History A-Level NEA AQA- Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement

Hello there. I'm currently writing my History NEA and am really struggling with how to structure it and especially with finding historical interpretations. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thank you!
The question is:
"To what extent was Martin Luther King the most successful Civil Rights activist in terms of bettering the lives of Black Americans between 1861-1968?"

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

mari4

6

Original post by Cwena

Hello there. I'm currently writing my History NEA and am really struggling with how to structure it and especially with finding historical interpretations. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thank you!
The question is:
"To what extent was Martin Luther King the most successful Civil Rights activist in terms of bettering the lives of Black Americans between 1861-1968?"

hi sorry this was never answered. I'm currently doing my coursework with the same title and I'm struggling to find interpretations too, I would really appreciate if you could share any you found x

Reply 2

gracekennedy2004

1

Original post by Cwena

Hello there. I'm currently writing my History NEA and am really struggling with how to structure it and especially with finding historical interpretations. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thank you!
The question is:
"To what extent was Martin Luther King the most successful Civil Rights activist in terms of bettering the lives of Black Americans between 1861-1968?"

hey did u end up finding any good differing interpretations? i have a similar question and can’t find any saying MLK wasn’t the most influential factor

Reply 3

alulaEclipse

5

Original post by gracekennedy2004

hey did u end up finding any good differing interpretations? i have a similar question and can’t find any saying MLK wasn’t the most influential factor

Hi! Here are a few:

Clayborne Carson - Charismatic leadership in a mass struggle
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/sites/mlk/files/martin_luther_king_jr_-_charismatic_leadership_in_a_mass_struggle.pdf
(Arguing that MLK had important contributions, but the movement could have been successful without him)

August Meier - On the role of MLK
-Book
(Focusing on organizations, other civil rights figures, his appeal to white America and how violence was important in furthering civil rights)

Barbara Ransby - Ella Baker and the black freedom movement
https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/1016693/mod_resource/content/1/Ella_Baker_and_the_Black_Freedom_Movemen.pdf
(Focusing on Ella Baker and what she did for the movement as well as King's role)

Reply 4

Annah897

8

Original post by gracekennedy2004

hey did u end up finding any good differing interpretations? i have a similar question and can’t find any saying MLK wasn’t the most influential factor

Peter Ling's Martin Luther King's Half-forgotten Dream has a good wave three interpretation. He looks at his later years so when he invested in the North and other civil injustices, so his focus is King's failures and how that wasn't good for the movement.
Have you started yours yet, idk how to structure mine?

Reply 5

gracekennedy2004

1

hey i’m on 4500 words, i’m not completely finished but pretty sure my teacher has already marked it aha. I found my interpretations and sources soon after this. For me, i looked at how past pupils structured there’s from my teachers sources. I kind of copied a majority of the structure, but it was pretty easy once i got the hang of it. For me i done :Intro (introducing my factors and overall argument and the historians views)Two separate paragraphs on a summary of the historians reliability and their background, then another one on who’s argument is most valid.Another paragraph on Martin luther king and his Washington speech. My question was about to what extent did key individuals progress the movement so i compared this at the end of the paragraphs to grassroots organisations significance because my argument is they are more contributional than individuals.I then done 2 separate paragraphs on Booker T washington and one on Malcolm X (no sources, just analysing background knowledge).I then done 2 more sources on a presidents speech at the time and how legislation was partially helpful and then another one on grassroot organisations (of a newspaper article on them).I then concluded it with my overall argument.It’s similar to interpretation questions in history about analysing. My coursework isn’t the best because i couldn’t really be bothered to perfect it, but just make sure you include all 10 year gaps from your time period, and link back to the question as much as you can!! let me know if you need more help i will be happy to help :smile:

)

Reply 6

gracekennedy2004

1

Original post by Annah897

Peter Ling's Martin Luther King's Half-forgotten Dream has a good wave three interpretation. He looks at his later years so when he invested in the North and other civil injustices, so his focus is King's failures and how that wasn't good for the movement.
Have you started yours yet, idk how to structure mine?

hey i’m on 4500 words, i’m not completely finished but pretty sure my teacher has already marked it aha. I found my interpretations and sources soon after this. For me, i looked at how past pupils structured there’s from my teachers sources. I kind of copied a majority of the structure, but it was pretty easy once i got the hang of it. For me i done :
Intro (introducing my factors and overall argument and the historians views)
Two separate paragraphs on a summary of the historians reliability and their background, then another one on who’s argument is most valid.
Another paragraph on Martin luther king and his Washington speech. My question was about to what extent did key individuals progress the movement so i compared this at the end of the paragraphs to grassroots organisations significance because my argument is they are more contributional than individuals.
I then done 2 separate paragraphs on Booker T washington and one on Malcolm X (no sources, just analysing background knowledge).
I then done 2 more sources on a presidents speech at the time and how legislation was partially helpful and then another one on grassroot organisations (of a newspaper article on them).
I then concluded it with my overall argument.
It’s similar to interpretation questions in history about analysing. My coursework isn’t the best because i couldn’t really be bothered to perfect it, but just make sure you include all 10 year gaps from your time period, and link back to the question as much as you can!! let me know if you need more help i will be happy to help :smile:

Reply 7

Annah897

8

Do you still have the samples of work? I've written mine but my teacher said she won't look at it till the final deadline even though the other classes get comments on their work, just want to make sure it's okay

Reply 8

lethal bc

3

the question seems simple. all it requires is critical analysis of the question. ever considered getting help?

Reply 9

narabarrrr

10

Original post by Cwena

Hello there. I'm currently writing my History NEA and am really struggling with how to structure it and especially with finding historical interpretations. Any help would be greatly appreciated - thank you!
The question is:
"To what extent was Martin Luther King the most successful Civil Rights activist in terms of bettering the lives of Black Americans between 1861-1968?"

hey - im doing this topic too! but my coursework was on grassroots being successful instead of leaders but same topic/period.
for structure, you know the 25 markers we do in class - its literally as if you were doing 3 of them back to back (yes including the conclusions because that will get you those marks for the critical analysis)

History A-Level NEA AQA- Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement

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