The American Century c.1890-1990

What The American Century c.1890-1990 covers

The American Century c.1890-1990 is examined in Unit 3, the breadth study — one of ten options, of which a student takes one. It covers Jim Crow and the erosion of Black freedom, civil rights from the New Deal to 1945, Brown, Montgomery and non-violent protest, king, Washington and the civil rights acts, black Power, the riots and the aftermath, civil rights after 1968 and the new South, American imperialism and the road to world power, isolationism, the Second World War and the Cold War and Détente, Reagan and the end of the Cold War.

The 9 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Jim Crow and the erosion of Black freedomJim Crow laws, grandfather clause and significance of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.Open →
• Civil rights from the New Deal to TrumanBlack Cabinet and double V campaign.Open →
• Brown, Montgomery and non-violent protestMassive resistance, significance of Emmett Till's murder and freedom Rides.Open →
• King, Washington and the civil rights actsLetter from Birmingham Jail, march on Washington and selma campaign.Open →
• Black Power, the riots and the aftermathBlack Power, black Panthers and watts riot.Open →
• Civil rights after 1968 and the new SouthAffirmative action, new South and significance of the election of Black mayors in major cities.Open →
• American imperialism and the road to world powerManifest destiny, platt Amendment and open Door policy.Open →
• Isolationism, the Second World War and the Cold WarNeutrality Acts, atlantic Charter and manhattan Project.Open →
• Détente, Reagan and the end of the Cold WarSALT I, helsinki Final Act and strategic Defense Initiative.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take The American Century c.1890-1990 further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Booker T Washington vs W E B Du Bois

  Booker T Washington: the former slave who founded the Tuskegee Institute and urged Black Americans to seek economic self-improvement and vocational training before political rights. W E B Du Bois: The Harvard-educated scholar who rejected accommodation, demanded immediate civil and political rights, and called for higher education for a talented tenth.

• NAACP vs SNCC

  NAACP: the organisation founded in 1909 which campaigned chiefly through the federal courts and through publicity rather than by mass protest. SNCC: The students' organisation founded in 1960 out of the lunch-counter sit-ins, which took direct action in the field.

• De jure segregation vs De facto segregation

  De jure segregation: racial separation imposed by law, as in the South, which the courts could strike down. De facto segregation: Racial separation arising from housing patterns, poverty and private discrimination, as in the North, which no court order could remove.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What were the Jim Crow laws?

   Model answer

   State and local laws across the southern United States enforcing racial segregation in schools, transport, public facilities and much else.

2. 2

   Which Supreme Court case gave segregation constitutional cover, and in what year?

   Model answer

   Plessy v Ferguson in 1896, which held that separate but equal facilities did not violate the Constitution.

3. 3

   Why was the separate but equal doctrine a fiction in practice?

   Model answer

   Facilities for Black Americans were consistently and deliberately inferior in funding, condition and provision.

4. 4

   Name three methods used to prevent Black Americans from voting in the South.

   Model answer

   Literacy tests, poll taxes and grandfather clauses, backed by intimidation and violence.

5. 5

   What was a grandfather clause?

   Model answer

   A provision exempting a man from literacy or property requirements if his grandfather had been entitled to vote, which in practice exempted whites alone.

6. 6

   What was lynching, and roughly how common was it?

   Model answer

   The extra-judicial murder of Black Americans by white mobs, with several thousand recorded killings between the 1880s and the 1950s.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

The American Century c.1890-1990 revision questions

What does The American Century c.1890-1990 cover in WJEC A-Level History?

9 subtopics: jim crow and the erosion of black freedom, civil rights from the new deal to truman, brown, montgomery and non-violent protest, king, washington and the civil rights acts, black power, the riots and the aftermath, civil rights after 1968 and the new south, american imperialism and the road to world power, isolationism, the second world war and the cold war and détente, reagan and the end of the cold war. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is The American Century c.1890-1990 organised?

By the WJEC 601-5817-7 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.