1. What were the differences regarding segregation the North vs. segregation in the South?
2. What role did the larger community play in the success of the Montgomery Bus boycott? If the community played a large role in the outcome/success of the civil rights movement, did African American constitute more of a community in the South vs. the North?
3. What did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 address?
4. The most successful tactic that was the most influential in providing the needed legislation for equal civil and social rights was the use of the boycott. Although African Americans were gaining some sympathy for the protesters who were being attacked in the South there was never a huge grassroots movement where while northern liberals threw all of their support behind the protesters, as such the majority of northern liberals were not affected by the images of brutality and violence. It was only when African Americans began to boycott white business (large chain department stores) that changed the social policy in the South.
In fact there are many historians who concluded that many of business owners soon realized that both black dollars and white dollars were the same color...GREEN! So that question that I have for you is regarding the primarily motivations of Americans both then and now. Are Americans motivated primarily by money and not out of moral conscious?
If we are primarily motivated by money what does that say about the integrity of nation both then and now? If the laws of social legislation which come as a result of the civil rights movement come largely from the motivations of money/financial enrichment and not from the resolve to do the right thing, what does this say about American culture? Have things gotten better or worse?
5. Here's a question for you to consider: How did the roles of African Americans change as thousands of Black soldiers began to come back to the United States? Please keep in mind that many of these solders were returning the segregated South. Additionally how did these soldiers contribute to attitudes that would embolden the black community to push for civil and social rights during the mass movement known as the civil rights movement which was only decade away?