“While the US national government attempted to advance civil rights for African Americans, state and local governments resisted change.” Discuss.

Candidates will provide a considered and balanced review which assesses the suggestion that state and local governments resisted civil rights’ initiatives supported by the US federal government. Consideration may be given to how governments aided and interfered with the progress of civil rights. For the federal government, issues may include Truman’s orders to integrate the armed forces and federal employment opportunities, the actions of Eisenhower to enforce the Brown decision, Kennedy’s support for the “Freedom Riders”, and Johnson’s support for the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1964), the Voting Rights Act (1965) and the Fair Housing Act (1968). For state and local government, candidates may address attempts to filibuster and delay civil rights legislation, the use of court injunctions and police actions against protests, and the failure to investigate or prosecute violent assaults on civil rights leaders.