Many of these facilities were, education, healthcare, transport, cinemas, restaurants and churches and even housing and estates were segregated. This shows the extent white went to separate them from the ‘inferior’ race. Jim Crow laws limited black Americans from having a better way of life as they were made poorer, didn’t have the opportunity to managerial roles as they were only allowed the low paying jobs and weren’t equal to white people increasing poor conditions, also, led to unequal or no voting rights in coloured communities. Under the Fifteenth Amendment black people had legal rights to vote across America. However, many southern states found ways around the laws to disenfranchise the black populations.
In What Ways Did Black Americans Secure Improved Civil Rights: 1945-1964? Black Americans had often been looked down upon by White Americans and always suffered racial prejudice. Their struggle for equal racial rights had begun from the end of slavery in 1865, only until the late 1960’s did significant improvement was made. Following the events and ending of World War II, Black Americans began what would become known as the Civil Rights Movement. In 1951, the father of a black student named Linda Brown sued the Board of Education because a white school had prevented Brown from attending a school which was only seven blocks away, compared to the segregated black school she was attending which was more than seven blocks away from her home.
For northern blacks were exposed to the formal segregation of the south when training in rural military camps. All the more when they found that the Army itself was segregated, where they were revoked of the right to fight, often given medial positions as cooks and cleaners. Black soldiers who were allowed to fight were given less training and worse equipment. The treatment of black soldiers lay in the striking contradiction of the freedoms which they were fighting for abroad, yet were unable to enjoy themselves. This continued segregation throughout the war served only to transform black soldier’s attitudes; they would use the ‘Double V’ sign to show they were fighting for two victories: victory overseas and victory over racism at home.
Why was the second World war a turning point for black Americans? In WWII, African-Americans served in segregated units known as the ‘Jim Crow army” and were not allowed to fight alongside whites. The Nazis also had a policy of racial discrimination so African-Americans were sent to fight an enemy who saw them as lessor beings, yet the side they fought for also saw them that way too. It was a contradiction. President Roosevelt, former governor of New York, did not believe in racial segregation of African-Americans and when African-Americans were hired to drive buses in Philadelphia during the war, some residents refused to ride the buses others threatened to burn the buses.
Other states introduced literacy tests as criteria for voting. Literacy testes were not applied fairly and therefore even educated black people were disenfranchised. These were not explicitly racist, but both prevented black Americans from voting. These barriers, which prevented black Americans from voting, meant that black citizens no longer had a voice for their opinion to be heard. This affected how black people would still be treated as second-class citizens through white supremacy.
In what ways were the conditions different for the African Americans in the north and south in 1945? After the Second World War had ended, black Americans that were fighting for freedom and justice from Germany and Japan, found that they had return to their country that was overridden with discrimination and racism in 1945. They treated as second-class citizens. The Black American was unable to neither integrate with the mainstream of American society nor become independent farmers. However, generally the Northern blacks were somewhat better off than the Southern blacks in 1945.
The war had seen over 1.2 million black men join the US army. The experiences of racism and formal segregation had radicalised the soldiers, especially the Northern blacks, as they had never encountered the harsh treatment of blacks in the Southern states. Many soldiers would later join the fight against segregation back home; the evidence for this was the massive rise in NAACP members. Furthermore, at liberation of Nazi concentration camps, the extreme horrors of racism for a ‘lesser’ race was shown to US and the world, this convinced many people back in the US that racism was completely unacceptable. The impact from the war influenced public opinion on racism, however they couldn’t make de facto changes regarding segregation and so wasn’t the main reason for the improvement in effecting the position of African-Americans.
Contrary to popular belief, the American Revolution did not bring about change, because the rights, class structure and government remained the status quo in the colonies. For the most part, the rights of the colonists did undergo a transformation because of the Revolutionary War. It is a widely held belief that the war was declared in defense of the natural rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, the war did little in protecting these rights. After the war, there was still no liberty for blacks; in fact, the colonists disliked the idea of granting freedom to Blacks that they refused their offer to fight on the side of the patriots.
All US citizens had the right to vote, according to the federal law. But some racist states tried their hardest to stop black Americans from voting. They did this by making black people sit a hard literacy test, which was highly unlikely they will pass. This was simply because their education was of a poor quality due to their school being given very little in comparison to the white schools. They also just threatened them not to vote, which was successful because it frightened them away.
• Southern school for blacks were poor standards which resulted in black people not being educated enough to vote or work for a living. • Southerners and northerners refused to work alongside one another due to the stress and havoc of the Civil War • The plantation southern belle’s morals and beliefs had all changed so the social class fell. • Racism continued to increase in the southern rather than decrease causing backlash amongst the black citizens. • Black people began to blend in with social classes as they were not trapped anymore and were ‘free’. • Even though slavery was illegal, sly and unofficial slavery took place in order for black people to survive and live in both the south and north of America.