| Date | May 2017 | Marks available | 4 | Reference code | 17M.1.BP.TZ0.14 |
| Level | Both SL and HL | Paper | Paper 1 - first exams 2017 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Analyse | Question number | 14 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
The sources and questions relate to Case Study 1: Civil rights movement in the United States (1954– 1965) – Nature and characteristics of discrimination: Segregation and education; Brown versus Board of Education decision (1954).
Source O
Tom Brady, a judge and a leader of the pro-segregation White Citizens’ Council movement, writing about his speech to the Indianola Citizens’ Council in his pamphlet A Review of Black Monday (28 October 1954).
The Supreme Court says, “You have got to sit a black boy down by a white girl to have it equal.” …
You can’t do it! You can’t put little boys and little girls together—blacks and whites and have them sing together, play together, dance together, and eat together, sit side by side, and walk arm in arm, and expect for the sensitivity of those white children not to be broken down. You can’t do it! Why? That is exactly what has happened in the north, [but] they have a sufficient number of whites to absorb, and perhaps assimilate, the blacks …
We can see what happens on the surface. We don’t know what happens to the brain of [a black] man … We don’t know what it takes to make his mind different from our mind.
This Supreme Court sets aside all the laws of biology! By putting these children together in schools we will abolish all racial differences that God made. I have a little field [at the] back of my home. I notice the blackbirds stay together … I notice the geese and the ducks stayed separate from each other and yet the Supreme Court would set aside these basic laws of God and of nature and compel these various individuals to mingle, just as you would blackbirds with partridges …
With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the value and limitations of Source O for an historian studying Brown v Board of Education (1954).
Markscheme
Value:
- It is the expression of a contemporary opinion and therefore can give an insight into feelings at the time.
- To persuade people to oppose the Brown v Board of Education decision by the Supreme Court, his intention demonstrates the strength of feeling in favour of the retention of segregation.
- The source reveals the arguments deployed by a leading supporter of segregation.
Limitations:
- The author was a leader of the pro-segregation White Citizens’ Council movement and therefore the pamphlet is intended to sway public opinion and whip up opposition to the Supreme Court’s judgment.
- The extract’s inclusion of emotive language suggests the need for caution in interpreting this source.
- Because the source was written shortly after the decision was taken, it cannot show its long-term impact.
The above material is an indication of what candidates may elect to write about in their responses. It is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive and no set answer is required. The focus of the question is on the value and limitations of the source. If only value or limitations are discussed, award a maximum of [2]. Origin, purpose and content should be used as supporting evidence to make relevant comments on the value and limitations. For [4] there must be at least one reference to each of them in either the value or the limitations.
