Civil Rights

08 November 2004 (Lecture #31)

• Reconstruction – US pushes aside black’s new rights and ability to vote in an effort to unify the nation

• The Progressive Movement (1897-1920) – effort to preserve (white) social order

o Regressive for blacks (Jim Crow segregationist laws, Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal”)

o African American response: NAACP funded in 1905; W.E.B. Dubois urged blacks to protest for equality

• The Great Depression – economic distress made civil rights a low priority

o New Deal program brings many blacks to the Democratic party

• World War II – many African American given jobs as need grew in factories

o African Americans largely confined to logistics in the military

• Truman Administration – progressive reform to maintain black votes for his party

o Military desegregated – Civil Rights Commission created to protect voting rights

o Lynching becomes a federal crime

o Non-discrimination grants awarded

• Brown v. Board of Education – separate but equal is inherently unequal; strikes down Plessy v. Ferguson

o Allows each state to proceed at its own pace to minimize social turmoil

• Eisenhower Administration – not committed to racial equality

o Avoids the issue until forced by violence to act (Little Rock)

• The African American response

o King – committed to non-violence and civil disobedience

o Organized Montgomery bus boycott, sit-ins, freedom rides

• Kennedy tries response only when forced; promises legislation when 100s march on DC

• Johnson Administration – prohibits laws restricting majority of black from voting

• Blacks begin turning to violence which removes support from many tolerant whites

• Consequences of Civil Rights movement

o Basis of political realignment

o Won equality before the law but not yet socially

Conclusions

• Decreased capacity for white resistance
• Judiciary took the initiative and forced change
• Johnson exerted presidential force
• Northward migration – removed blacks from social conditions which silenced their vote