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Pouvoirs et contre-pouvoirs

Axe culturel 2 — Espace privé et espace public : comment les citoyens résistent-ils au pouvoir et défendent-ils leurs droits dans le monde anglophone ?

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Cette activité de compréhension sur « Pouvoirs et contre-pouvoirs » en première entraîne à lire, analyser et répondre à des questions en anglais (LVA). Elle suit le programme officiel de première. Au programme : Power and Counterpower : définitions et enjeux, Checks and balances : l'architecture institutionnelle, Civil disobedience : théorie et pratique, Iconic movements : droits civiques et suffragettes. Lis le document, réponds puis vérifie immédiatement tes réponses pour progresser. Un bon moyen de travailler la méthode, d'enrichir son vocabulaire et de préparer les contrôles. Ressource gratuite proposée par un professeur particulier à Marseille pour réussir en anglais (LVA) en première.
1Lis le texte suivant, extrait d'un article journalistique américain, puis réponds aux questions en anglais.

The Greensboro Sit-Ins: When Courage Changed History

Adapted from a historical review, 2010.

On February 1, 1960, four Black college students — Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil — walked into the Woolworth's department store in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at the lunch counter reserved for white customers, and politely asked to be served. When the waitress refused, they remained seated until the store closed. They came back the next day with more students. By the end of the week, hundreds of protesters had joined them.

The four students knew they were breaking the law. Greensboro, like most of the American South, enforced racial segregation in public spaces under the so-called Jim Crow laws. Sitting at a 'whites-only' counter was a criminal act. Yet the young men had prepared themselves carefully: they had been trained in nonviolent resistance and knew they had to remain calm, whatever insults or violence they faced.

The Greensboro sit-ins inspired similar protests across the South. Within months, the tactic had spread to more than fifty cities. In many places, store owners agreed to desegregate their lunch counters to avoid the economic pressure caused by the boycotts that accompanied the sit-ins. The movement demonstrated that ordinary citizens, armed with courage and discipline, could challenge the power of segregation — and win.

2Questions
Q1 Who were the four students who started the Greensboro sit-in?
Q2 What law were the students breaking when they sat at the lunch counter?
Q3 How had the students prepared themselves for the sit-in?
Q4 What was the economic strategy used alongside the sit-ins to pressure store owners?
Q5 In your own words, explain what the Greensboro sit-ins demonstrate about the concept of counterpower.
Q6 Find a word in the text that means 'to remove racial barriers in a public space'.
Voir le corrigé
  1. Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil — Réponse directe dans le premier paragraphe.
  2. Jim Crow laws — Le texte mentionne explicitement les 'Jim Crow laws' qui imposaient la ségrégation raciale.
  3. They had been trained in nonviolent resistance — Paragraphe 2 : 'they had been trained in nonviolent resistance'.
  4. boycotts — Le texte mentionne 'the economic pressure caused by the boycotts that accompanied the sit-ins'.
  5. Réponse libre — exemple : The Greensboro sit-ins demonstrate that counterpower does not require weapons or official authority. By using nonviolent resistance, the four students challenged the legal and social power of racial segregation. Their courage inspired hundreds, then thousands of protesters, creating a movement strong enough to force economic and political change. This shows that ordinary citizens, through disciplined collective action, can effectively challenge unjust power structures.
  6. desegregate — 'Desegregate' apparaît dans le dernier paragraphe : 'agreed to desegregate their lunch counters'.
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