Edexcel AS History Unit 1 Option D resit - 18th May 2016

I am! Do you have any predictions?!!

What mark would you give this essay?
How far do you agree that the Second World War was themain reason why the position of African Americans improves in the years1945-55? The SecondWorld War played an important role in improving the position of AfricanAmericans in the years 1945-55. Specifically, it improved the status of AfricanAmericans as many of them fought valiantly in the war and were seen as heroes,which in turn led to increased support from the Federal government. However,the impact of the Second World War was limited as it did nothing to addressracial segregation or its legal foundation – Plessy v Ferguson. This wastackled through direct action by the federal government and the NAACP. Thus,making these more of a contributing factor than the Second World War The SecondWorld war led to social, economic and political changes for African Americans. Duringthe war, African Americans adopted the ‘Double V’ sign, this symbolized thatthey were fighting for a victory against racism in Europe and America. This wasa popular signal used by black soldiers as they spent much of the war in Britain,where there was no segregation which opened their eyes to the possibility of ade-segregated US society. However, soldiers returned from serving their countryto hatred and racism, so joined the NAACP to campaign for improvement. There was also an emergence of black heroes,such as Woodrow Crockett, who flew 149 missions during WW2. They won the respectof white soldiers due to their outstanding courage. These soldiers were seenfor their achievements rather than the colourof their skin, which shows thatthe position of these African Americans did improve. The War also affectedpolitical and economic rights for black Americans. In 1945, migration caused 4million African Americans to move to the North, this led to increased votingpower, as a result two black congressmen were elected to serve in Northernstates. African Americans also received higher wages in Northern industry as aresult of this migration. Although there were some changes, African Americanswere still seen as lower class citizens and the Second World War led to know dejure changes which meant that segregation was still legal.


The Federal Government also made some progress in improving the position of African Americans in1945-55. In 1947, Truman established the President’s Committee on Civil Rightsto investigate racism in America. Its report, entitled ‘to secure these rights’,highlighted inequalities and made suggestions for change. This was the firsttime that civil rights had been put on the political agenda, which meant thatAfrican Americans position in society was set to change. Truman also used his power as president to implement many reforms which had a positive impact onemployment, desegregation and housing. Examples of these were the executive order 9980 (1948) which outlawed racial discrimination in civil service employment. He also appointed a number of African Americans to high-profile governmen tjobs, for example, he made Ralph Bunche Ambassador to the United Nations. Interms of desegregation, Truman signed the executive order 9981, which endedsegregation in the army, which allowed heroes such as Woodrow Crockett toemerge. Lastly, Truman set up a fair deal programme which committed the governmentto building large numbers of new homes, particularly in inner-city ghettos.However, the impact of Truman’s measures should not be exaggerated as he failedto implement many of the recommendations in ‘to secure these rights’ and thefair deal housing programme was underfunded and therefore demolished morehouses than it actually built.

Perhaps themost important factor was the success of the NAACP in challenging segregationthrough the Supreme Court. The NAACP trained lawyers to fight court cases forAfrican Americans. The leading NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall was key toimproving the position of African Americans. The NAACP challenge interstatetransport in the Morgan vs. Virginia case. The supreme court ruled that interstatetransport was illegal. This ruling inspired activists in CORE to go on ajourney of reconciliation, which shows that the work of NAACP was successful inmaking de jure change for African Americans but also influencing more activiststo get involved to make change. The biggest success was the Brown case in 1954.This ruled segregation in schools illegal, successfully challenging the ‘separatebut equal’ ruling, established in the Plessy Vs Ferguson case. This suggest thatthe NAACP was the biggest reason for improvement as they undermined the legalbasis for segregation and laid foundations for future protests in the 1960s.

To conclude, the Second World War did have some impact in improving the position of AfricanAmericans in the years 1945-55 because it improved the status but it did notlead to any de jure change so as a result there was no significant change inthe position of African Americans. The Federal government played a moreimportanr role than the second world war as Truman put civil rights on thepolitical agenda, however no significant change in the position of African Americansoccurred as a result of this in 1945-55. The most persuasive argument is that theNAACP played the most important role as if it was not for them then the ‘separatebut equal’ ruling may not have been challenged for many more years and theremay have been no significant change to the position of African Americans in1945-55.

Does any body have the 2015 questions for option D, they're not on the edexcel website

Hey,

That is a good structure, but I don't think I would have enough to say on the 2nd and 3rd points?

I probably would have gone for:

MLK and all your 3 points mentioned in this and evaluated and their outcomes

Then I would've gone for the Supreme court and their influence - bringing in the NAACP

And finally I would've gone for presidents and what they did - so this would have been Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson and then the Civil Rights Acts they passed etc (so Eisenhower - passed two, Kennedy initiated 1, and Johnson passed 4) and then their personal views towards the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans.

I think this way you would have quite the selection of evidence and argument to fill out the essay and make it flow. I think its what you feel most comfortable giving a strong argument in.

Please can I have feedback on what you think

Oh and then conclusion wise sum up that he the most important contribution because without him not as many public protests etc would've happened so CRM would not have been on the public agenda so therefore the supreme court and presidents would not have felt the need to help!

Hey,

That is a good structure, but I don't think I would have enough to say on the 2nd and 3rd points?

I probably would have gone for:

MLK and all your 3 points mentioned in this and evaluated and their outcomes

Then I would've gone for the Supreme court and their influence - bringing in the NAACP

And finally I would've gone for presidents and what they did - so this would have been Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson and then the Civil Rights Acts they passed etc (so Eisenhower - passed two, Kennedy initiated 1, and Johnson passed 4) and then their personal views towards the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans.

I think this way you would have quite the selection of evidence and argument to fill out the essay and make it flow. I think its what you feel most comfortable giving a strong argument in.

Please can I have feedback on what you think

I only have the Civil Rights and Vietnam one...I didn't write down the hispanics/korea but it is on the past papers section of edexcel

Yeah that is true, I think the best structure would be to have a blend of both. So 60-80% of the essay in talking about the pros/cons of MLK, i think you could talk about his success in birmingham and montgomery and then his failures in Chicago and Albany, and then at the end bring in other factors:

NAACP/Supreme Court - Montgomery (Browder vs Gayle), Little Rock (Cooper vs Aaron), Freedom Rides (Boynton vs Virginia)

Federal Govt, if you have time

Hey please please tell me if I'm wrong but I'm really confused, for this question I thought you would only talk about MLK? My structure for this question is:
Important because- He was successful in his campaigns that promoted peaceful protest (paragraph on this)
He unified the civil rights movement (paragraph on this)
Wasn't important because- Some campaigns didn't achieve his aims, especially is economic ones eg the Chicago campaign (paragraph on this)
Black power and nationalism was becoming more appealing (paragraph on this)

Obviously with an intro and conclusion as well. Really panicking now

There's no need to worry! I think your structure is good. There are loads of different ways to answer this question, its basically talk about the pros/cons of MLK and then include other factors if you can, which you have (Black power).

I would say it has potential but it is a tad too long and is too narrative in places(too descriptive) particularly in the first paragraph, and many minor mistakes/misinterpretations. But from looking at the past examiner reports, and what they've marked people's examples on there, then it probably would be an A.

awesome!

Does any body have the 2015 questions for option D, they're not on the edexcel website