Arguably Truman awoke America’s conscience to civil rights issues through his speeches and symbolic actions, like his integrated inauguration celebrations of 1949 and his courageous speeches in Harlem. He also established the Presidential Committee on Civil Rights to tackle lynching and violence against African Americans, strengthening and protecting their civil rights. The committee in 1947 issued the
This leads to the mid and late 1800s, when slavery was a key issue and people like John Brown and Abraham Lincoln were alive. The book ends in the 1900s, explaining how social class affects everyone and also about the Vietnam War. Loewen provides the reader with an introduction to the book, explaining the reason why he wrote this book. He explains to us his thesis about how history textbooks alter what really happened and even sometimes make up inaccurate detail to make the story or even sound better. His last two chapters of the book uses all the amazing stories that he told in the preceding chapters to further support his thesis.
Negro History Week grew in popularity throughout the following decades, with mayors across the United States endorsing it as a holiday. [1] In 1976, the federal government acknowledged the expansion of Black History Week to Black History Month by the leaders of the Black United Students at Kent State University in February of 1969. The first celebration of Black History Month occurred at Kent State in February of 1970. [5] Six years later during the bicentennial, the expansion of Negro History Week to Black History Month was recognized by the U.S. government. Gerald Ford spoke in regards to this, urging Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.
The organization of NAACP grew from 50,000 to 450,000 by the end of the war. These organizations would fight for desegregation in theatres, restaurants, schools, army and in equality in work. In the North, blacks could usually vote and in Chicago the Democratic party tried to gain the black vote by promising equal employment policies. The percentage of blacks who were able to vote in the South had risen from 3% in 1940 to 12% by 1947. Education improved because of Truman, as Black Americans got education from Jews in North and also thanks to the G.I Bill which ensured that all soldiers returning from the war are to get free higher education.
Sitanshu Biswas AP English Barack Obama’s Selma Speech On the 50th anniversary of the famous march from Selma, President Barack Obama gave, what is now regarded as, one of his best speeches. His speech was a dedication to the hardships that this country has overcome over the time period. Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers marched from Selma to Montgomery as a form of protest and as a symbol of the unity he wanted to see exemplified in the country. This was an integral moment in the long and hard fought battle for civil rights. President Obama was tasked with giving a speech that not only openly acknowledged and recognized what happened in Selma but also shed light on how far the nation has come since then.
By: David Kim Chicago Housing Authority The Chicago Housing Authority was first established in 1937, and was built under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Chicago Housing Authority provided housings for the people who receives low income, or people that are having trouble with poverty. Chicago Housing Authority also dealt with segregation between the African-Americans and the whites. However, HUD took over in 1995 after seeing the poor performance and mismanagement and within that same year, high-rise buildings were demolished in order to redevelop this entire community. HUD abolished segregation and allowed middle-class families to join with the lower class, creating a harmonizing community.
Following the Second World War which African Americans had played such a large part in, and ended up still coming home to beatings and brutal racism, President Truman felt obliged to commit to Civil Rights for African Americans. Strongly demonstrated through his report titled ‘to secure these rights.’ in 1947, which outlined many of the hardships faced by African Americans and provided recommendations on how to solve them. Following the report several initiatives were pushed through by Truman, such as the signing of Executive Order 9980 and Executive Order 10308. These were crucial in improving the lives of African Americans as they guaranteed fair employment practices in the Civil Services and that defence contracts would not go to companies that discriminated against African Americans, hence empowering them in the workplace. On the other hand it could be argued that the Second World War’s influence was in fact limited.
Johnson realised that society had changed in a short space of time of just a few years; he wanted change before civil unrest forced through. The march on Washington was a very significant factor to the civil rights act being passed; it showed the strength and support from both the media and the white Americans. The march on Washington drew a massive crowd of over 250,000 people and showed the height of the civil rights movement. It was the largest rally in the US up to that date and was an integrated campaign which demanded that the government enforced the laws equally to protect the citizens regardless of race or colour. As a result of the march, Martin Luther King and others met with president Kennedy at the white house and discussed their views on the issue of segregation.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) Historical Background Perhaps no other case decided by the Court in the 20th century has had so profound an effect on the social fabric of America as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. By the end of World War II, dramatic changes in American race relations were already underway. The integration of labor unions in the 1930s under the eye of the Fair Employment Practices Commission and the desegregation of the armed forces by President Truman in 1948 marked major steps toward racial integration. The legal framework on which segregation rested—formally established in 1896 by the Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision—was itself being dismantled. Challenged repeatedly by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the doctrine of “separate but equal” was beginning to crack.
How far do you agree that the impact of the Second World War was the main reason why the position of African-Americans improved in the years 1945-55? The main factors that led to the improvement of the position of African-Americans are, the Second World War, President Truman and Campaign groups such as the NAACP, CNO and UDL. The Second World War can be seen as the foundation of change in America as the result of the war led to many black Americans feeling empowered and so joined the NAACP. President Truman had heard news of the black heroes returning from the war, being victims of racist attacks and was so deeply moved, he committed himself to challenging Southern racism. The war had seen over 1.2 million black men join the US army.