s unemployment for nonwhites was much higher than for whites and the killing of Black American’s and protesters of discrimination against blacks set off riots (458). In one of the most violent riots in Watts, Los Angeles, there was rioting in the streets, looting and firebombing of stores. Police and National guardsmen were called to the scene and used their guns (459). Southern blacks took action in many ways to reject Jim Crow Society.
