Civil Rights Movement DBQ
- Rosie Jayde Uyola
- 6 hours ago
- 8 min read
Civil Rights Movement - Primary Source Analysis
Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which the growth of African American civil rights activism contributed to changes in government action from 1954 to 1980.
S | Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? |
P | Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… |
Y | whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? |
Document | S.P.Y. Analysis (complete sentences - pretend you are writing this in a DBQ!) |
Doc 1 S Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? P Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… Y whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? | |
Doc 2 S Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? P Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… Y whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? | |
Doc 3 S Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? P Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… Y whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? | |
Doc 4 S Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? P Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… Y whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? | |
Doc 5 S Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? P Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… Y whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? | |
Doc 6 S Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? P Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… Y whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? | |
Doc 7 S Summarize: Describe the document. What does this source have to say about the topic of the prompt? P Prompt: Answer the prompt as if this was the only document in the whole DBQ. How does this document help you to analyze the extent that… Y whY was this written?: Analyze! To whom was this written? For what purpose? What ACTION did the author want the reader to take? |
Thesis: Write a 1 SENTENCE thesis answering the prompt Evaluate the extent to which the growth of African American civil rights activism contributed to changes in government action from 1954 to 1980. |
*If you want extra DBQ practice, take this home and write a body paragraph OR a full DBQ!
Document 1
Source: Image of students escorted by federal troops, Little Rock Central High School, 1957 (George Silk, LIFE Magazine) |
Document 2
Source: John F. Kennedy, Statement by the President Concerning Interference With the "Freedom Riders" in Alabama (May 20, 1961) THE SITUATION which has developed in Alabama is a source of the deepest concern to me as it must be to the vast majority of the citizens of Alabama and other Americans. I have instructed the Justice Department to take all necessary steps based on their investigations and information. I call upon the Governor and other responsible State officials in Alabama as well as the Mayors of Birmingham and Montgomery to exercise their lawful authority to prevent any further outbreaks of violence. I would also hope that any persons, whether a citizen of Alabama or a visitor there, would refrain from any action which would in any way tend to provoke further outbreaks. I hope that state and local officials in Alabama will meet their responsibilities. The United States Government intends to meet its. |
Document 3
Source: Excerpt from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. (April 16, 1963) I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. |
Document 4
Source: Excerpt from a Report to the American People on Civil Rights, John F. Kennedy, Jr. (June 11, 1963) This is not a sectional issue. Difficulties over segregation and discrimination exist in every city, in every State of the Union, producing in many cities a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety. Nor is this a partisan issue. In a time of domestic crisis men of good will and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. This is not even a legal or legislative issue alone. It is better to settle these matters in the courts than on the streets, and new laws are needed at every level, but law alone cannot make men see right. We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who will represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay? … I am, therefore, asking the Congress to enact legislation giving all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public - hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments… Other features will also be requested, including greater protection for the right to vote. But legislation, I repeat, cannot solve this problem alone. It must be solved in the homes of every American in every community across our country… Those who do nothing are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality… |
Document 5
Source: Brochure from the March on Washington (August 1963)
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Document 6
Source: Excerpt from “Speech at the March on Washington,” John Lewis (August 1963) My friends, let us not forget that we are involved in a serious social revolution. By and large, American politics is dominated by politicians who build their careers on immoral compromises… Where is our party? Where is the political party that will make it unnecessary to march on Washington? To those who have said, “Be patient and wait,” we have long said that we cannot be patient. We do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now! We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again. And then you holler, “Be patient.” How long can we be patient? We…do not want to go to jail. But we will go to jail if this is the price we must pay for love, brotherhood, and true peace. I appeal to all of you to get into this great revolution that is sweeping this nation. Get in and stay in the streets of every city, every village and hamlet of this nation until true freedom comes, until the revolution of 1776 is complete… |
Document 7
Source: Excerpt from Lyndon B. Johnson’s address to Congress, March 16, 1965 At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God, was killed… Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right… Experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious discrimination. No law that we now have on the books - and I have helped to put three of them there - can ensure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it. In such a case our duty must be clear to all of us. The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color. We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend that Constitution. We must now act in obedience to that oath… Wednesday I will send to Congress a law designed to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote… Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just [African Americans], but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome. |
