The three exam boards' specifications all treat this topic rather differently, so it is important to make sure you know the focus of the examination you are preparing for. Edexcel, for instance, offers an AS module on Civil Rights from 1945 to 1968 - a very short period of time requiring specific knowledge of that period. OCR has an A2 unit covering the period 1865, from the end of the American Civil War, to 1980; whereas for AQA the topic makes up only half of an A2 unit, exploring key themes from 1877 to 1980. Each specification also places varying emphasis on the rights, or lack of them, of other minorities in the USA. It is not just the content that varies - so does the style of examination. Make sure you are quite certain what type of examination questions you will be asked to answer. You can obtain past papers and examiners’ reports from each individual exam board.

You need to understand how America, 'Land of the Free', who fought and won a Revolution in the name of freedom, came to have so many 'unfree' people. Just who were free in the USA? How did this influence politics in the nineteenth century? Was the South fundamentally different from the North? What factors inhibited the development of civil rights for all, and what factors assisted them? Why did the struggle take so long? Why was the issue so divisive, and emotional? You need to detach yourself from today's point of view, where we believe inequality is wrong, and try to understand why some
people thought (and acted) very differently.

a. Was the Civil War about ending slavery, or other issues? Why did it take Lincoln so long to make emancipation a key issue in the Civil War?

b. Why was Reconstruction so lenient on the South, and how did this impact on the rights of Negroes?

c. Why did conditions deteriorate in the 1880s and 1890s, especially in the South? What were 'Jim Crow' laws and why were they so influential?

d. What part did war and economic migration play in improving Civil Rights?

e. Why did Civil Rights protests grow so much in the 1950s and 1960s? How influential was Martin Luther King and his philosophy of peaceful protest?

f. Why did Black Power grow in the 1960s and protests become violent?

a. Just how did slaves benefit from the North's victory in the Civil War? Did the early freedoms last? What were the achievements of the Civil Rights Act 1875 and the Freedmen's Bureau?

b. Why did the Ku Klux Klan grow, and become so influential in the South? How successfully did White politicians limit civil rights? Why?

c. Why was President Roosevelt and his 'New Deal' so reluctant to get involved in Civil Rights issues?

d. Why did war, and especially the Second World War, raise Black Americans' expectations of improvements in their condition? Were these expectations met?

e. How effective were protests like the Montgomery Bus Boycott? Did Black Americans achieve Civil Rights through their own actions, or through those of the Federal Government? Why was Federal Government so reluctant to act forcefully in the 1950s and 1960s?

f. Why did Martin Luther King lose influence as the 1960s progressed? Did the clash between peaceful protest and more militant action help or hinder progress? Was it a clash of philosophies, or of personalities?

g. How far have Civil Rights been achieved in the USA? Do all people have equal opportunity or is there still discrimination? Is it really the Government's job to end discrimination?

Further reading: Civil Rights in America, 1865-1980, by Ron Field is a very useful addition to the Cambridge Perspectives in History series for A-Level students. Civil Rights in the USA, 1863-1980, by David Paterson, Doug and Susan Willoughby in the Heinemann Advanced History series has sections for both AS and A2. There is also a new, very readable yet detailed, biography of Martin Luther King by Peter J. Ling in the Routledge Historical Biographies series.

There are literally thousands of websites on the subject. Starting points might include:

www.civilrightsmuseum.org is a relatively straight
forward introduction with a simple overview of the topic.

www.journale.com/withoutsanctuary/ is a rather disturbing collection of 80 postcards and photographs of lynching taken from the book of the same name.

www.mich.edu/politics/mlk is a Martin Luther King web page.

www.library.trinity.wa.edu.au/camp/head/discrim.htm is an excellent starting point for events in the 1950s and 1960s.