These ideas were the groundwork for the organisation he founded, the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). In 1916 Garvey moved to the USA, there he attracted working class blacks who formed a devoted following of the man and his ideas. Historian’s opinions over Garvey are divided; E.D Cronon views Garvey as ‘the black Moses’ but he also sees Garvey ‘as a dangerous extremist, akin to Mussolini’s fascist movement in Italy’. Tony Martin on the other hand disagrees with Cronon and argues that ‘Garvey was ahead of his time and inspired future activists’. Garvey’s significance in reducing racial discrimination in the short term is a debatable question and is highlighted by the rift of historical opinions.
Eisenhower passed the Civil rights Act of 1957, Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and there were others which showed African Americans that progress was being made. The Presidents clearly initiated a change in America making sure de jure became de facto. However, there were many flaws in the work of the Federal Government and there were other factors which changed the status for African Americans such as the impact of the Second World War and the actions of the NAACP. President Harry Truman (1945-1953), established a liberal civil rights committee to investigate the violence against blacks. A report was produced called “To Secure These Rights” which underlined the problems that African Americans faced during this period.
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.
Although the Supreme Court countered the advancements that were trying to be made through cases such as Plessy vs. Ferguson, and their slack enforcement of the southern states implementation of the Civil Rights Laws; as a whole a strong foundation was set for the development of black civil rights. Firstly the American Civil War helped the development of black civil rights as the external factor prompted government in a great chain of beneficial events that were to follow. It caused congress to pass the 13th amendment, the abolition of slavery which was the first step and was a large one as previous slaves now had freedom. This along the 1866 Civil Rights Act which soon became the 14th amendment gave African Americans legal US citizenship and equal protection under the law. This meant that a black man had just as much say as a white man in a court of law and was protected from prejudice and racial segregation as of the 1875 Civil Rights Act.
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 is partly responsible for improving the status of black people in the United States during this time period. There are many examples of how they did help to improve life for African-Americans (e.g. legal cases, protection, civil rights legislation) but there are some instances where the federal government hindered civil rights and equality. Firstly, during President Truman’s time in office life improved slightly for black Americans.
The ruling, while another defeat for segregation in law, did not have an immediate impact. The Supreme Court in this case played a large part in being responsible for how long it took to secure better status for blacks. In 1946, Truman did establish a civil rights committee whose task was to examine violence against African Americans within America itself. This committee was filled with known liberals who Truman knew would produce a report that would and should shock mainstream America. The report was issued in October 1947 and it was called "To Secure These Rights".
It also involved NACCP – the organization which later played a very important part the success of the movement. It was al remarkable because of the speech by Martin Luther King – a Baptist in source B (37). The speech show how angry the black people were, and how humiliate they have stand for hundred of years. It is not only bring black people together but also created a lot of publicity informing the whites how the blacks would like to be treated. The case has led to the big advancement in term of
Another example is, The Murder of Emmett Till in 1955, proved that discrimination still occured in the South, and was the most public disturbing violent act. However, due to the mass publicity on the case it seemed very significant for Black people to motivate them to fight much more for Civil Rights. Many things did change, for example, NAACP won Black Americans the right for school to intergrate (Brown v. Board of Education) and Public Facilities, such as, Buses and Trains to intergrate (Morgan v. Virginia). In Economic sense, the position of African Americans had improved significantly through the years 1945 to 1955. In the southern states, African Americans were still predominantly employed in poorly paid agricultural jobs.
“By 1962, How much progress had been made by the Civil Rights Movement and who or what was most responsible?” It can be seen that there were many organisations and individuals who made significant changes to help within the Civil Rights Movement. This can be seen as important because it enabled some progress to be made to enable black citizens to have a greater opportunity and better life within Northern and Southern America. To begin, President Eisenhower can be seen to have made some changes in which made some progressions within the Civil Rights Movement. He made two Civil Rights Acts in 1957 and 1960 which ensured that all citizens had the right to vote and prevented bombing on black schools and churches primarily caused by the
All of these Supreme Court rulings show de jure change in favour of blacks and improving the status of African Americans. But it wasn’t just the Supreme Court, as the Federal Government were involved too. Although the Civil Rights 1960 can be regarded as a failure, Congress still passed significant acts that changed the status of blacks and it was in positive ways too. Under President Johnson’s idea of a ‘great society’, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, outlawing segregation in public places and thereby changing the status of African Americans. The Voting Rights Act 1965 was a significant law that changed the status of blacks.