Name ________________________________ Mods______________
The
Fifties: The Rage Within
1. December 1, 1955, a seamstress, ___________________________was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. At the time, it seemed like an isolated incident.
2. To protest the arrest, local black leaders called for a bus _______________. The response was overwhelming.
3. Black passengers, the economic backbone of the busing system, happily walked _____________ rather than ride the segregated buses.
4. The first night of the boycott, a protest meeting was scheduled, and more than _______________ people surrounded the church to listen over loud speakers.
5. The key note speaker was a new minister in town, just _______ years old, with only ________ minutes to prepare his speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. was nervous about stepping forward.
6. Angry whites ________________________ King’s home, but it was King who was arrested for conspiracy to boycott.
7. One year later, the boycotters won the fight when the Supreme Court declared segregated busing to be ______________________________________.
8. In 1954, the decision in Brown v. Board of Education declared segregated schools were _____________________________________.
9. In 1957, Little Rock moved to integrate its Central High School. Starting slowly, the local school board chose nine African American students for their ____________________________.
10. Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, said on September 1, 1957 that units of the National Guard have been “mobilized with the mission to maintain and restore the ________________ and good order of the community.”
11. Faubus used the force of the National Guard to ___________________ any black students from entering Central High.
12. Due to protests, the NAACP called students to tell them not to go to school, but Elizabeth Eckford had no _________________ and went to school alone. TV viewers were horrified at what happened to the young girl.
13. Governor Faubus called off the National Guard. He left the explosive situation in the hands of a few local ______________________.
14. When the students snuck into school through a back entrance, the white crowd turned on a black ________________________ outside of the school.
15. That night, President _______________________ addressed the nation.
16. The President ordered the invasion of Arkansas with units from the _______ Airborne division.
17. The army had the instructions to maintain order and secure the safety of the _____________ _______________________ as they attended school.
18. The drama of Little Rock continued on throughout the rest of the _______________.
19. Despite the guards, the nine children endured ___________________, cruel pranks, and assaults.
20. The incident led people to speak up. Quiet musician Louis Armstrong said, “If the United States can’t take care of those little ___________________, to hell with the United States.”