Civil rights and race relations in the USA, 1850–2009 - 1 The changing…

The idea

This topic links where black Americans settled to how they were segregated. Mass migration into Harlem from 1905 made it a centre of black life, yet landlords and covenants confined residents to defined blocks. Racial violence marked resistance to settlement: the Chicago riot of 1919, the Tulsa riot of 1921, Watts in 1965 and Newark in 1967. In the north, de-facto segregation shaped the Levitt estates, where developers refused black buyers, and the white exodus to the suburbs post-1945 left poorer, mainly black inner cities. After 1970 the old south saw increasing de-segregation as civil rights law and court rulings took effect. Learn each place as evidence of a pattern: concentration, resistance, then uneven change.

What earns the marks

• Explains mass migration into Harlem from 1905 as the making of a black urban community and a centre of culture, while noting that discrimination confined settlement to particular streets and blocks.
• Uses the Chicago riot of 1919 and the Tulsa riot of 1921 as evidence of violent white resistance to black settlement, housing competition and economic advance.
• Uses Watts in 1965 and Newark in 1967 to show later urban unrest rooted in segregation, policing, unemployment and poor housing rather than in the same causes as 1919 or 1921.
• Explains de-facto segregation in the Levitt estates through developer policy, restrictive practices and buyer discrimination, distinguishing it from legally enforced southern segregation.
• Explains the white exodus to the suburbs post-1945 in the north as a cause of racialised inner cities, falling tax bases and continuing separation of communities.
• Explains increasing de-segregation in the old south post-1970 through civil rights legislation, court decisions and federal enforcement, while noting that de-facto separation often persisted.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating de-facto segregation as identical to de jure segregation.

  Put it right: Northern separation often arose from private choices, developer policy and economics rather than statute.

• Listing the riots as one undifferentiated series.

  Put it right: Distinguish the settlement and housing conflicts of 1919 and 1921 from the later urban grievances behind Watts in 1965 and Newark in 1967.

• Assuming de-segregation after 1970 ended segregation everywhere.

  Put it right: The old south changed most, while northern de-facto patterns often endured.

Exam tips

• Pair each named place with a date and a specific cause so evidence is precise rather than general.
• Compare de jure and de facto segregation explicitly to show conceptual understanding.
• End with a judgement on how far settlement patterns had changed by 2009, using the old south and the northern suburbs as your contrast.