Seeds of Change 1945-55

1. From Slavery to Segregation
1. Slavery
  1. Emancipation Proclamation 1862
  2. North win Civil War 1865 - Slave's freed through 13th Amendment
2. Reconstruction
  1. 14th Amendment 1868 - Citizenship to those born in the US
  2. 15th Amendment 1870 - Voting rights for all races
3. Segregation
  1. 'Jim Crow' laws implemented 1890-1910
  2. The segregated heart
  3. Voting Rights - Grandfather Clause/ Literacy tests
  4. Good Old Time Negro
  5. KKK-115 lynchings in 1900 (230 murders across US
  6. Challenging Segregation - Plessy V. Ferguson, 1896. Shows Jim Crow Laws violated constitution - take to courts. Claimed Louisiana acted illegally when they'd arrested him for sitting in whites-only are of a railway train. Took to SC. Ruled = "separate but equal". Gave segregation legal foundation
  7. Conditions in North- little legally enforced seg. Easier to vote in N. S- Agriculture, N- industrial work. Pay was better (Still 50% less than whites) Black workers organised in N - Phillip A Randolph - Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
2. The Position of Black Americans in 1945
1. Black Soldiers in Europe
  1. 1.2 Million black men in US Army
  2. Experience in army radicalised black americans
  3. Northern blacks sent to Southern rural training grounds - first experience of formal seg
  4. Seg: Diff canteens/ transport to battlefield
  5. Denied right to fight - cooks/cleaners
  6. Frontline - more danger/ess training/worse equip
  7. Riots in protest
  8. in EU - treated as heroes
2. Contadiction
  1. Freedom of speech, religion, from want and fear. - Roosevelt
  2. Fighting for abroad/not enjoyed at home
  3. Double V - victory overseas/racism at home
  4. Hitler- racism should be opposed in all circumstances - showed dangers of inherent racism
3. Black Heroes
  1. Courage of B soldiers - changed W attitudes
  2. Fighting boosted self esteem of B
  3. Woodrow Crockett - african american one of first B soldiers in AAF. in last year of war, flew 149 missions protecting Eu harbours
  4. No planes in the black squadron were shot down
  5. Risk lives - expect recognition for achievemetnts - return determined to challenge racial injustice
4. Economic Changes
  1. S - $4.5 billion spent on factories producing war goods. Hard at first for B to get work, Randolph threatens march on Wash, Roosevelt issues exec order - FEPC 1941. Result: B to S cities for work
  2. N- Industry boomed, Migration S-N. 1940 - 1/4 B lived in N (Industrial towns - Philly/Detroit/indianapolis/Chicago/NY). By 1950 - 1/3 of B in N. End of war -48% of B now Urban - better paid. Showed putting pressure on gov - force politicians to act in fav of racial equality
5. Regional Differences Following WW2. (SEE SHEET)
3. To Secure These Right: Truman & The Cold War
1. To Secure These Rights 1947
  1. Truman established The President's Committee on Civil Rights in 1946 then commissioned them to compile a report examining the experiences of racial minorities in America
  2. 1) Lynchings - 300 in 5 southern states between 1882 and 1945. 2) Police Brutality - pistol/bull whipping, hose beating, dragging through public areas, drowning, forcing false confessions. 3)Voting Rights - Only 18% of B in S allowed to vote in 1944 pres elec. 4) Discrim in Armed Forces - 1/70 to rank of officer, W - 1/7. Navy- 1/7 W officers to sailors, out of 10,000 B sailors, only 2 officers, 5) Employment- 62% in low-wage agriculture compared to 28% white. B worker - 47 cents ph, W- 65. W grads - £1,454, B grad -$775 pa. Education- W teacher - £1,107 pa, B- $342. 6) Health - in 1940 only 1 B doc per 3,377 patients, 1 W to 750 patients.
  3. Recommendations - Reorganised the Civil Rights Section of The Department of Justice to allow it to work better at a local level. Increased govt. funding to it. Fed gov could also promote CR by establishing permanent Pres and Congres Committees - monitor racial equality & make proposals for improvement. Fed gov should not fund orgs that discrim on grounds of race. New Laws -Police must intervene to protect from mob violence, allowed to prosecute entire lynch mobs. Recommended new leg to outlaw police brutality. Made FEPA to make permanent FEPC by Roosevelt.At local level - proposed state gov should monitor and promote CR & state police should undergo compulsory training on race issues. State govs in the S should be forced to end seg in health and edu, and all local initiatives to stop B voters should be abolished
2. Gov Action Under Truman
  1. Black Appointments: Ralph Bunche to American Ambassador, 1949 - William Hastie as first black fed judge
