| Date | November 2021 | Marks available | 2 | Reference code | 21N.1.BP.TZ0.13 |
| Level | Both SL and HL | Paper | Paper 1 - first exams 2017 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | What | Question number | 13 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
Note: In Source M, the word “Negro” is used to reflect the place and time of the original source. Today, in many countries, the word is no longer in common usage.
Source M Lyndon B Johnson, President of the United States (US), making a speech to the US Congress on voting rights (15 March 1965).
In Selma, Alabama, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested against the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God [a religious leader], was killed … Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote … Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes … The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color. We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend that Constitution. We must now act in obedience to that oath … I will send to Congress a law designed to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote … This proposed Act will remove restrictions to voting in all elections—Federal, State and local—which have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote … It is wrong—deadly wrong—to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.
[Source: Johnson, L.B., 1965. ‘I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy’, The American
Promise – 1965. [online] Available at: https://www.lbjlibrary.org/object/text/special-message-congress-americanpromise-
03-15-1965. Lyndon B. Johnson Library, National Archives and Records Administration. Adapted.]
Source N Thomas Stockett, a cartoonist, depicts US space and race policies in the cartoon “No Comment”, in the American newspaper The Baltimore Afro-American (20 May 1961). The wording on the spacecraft is “U.S. space progress” and on the cart “U.S. race progress”.
[Source: Courtesy of the AFRO American Newspapers Archives.]
What, according to Source M, were President Johnson’s reasons for introducing the Voting Rights Act?
What does Source N suggest about the struggle to achieve civil rights?
Markscheme
- Johnson was shocked at the brutality suffered by peaceful protesters in Selma.
- He wanted to eliminate illegal barriers to voting.
- Johnson wanted to uphold the American Constitution.
- He felt that it was deeply wrong to deny anyone the right to vote.
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. Award [1] for each relevant point up to a maximum of [3].
- It was exhausting, as depicted by the horse.
- Progress in space research was rapid whereas progress in civil rights had come to a standstill.
- Resources for the struggle for the civil rights movement were limited compared to the US space program.
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. Award [1] for each relevant point up to a maximum of [2].
Examiners report
As has been the case in previous sessions, many candidates succeeded in identifying three valid points from the source. However, also as in previous sessions, a number of responses either rolled points together, or repeated or reworded the same point. Candidates should be reminded that three separate points are required for full marks and these should be derived from the content of the source rather than background knowledge.
There were several possible valid points to be made from the visual source. The vast majority of candidates offered at least one clear point with regards to what the source suggested. Candidates should be guided to look for different elements and dynamics in the pictorial sources and to offer two distinct points.
