Fichas
The social and economic position of black citizens in the USA 1945-55
Fichas del conjunto (25)
- 1Amendments13th 1865 - emancipation of the slaves
14th 1868 - gave equal citizenship rights to everyone born in America
15th 1870 - gave voting rights to all citizens regardless of race - 2Plessy v Ferguson (1896)Homer Plessy, a black man, challenged segregation laws saying they were incompatible with 14th amendment, Supreme Court ruled segregation was legal as long as it was "separate but equal"
- 3South pre WWIILegal segregation
Jim crow laws like grandfather clause (grandfather had to have voted) and literacy tests stopped black people from voting
KKK terrorised - between 1882 and 1945 over 300 lynchings in 5 southern states - 4North pre WWIILess segregation
Black Americans had more access to higher paid industrial jobs and unions
Paid 50% what white Americans paid
Many could vote
Lived in ghettos - 5FEPC (1941)Roosevelt set up the Fair Employment Practices Committee to ban discriminatory employment practices for war effort work, economic
Underfunded
Truman continued it after WWII - 6WWII impacts for soldiers (1939-45)Fighting Nazi racism in Europe but still had racism in USA - adopted double V sign (victory in Europe and at home)
Black soldiers spent time in Europe and experienced no segregation
About 500,000 AAs migrated North for industrial war effort jobs and experienced little segregation
AA soldiers expected better treatment on return from fighting for their country
Some white people's attitudes changed eg Woodrow Crockett won respect for courage - 1948 Truman desegregated armed forces - 7WWII impacts in South (1939-45)Segregation remained
NAACP and other civil rights groups ran voter registration campaigns - proportion black voters 2% 1940 to 15% 1945 giving economic & political power to AAs & significant in Truman's re-election 1948
Unemployment for AAs 900,00 1940 to 150,000 1945 - 8WWII impacts in North (1939-45)By 1945 44% of AAs lived in urban places
About 500,000 AAs migrated to North for industrial war effort jobs - 16 states the black population was more than 5% therefore significant voting power
1943-45 two black Congressmen elected to serve in Northern states - 9Truman background (1945-53)Truman inspired to fight racism by heroism of black veterans, his home state of Missouri and the Cold War
Traditionally AAs voted Republican because of Lincoln but he was able to win support as a Democrat by endorsing Civil Rights on his presidency - 10Impact of the Cold War (from 1947)Injustice of segregation undermined America's claim to be fighting for "freedom & justice"
Truman knew he had to address racism as part of campaign to win
Encouraged Truman to produce group breaking report TSTR - 11To Secure These Rights background (1947)Produced by the President's Committee on Civil Rights, established by Truman to investigate racism
Highlighted inequalities & made suggestions - 12To Secure These Rights inequalities (1947)Lynching widespread in South
Police brutality
Legal obstacles preventing many AAs from voting
White workers on average were paid 20 cents per hour more than AAs
1940 1 doctor per 3,300 AAs, 1 per 750 whites - 13To Secure These Rights suggestions (1947)Anti-lynching laws
New powers for Federal Government to enforce Civil Rights
Government contracts should not be given to racist employers
New laws to curb police brutality
All obstacles to voting should be outlawed
A Civil Rights Act to outlaw segregation in education & healthcare - 14Employment under Truman (1945-53)Executive order 9980 (1948) outlawed racial discrimination in civil service Committee on Government Contract Compliance established 1951 to stop government contracts going to racist employers
Truman appointed AAs to high-profile government jobs eg Ralph Bunche Ambassador to UN & William Hastie as Federal Judge - 15Desegregation under Truman (1945-53)Executive order 9981 (1948) ended segregation in the army
Truman's 1949 inauguration ceremony desegregated
1950 canteen at Washington Airport desegregated as it gave a bad impression to foreign dignitaries - 16Other under Truman (1945-53)Fair Deal programme committed government to building lots of homes, particularly in inner-city ghettos
Threefold rise in black college population (not necessarily down to Truman)
Court (1953) - 17Impact of Truman's measures (1945-53)Failed to implement much of TSTR - Didn't pass anti-lynching laws or address segregation on education & healthcare
Fair Deal programme underfunded - more houses demolished than built, ghettos still problem
TSTR was a turning point in race relations as it showed Federal Government acknowledging it's responsibility to address racism in US - 18NAACP early campaigns (1944-50)The National association for the Advancement of Colored People used legal system to challenge racism, headed by Thurgood Marshall, who became the first black American Supreme Court Justice
1944 BEFORE PERIOD Smith v Allwright gave black citizens right to vote in primary elections
1946 Morgan v Virginia segregation on interstate buses now illegal
1950 Sweatt v Painter graduate education must be desegregated - 19Journey of reconciliation (1947)CORE set out to see if the NAACP's de jure change gained in Morgan v Virginia resulted in de facto change
2 week campaign launched where 16 member of CORE travelled on interstate buses from North to South, 12 arrested for sitting in the wrong area of the bus
In this way demonstrated SC had been ignored - de jure no de facto change - 20Direct actionMany engaged in boycotts and pickets
1947 NAACP organised a picket of the 4 biggest department stores in New Orleans who weren't allowing black customers to try on hats
1951 NAACP organised school boycotts against educational desegregation
UDL organised 7 say bus boycott in Louisiana but this was too short to change anything - 21Voting campaigns (1940-47)CNO organised a voter registration campaign in Arkansas
The proportion of black Americans registered to vote rose from 1.5% to 17.3% - 22Brown v Board of Education I (1954)NAACP targeted education desegregation as it could be shown they were not equal by comparing class sizes, resources & funding eg white classes 1/3 size of black
NAACP went to court is support of Linda Brown who lives 5 blocks from a white school and 20 from her black school & they argued this put her at a disadvantage to white students attending the local school
Supreme Court ruled education should be desegregated but did not draw up a timetable so there was little immediate change - 23Brown v Board of Education II (1955)NAACP went back to court
This time Supreme court ruled desegregation should occur with all deliberate speed but again failed to specify a exactly when it should occur - 24White reactions to the Brown case (1954-)Middle class Southern whites set up White Citizens' Council to oppose desegregation of schools, 250,000 members by 1956
Increase in KKK violence eg Emmett Till, 14
Senator Harry F Byrd & 100 other congressman issued the Southern Manifesto calling for "massive resistance" to desegregation
Eisenhower (1953-61) refused to publicly endorse it and privately felt civil rights groups were asking for too much, too fast - 25Significance of the Brown case (1954-)Ended the doctrine of "separate but equal", overturning Plessy v Ferguson & undermined the legal basis for segregation
Browns I & II showed the Supreme Court was sympathetic to Civil Rights but reluctant to set a timeframe
Led to de jure not de facto change, by 1957 97% of black student in South still in segregated schools
Reactions showed the extent of white opposition to desegregation
Información
- Descripción
- flashcard for the early period of american civil rights 1945-1968
- Creado por
- Angelica Tsapparelli
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