The final exam will discuss the struggles African Americans encounter for civil rights during the 1950s thru 1980s. The attitude Malcolm X had in the civil rights and the issues that others had with Malcolm X philosophy in achieve equal rights for African Americans. Also, there will be great details in Martin Luther King Jr. and others philosophy in achieving equal rights for African Americans. The overall outcome of the civil rights movement in the 1970’s and 1980’s after the death of the most important Black leaders of this country. To pin point the beginning of the civil rights movement depends on who and what is being discussed.
Outline the significance of both, ‘secure these rights’ and ‘Brown V board of education (1954)’ and explain which, in your own view, had the greatest impact on the early civil rights movement. (10 marks) This essay will be written about how I view the impact of the ‘Brown V board of education’ and the ‘secure these rights’ events and how they made an impact on American inequality and why I view ‘secure these rights’ as the most impacting event. Firstly, I will look at ‘secure these rights’ this was a report made in 1946 to identify how African American rights were being violated, it was finished in 1947vand it showed how the violation of black rights were damaging the country as the other countries around the world would frown upon this and it made Americas law system look ineffective. So, it stated that the rights of blacks should not be discriminated against as it goes against the ideals of the codified American democracy. So it decided to identify the problems and sort them out some of the problems identified were that even though lynching was illegal in America at this time whites still did it to any blacks they saw fit.
How far do you agree that the years 1945-55 saw only limited progress in improving the status of African Americans? The years 1945-55 can be described as ‘seeds of change’ in improving the African American people’s position in society as their lives saw slight improvements however nothing drastic happened that changed their economic, political and social status immediately in America. Before 1945, during the second world war, conditions of life for black American’s was slightly improving in the northern states with there being less institutional racism and more equal job opportunities with acceptable pay for everyone. However in the south, conditions were very different; Jim Crow Laws meant that deep racial divides were being enforced throughout most states. Segregation was seen as lawful due to the Plessy vs. Ferguson case saying that ‘separate but equal’ was how they should live their lives.
Why was Jim Crow defeated between the years 1960 – 1965? The years 1960-1965 oversaw the destruction of the Jim Crow laws enacted after the Civil War during the reconstruction period. Few would have had predicted that the early 1960’s would have witnessed the origin and rapid advancement of a mass-based campaigned which secured equal rights for African Americans. Over these 5 years, the federal government had aided this movement, more so than they had ever done before, which culminated in the Supreme Court passing both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Although it can be argued that this help from the federal government was what enabled the civil rights movement to defeat Jim Crow between the years 1960-1965, it has to be recognized that this federal government intervention was contingent to ratchet events which unfolded such as the rash of student sit-ins which occurred in the spring of 1960.
How accurate is it to say that the status of black people in the United States changed very little in the years 1945 – 1955? It is very accurate to say that the status of black people in the United States changed very little in the years 1945 to 1955. Obviously some changes did occur but the main problem with them was that many of the changes that occurred were more changes in the law (de jure) rather than actual changes that would be put into practice (de facto). This was mainly due to the fact that Southern state governments, Southern judges and Southern police resisted change, and used their power to stop those changes being put into place. One of the major turning points in the status of black people happened in 1954 and was the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
While there may have been many who disliked and hated African Americans, the Civil Rights campaigners crafted and cunningly planned tactics to permanently change the opinions of the brain-washed racists using methods and people, such as: Little Rock, Martin Luther King and Rosa parks (bus boycotts) – as source 7 displays R. Parks being arrested for refusing to give up her seat for sitting in the ‘white only seats.’ Racism was also stored in the hearts and minds, which can be identified through Source 3, which shows the two separated sinks that a black and white person would use – the clean, spacious tap for the whites, and the dirty, tiny tap that the black people would use. While some may argue that Little Rock was the most important event of the civil rights campaign, others may argue that Little Rock was not the most important event. However, it is clearly evident that Little Rock was indeed the most important tactic to tackle segregation. Conversely, it is clear that Little Rock was not the most important event of the Civil Rights Movement. For example, in Source 13, a young, intelligent, black girl is present being violated, spat on and yelled at by the white, racist crowd.
However, many southern states found ways around the laws to disenfranchise the black populations. They did this by introducing a ‘Grandfather Clause’, which is that only people whose grandfather voted, gave them the ability to vote. Also literacy test was another method used, which in most ways wasn’t made fairly and even well educated people were disenfranchised and not allowed to vote. However, in 1946 President Truman established The President’s Committee on ‘Civil rights’, producing a report examining the experiences of racial minorities in America. The report was called ‘To Secure These Rights’, this report highlighted the problems facing African Americans and proposed radical changes to make American society better.
In the early 20th Century even though black people were no longer slaves they still remained second-class citizens. There were many factors that contributed to black people remaining second-class citizens under the white supremacy. For example the Jim Crow Laws. Between 1890 and 1910, southern states introduced legal segregation. This was achieved by passing local laws, which denied black Americans access to facilities used by white Americans.
WW1 was a turning point in increasing racial equality between black and white Americans to a lesser extent. During WW1 black people made contributions to the war effort by moving north to work in factories making war goods. However violence occurred where they moved as competition with the whites for jobs was rife. In the short term with competition and violence intensifying, the Ku Klux Klan restarted in the south and lynchings became common. It would seem that racial equality had not improved, but worsened.
His view was very much that ‘the position of black people would improve of its own accord over time’, despite this, and perhaps through the urgency of attorney Herbert Brownell, he went on to propose two civil rights acts. The civil rights act of 1957 focused on African American voting rights, particularly knuckling down on the refusal of them. A Commission on Civil Rights was established; a six man bipartisan commission designed to monitor voting rights and investigate allegations of denial of any constitutional law. The act also empowered the attorney general to prevent such interference through federal injunctions. The result of this federal interference in state affairs saw fury in the South, with violent outbreaks and bombings against churches.