To what extent was the Federal Government responsible for improving the status of black people in the United States in the years 1945-64? The Federal Government was partially responsible for improving the status of black people, although individual activists are also partially responsible. The Federal Government is headed by the President, but also comprises of congress and the Supreme Court, which each had a role to play in dismantling segregation. Although the presidency and the Supreme Court would play a larger role in helping blacks than congress, due to the nature of what the people in congress believed and wanted to achieve. In the spring of 1946, Irene Morgan, a black woman, boarded a bus in Virginia to go to Baltimore, Maryland.
Additionally, the verdict had many political and social implications, provoked angry resentment in the North and led the country a step closer to civil war. After the Civil War and the introduction and passage of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment finally brought about the overturning of the decision. Adopted in 1868, this amendment granted citizenship to former slaves and their descendants and gave them the benefit and protection of their civil liberties. Dred Scott was an illiterate slave born in 1799. He was born as the property of the Peter Blow family since his parents were both slaves.
Acts passed by Eisenhower and Johnson had a big impact on the advancement of civil rights, with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ending all segregation of all public places and facilities, and the voting rights act of 1965 outlawing all measures to prevent American citizens from voting. These acts ended legal segregation, and had an impact on desegregating public places, voting rights and employment, with the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Commission. Legislation of this period was far more effective than previously, with the number of African Americans registered to vote jumping from four million in 1960, to six million in 1965, due to Johnson’s Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was initiated by Kennedy but failed to pass before his assassination. Furthermore, for each ineffective act passed, another was passed to increase the effectiveness and impact. For example, the Civil Rights act of 1964 extended the powers of the Commission on Civil Rights from those given by the 1960 Civil Rights Act, allowing them to enforce desegregation.
Furthermore, with the utilisation of these factors we can come to the conclusion whether or not progress was made. President Harry Truman’s presidency, between 1945-53 saw dramatic change in black civil rights within America. In September 1946, President Truman set up a liberal civil rights committee that was utilised to investigate the increasing violence against black people. This was very significant and had a huge impact due to the fact the committee issued a report titled ‘To Secure these Rights’ which outlined the fact that Black Civil rights were not equal to that of whites. For example, the report highlighted several factors that needed ‘de facto’ change such as the abolition of poll tax and anti-lynching legislation.
Kennedy is now in office as of 1961, he is the youngest president elected in US history. In the beginning of his time he was more worried about foreign policy but then 1963 tides had changed. The civil rights movement was going head on and JFK had noticed something needed to be done. “...to call for the passage of a law banning discrimination in all places of public accommodation, a major goal of the civil rights movement”(Foner 964). It wasn't till after JFK was assassinated that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.
The Brown versus Board of Education, which the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People succeeded in the Supreme Court to overturn the doctrine of separate but equal facilities. This inspired more civil rights leaders to speak out for equal rights like Martin Luther King, and the Black Panthers. “Beginning in 1960 widespread grassroots efforts from African American churches, students, and political groups across the South accelerated the drive for an end to segregation” (Davidson, 2006). President Kennedy tried to get the white democratic votes back that he had lost from his positive stand for the civil rights movement. So he planned a trip to Dallas, Texas.
at its lead. The MIA helped change the laws of segregation in Montgomery and it is said it did so because it had no reputation. Not only was another association against segregation formed, but it is said that Rosa Parks and the bus boycott, "...helped bring Martin Luther King Jr. to the forefront as the movements leader" (Galliard). Not only did Rosa Parks bring a leader to the forefront, she changed a nation. Parks is considered as, "...one of the most enduring symbols of the tumultuous civil rights era of the mid-twentieth century" (Galliard).
Instead of the government allowing slavery, it looked like it found a loop hole to not treat people of color equally for anything whether it was sports, school or public facilities blacks were still treated as inferior. Thankfully the civil rights movement that occurred during the 1950’s and 1960’s would turn out successful after years of civil demonstrations (some which would become riots e.g. : Birmingham, Alabama), marches, and speeches. One might say that one of the most famous speeches of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, would see fruition when looking at today’s society despite some traces of racism. Now we live in an era where different races can co-exist.
Freedmen would see some measure of good fortune with the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau in March of 1865. The Bureau assisted blacks with food, clothing, shelter and jobs. Congress voted to continue this effort for three years, and the Bureau had more power to settle contract disputes, and manage special military courts. Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill in February of 1866. A second bill was passed in March of 1866 making blacks U.S. citizens, but this effort was soon overturned by Johnson, on the grounds that the bill would’ operate in favor of the colored and against the white race”.
The United States experienced a dramatic shift in the avenue of racial discrimination with the end of the African-American Civil rights movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The purposes of these social movements were to arouse national awareness towards racial equality and successfully led to the official and legal recognition of abolishing racial discrimination. Yet like many areas throughout the country, my small rural hometown of Oxford, North Carolina was not quite ready to accept this integration. In May of 1970, Oxford was the stage of the tragic racially inclined murder of Henry ‘Dickie’ Marrow by several white oppressors known as the Teel brothers. This act of violence eventually went on to lead to several continuous retaliatory instances