Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

A2 AQA History - Clivil rights in the USA 1865-1992 OCR discussion thread

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Also, you need to cover 100 years in the questions, and don't answer chronologically, chronologically will not get you above a C.

Reply 41

~Elle~

I agree ^ Always do it in order of IMPORTANCE.

Reply 42

ader

The essay needs to be entirely synoptic. I seem to be using different themes to everyone else on here, like, if there was a question; "To what extent did the federal government hinder the development of African American civil rights?" :

Introduction containing argument and direct contrast comparison with beginning and end of period in relation to the question

The vote and political opportunity - the role the federal government played in this. Then I would look at a variety of other factors that affected the development of this making constant comparisons.

I would then do the same with Education and Employment, and if time integration. I think this way is so much more synoptic; you can constantly make comparisons and links to come to a substantiated judgement. I haven't been taught to do it any other way, but it must be alright if everyone else has been told to do it :smile:

I think the main problem is that people start thinking that there is a specific way to answer a question, but there isn't. There is no set formula. As long as you are evaluative throughout and make constant comparisons and include the whole period, an examiner will not be able to justify giving you a low mark.

But it's tomorrow, I'm bricking it, and I'm wasting my time on here instead of doing work! Good luck everyone!

Reply 43

Zionic

How did you all find the exam?

Reply 44

celynwelshy

I thought the exam was pretty fair, answered the African American and Native American Questions

Reply 45

~Elle~

Hiii I think it went ok you know :biggrin:

I did the women's question on gender equality and african american question.

For the women's I argued that the vote wasn't the turning point as women didn't take advantage of it, which is exemplary in the fact that women hadn't secured a political position by 1992 to influence politicians and government policies. I said WW2 was the most important tp as it changed women's attitudes, and can be said to have been the cause of the success of the 1960s. I also spoke about the roe v wade case, how it was important as it showed women perhaps moving away from concept of separate spheres, in that it seemed more women wanted to have less children. But I said it wasn't the most important as there was no significant event after the 1970s to prove that women really had diverged completely from the concept.

For the af am essay, I don't think it was as good as my women's one. But I still managed to finish it, somewhat. I argued that leadership of af am civil rights wasn't the most important factor as leaders were only seen to be significant in the 1960s, with King. The rest, such as Washington, Garvey and Malcolm X either achieved little, nothing or was a bad influence (Malcolm X and the BP movement and Black Panthers). I said Supreme Court was the most important, as although it wasn't consistently supportive of af am throughout the whole period, the times that they were resulted in important cases such as brown v board of education, browder v gayle, green v conally, gaines v canada etc. I also argued that it was the most important because they helped conquer segregation in important areas such as education and public facilities, which would have improved af am quality of life. I spoke about the NAACP too, how they also helped reduce racism and segregation, however argued that it wasn't as important as the Supreme Court as it was essentially the Supreme Court who had the power, and they were the one who enforced the changes (:

Which questions did you answer? Hope it went well for everybody. I'm hoping I got an A - if I got an A* that'd be brilliant, but I'd be over the moon with an A :biggrin:

Reply 46

Peachz

I did the African American question & the Native American One. Basic plan that I did (this probably wont have gotten an A but its a good basis to assess your own from.)

African American:

LEADERS:
MLK --- > GOOD QUALITY - Selma, bham,washington - led too legislation
Malcolm X ---- > Bad Quality - violence, hindered the movement
Du Bois ---- > Bad Quality - failed economic progress etc
Booker T ----> Tried with Tuscini College but wasn't enough

FEDERAL GOV:
Supreme Court ---> PleVsFerg, Slaughterhouse, BrownVsTopeka, BaakeVsCali
Congress ---> 13/14/15 Amendment, Voting Rights/Civil Rights/Equal Opp. Acts, Impeachment of Johnson, didn't intervene with Jim Crow laws 'till too late
Presidents ---> JFK, LBJ, FDR, ---- Grant, Johnson, Cleveland

GROUPS
CORE
NAACP --- > Funded cases, only some though
SLCC --- > Headed by MLK, not that good, Mont. Bus Boycott

Then I talked about Liberal shift in the 1930's with new SC judges. Eventually concluded with quality of leaders was consistent and they influenced policy but it was the Fed Gov who made the majority of the changes.

