HOW FAR DO YOU AGREE THAT THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR II WAS THE MAIN REASON WHY THE POSITION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IMPROVED IN THE YEARS 1945-1953? There were many factors that led to the change in position of African Americans within the years 1945-53 but the most important of these was the impact of the Second World War as it helped advance the position of Black Americans in society in a number of ways. However, other factors such as the Civil Rights activism seen through the 40’s along with the Supreme Court’s rulings and also Truman’s Presidency helped the advancement of Black Americans. The position of African Americans in 1945 was absolutely appalling. African Americans in the South suffered more because in all aspects of life, they were seen as ‘inferiority enshrined’ citizens when compared with White Americas.
Black campaigners tried to use the fact that they fought in the war to gain respect and equality. However, there was still a very high number of racism in the southern states and the number of lynchings increased after the war. This shows that even after the effort the black put into helping in the war, they were still classed as second class citizens and not respected in the same way as
Commodore Matthew Perry, commander of the mission to secure Pacific steamship lines on July 8, entered Tokyo Bay. To the Japanese the Americans were “… devils with white faces,” (page 21) and Americans thought of the Japanese as “subhuman, different, and slanty-eyed” yellow devils (page 137). These opposites in opinions of appearance and religion caused World War 2 to be fought brutally, which created this atrocious rivalry between these two countries. During World War 2, the Japanese and the Americans “had been culturally programmed to view each other as repulsive” (page 135). This made fighting on both sides “heartless” and beyond “human decency” (134).
The Japanese military success with the bombing of Pearl Harbor was obviously of great importance to the United States but helping our allies defeat Hitler took precedence after Winston Churchill asked the president Franklin D. Roosevelt for support in defeating Hitler. With so much division in the world at the time the U.S wanted to make sure ally relationships didn't crumble. With the instability in
Since early 1950s, black Americans have faced a lot of discrimination, especially in the South, after the Jim Crow law. The civil rights movement was a political, legal and social protest by Black Americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve racial equality. This movement has tackled every fields in the life in America with the support of organizations and most importantly, media. At the begin of the movement, there were a lot of campaigns, sit-ins and protest against the segregation system. However, many were left unsolved mainly because of disenfranchisement and the still prejudice of white people.
There was more de jure change then there was de facto change. President Truman helped change the lives of black people within the US. Truman was president from 1945 to 1953, just after the war so got involved in civil rights because he was moved the the racial attacks that veterans were still receiving. Truman established the “To secure these rights” report in 1947 which highlighted that their equal rights were not equal at all and segregation was a huge problem. Knowing this, Truman tried to do as much as he could to help such as desegregating the armed forces, the acts of fair employment in the civil service and the fair deal programme which included building houses in urban areas.
People make a difference with action, but thought without action is meaningless. The persecution of African Americans didn't leave overnight, it took people of all races to band together and fight against it. African Americans have come so far and letting racist people tear them down is a disheartening dilemma. And more so having racial profiling officials is something that needs to have more strict laws against these sorts of
Arlen Fernandez AP US History April 19, 2011 World War II was one of the most important wars in history, not only for the magnitude of negative impact, but also for the enhancements on life as people knew it before this war. One of the causes for World War II was the German invasion on Polland and the invasion of China by Japan. This military hostility led by the Nazis and the japanese was rising tension amongst other countries which provoked a world war. The war affected people in different ways. African americans were given the opportunity to show how valuable they are during the war, women were given the chance to be independent and the U.S goverment bagan using propaganda to persuade citizens to cooperate with the war.
Because of the large nature of the populace in the early days in America men and women, especially African American, without property were denied their rights to vote. In the American republic, such people were not accorded full citizenship rights. However, the people fought these archaic rules to liberate themselves. The historical struggle of the black people in America attained a peculiar significance in American history. The struggle by the African Americans ensured that the black people attained not only full citizenship, but also redefined the ongoing struggle for civil rights and liberties and how reliable governance should be implemented.
The bombing of the church in Birmingham was one of the most important incidents which proved to us how unfair were African American people treated. Those two sources are very important because they provide information about our American history and the life styles of our