  2. Use of Federal Govt, Power: Exec Order 9980 guaranteeing FEP in Civil Services. Exec Order - 10308, establishing Gov Comit on Gov Contract Compliance - ensured that lucrative gov defence contracts would not go to companies that discrim against B people.Similarly - commited gov to building housing in deprived areas for B people to address economic issues faced by them.
  3. Desegregation: Exec Order - 9981 ending seg in armed forces 1948. Deseg Inauguration ceremony in 1949. Supported moves to deseg Dulles Airport in Washington DC. In 1950 - proposals defeated though restaurant was.
4. Challenging Jim Crow
1. Smith V Allwright, 1944- voting righrs of B people in Texas, able to vote in Congressionals but not Primary Elections (Primary more important cause effectively chose winning candidate because Democratic stronghold). Lonnie E Smith challenged with backing of NAACP. - SC ruled illegal according to 15th amendment, outlawed all all-white primaries
2. Morgan V Virginia, 1946 - Segregation on interstate buses. Irene Morgan in 1944 was fined $100 for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. She argued it violated her constitutional rights - took to SC with backing of NAACP plus Thurgood Marshall. Ruled illegal by SC
3. NAACP direct action in Louisiana 1945-55 - 1947 picketed 4 New Orleans dept stores for not allowing B to try on hats. 1951, Alexandra - Close school for B kids so they can cotton harvest (Picketed). Lafayette - boycotted new B school, inferior facilities to W school
4. Other Orgs: United Defence League - organised week long bus boycott in Louisiana's capital Baton Rouge in June 1953. Accompanied by Operation Free Lift - car pool 100 private cars, Committee on Negro Organisation - 1940-57, the CNO organised voter reg campaign in S state of Arkansas. (Increased voter reg from 1.5 in 1940 to 17.3 in 1947)
5. CORE's Journey of Reconciliation, 9 April 1947 - Seg on interstate buses - de jure to de facto. Lasted 2 weeks, 16 activists, 8 B/W. Travel from N to S. Objective to draw attention to ignorance of Morgan V Virginia ruling. = 12 CORE members arrested though showed SC ruling ignored. Failed to force S states i.e North Carolina to deseg interstate buses.
6. NAACP lynching investigations Squad - set up in 1946, lawyers - visit lynching scenes, collect evidence & mount court cases - successful, lynching on the decline by 1955
5. Raising the Profile - Kicking "Jim Crow" out off school
1. Sweatt V Painter, 1950 - Heman Sweatt, a black student hoping to study law in TX. Education system seg so refused admission to Uni of Texas Law School, NAACP challenged this, TX courts - no duty to integrate so made black law school - inferior - NAACP took to SC, agreed inferior - fewer teacher/books/students. Law school forced to accept Sweatt - registered on 19th Sept 1950
2. Brown Vs Board of Topeka, 1954 - Oliver Brown took Kansas to Court - failing to provide adequate edu for daughter Linda @ B school - 20 blocks from home. Better served @ W school, closer to home. NAACP - took to SC. After 3 years - unanimously decided seg illegal in schools. Separate but equal, contradiction in terms
3. SC Decision: Seg has neg effect on B kids, under pressure to rule in favour of growing more assertive B middle class, S states - not enough money to improve B schools - integration to make equal edu. Racist edu system - not reflective of US ideals. Chief Judge Frederick Moore Vinson died in 1953 - Earl Warren more sympathetic
4. Reactions: BLACK- beginning of end of seg. Belief that SC would back legal challenges to seg in other areas. Led to increase of local activism by groups such as NAACP & CORE - organised new voter reg campaigns & local protests over other aspects of seg. WHITE - Backlash. Middle class White - White Citizens Council demanded seg & raised money to support white state schools that decided to become private. Councils campaigned for election of local politicians strongly opposed to deseg. By 1956, 250,000 joined councils. Revival of KKK activity, i.e murder of Emmett Till - 1955. Attacks on NAACP - Alabama outlawed. Louisiana persecution led to closure of 48 of 50 branches. Senator Harry F Byrd - southern resistance - 101 congressmen signed Southern Manifest. PRESIDENT - Eisenhower (succeeded Truman in '53) refused to comment on ruling. In private criticised ruling. Counterproductive, de jure - not produce de facto."biggest damned-fool mistake I ever made" (Earl Warren as Chief Justice)
5. Brown II, 1955 - as first ruling produced little de facto change, NAACP asked SC for timetable of deseg schools. Response should occur "with all deliberate speed". NAACP - too vague to force any change. Southern Racists - Saw as further attack on seg

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Seeds of Change 1945-55

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