Note: a very rough plan + i've probably missed some stuff out like media & WW1/2

Native American's:

YES:
- Homestead Act
- Fort Laramie Treaty
- Dawes Act
- Citizenship Act
- Re-org Act
- Termination

No:
- Self Determination Act
- Civil Rights Act
- Voting Rights Act
- Equal Opp. Act
- Ended Termination
- US vs Sioux Nation

Concluded with, generally failed up untill the 1960's and then definately with Nixon in the 1970's. (this is a v short version + I think I included more than I have said here.)

I felt the AA essay was fairly easy and I originally thought it was going to be very hard. The N.A one seemed a bit bit part and quite jumpy and I sort of ran out of time so I didn't say everything that I wanted but oh well!

Best of luck to you alll!!

Reply 47

Zionic

I did the AA question and women.

For the AA question on how important were african american leaders in the development of african american civil rights. I put how there were good leaders for AA such as king uniting all blacks, how jessie jackson ran for president to regan blacks peoples faith in politics again. The actions of the leaders of CORE and the NAACP which grouped blacks into forces to press for equality.

Against it I put that AA didn't work always work for equality. Washington worked within the system, malcom x wanted to create a seperate black nation, like marcus garvey. Also put in how most of the development was because of the supreme court and president legislation, and how they could of easily sent the army out on black protesters like they did to trade uionists. Also put in how white people also helped the movement, such as the AWSA campaigned for securing blacks the vote and white people taking part in freedom rides.

Also did woman. 1920s weren't good as they didn't use the vote, or just voted what their husbands did. They got jobs with the boom in the 20s but said in the depression they lost their jobs and replaced by men. I put in their attitude changes to prohibition, and their limited influence as there were other main factors, but the campaign of WONPR and protecting the family had them in the mindset of the seperate spheres attitude.

Then did 1865-1900, how women were divided yet managed to unite. They united over prohibition and temperance, yet were divided on the issue, it showed that they could form together and campaign, setting the example for future generations. Also put in their campaign for suffrage, that they were angered at the 15th not including them, but the divisions of the suffrage campaign as it mainly included middle class women. Mentioned that it was rife in the seperate spheres attitude.

Then did the 1960s as it had the most long lasting impact. Legislation such as the 1964 CR act, 1963 fair pay act, contraceptives became legal to buy. Feminism was at its peak, the creation of the national womens congress, and the national organizations for abortion reform set up after contraceptives came in and pushed for abortion laws, and that it lead to the 1973 roe v wade case. In the 60s more woman were in work than ever, more were joining higher education, girls were starting to want careers instead of families and the seperate spheres attitude was beginning to fade, but were faced with a new problem of the glass ceiling.

I typed too much of the above, and a lot of the stuff in my essay is not included in there... i've been revising politics since I got in. :frown:

Hope everyone did well, and gets a really good grade! :biggrin:

Reply 48

ader

I did the African American and Native American question

For the African American question my themes were the vote (and political opportunity), education, employment (and economic independence) - within those themes i tried to evaluate the work and leadership of african americans and comparing this with other factors. My overall argument was that although the work of African American campaigners was influential, it was ultimately the federal government that was responsible for development. This essay was definitely a bit muddled in places though cos I really didn't like the wording of the question - "quality of leadership).

For the Native American question, my themes were land autonomy, cultural autonomy and education and again evalutaed federal policy in each. My overall argument was that until 1970s the federal government did not support these rights, but post-1970s saw a turning point in federal attitudes. I definitely thought this was much better written than the African American essay I did, but I thought this would be the case as Native Americans were my favourite topic!

I can't believe it's all over now, all that revision just amounted to those highly stressful 2 hours! Hope everyone coped well with it and got the grades they wanted!

Reply 49

rosemc94

does anyone know how to answer this question:

To what extent did federal and state governments hinder the development of trade union rights in the period 1865-1992 :frown: