I can't think of ideas for this essay topic:
What role does white resistance play in the success of the civil rights movement by 1965?
2 answers
White resistance to segregation? Or white resistance to integration?
IMO -- the whites who resisted integrating schools, buses, etc., and all other aspects of the civil rights movement often resorted to violence and, by doing so, repulsed the people across the country who saw all that violence on television and read about it in newspapers. In other words, by their violence, they destroyed their own "cause." People all across the rest of the country, no matter what their race or ethnicity, could see how brutal prejudice and discrimination could be.
Other teachers may have other opinions.
Other teachers may have other opinions.