4.4 The Changing Status of Minorities Flashcards
desegregation of the Armed Forces
- 1945- president Truman did little to aid black americans openly (had chosent o be vice president by FDR - Truman from sothern slave state that would make FDR more attractive to southerners)
- Truman refused to allow the Fair employment Practices commission to order WashingtonDC transit system to hire black workers - black lawyer - Houston resigned in disgust
- ever since black americans had been allowed to join the armed forces tehy faced worse pay and conditins
- 1948- truman issued order 9981 - brought an end to the segregation of the US armed foces - timing seemed to have to do with presendital election - get black votes
- Korean War - black and white soldiers fought together
- army, air force and navy were all intergrated by 1952
- BUT did not apply yo National Guard or reserve frces (due to opposition from state governments)
- 1948 election - Truman received two thirds of black american vote
trumans attempts to improve civil rights
- order 9981 - desegregation of armed forces
- The report ‘to secure these rights’ 1947 - commisoned bt Truamn advocated a bold approach - allowed civil rifht groups (including NAACP) to oyt forward their views
- called for a permanent civil rights division of the justice department - Commission on Civil rights , anti lynching laws , abolition of the poll tax and desegreation of armed forces
- Executive Order 9980 - created Fair Employment Board to ensure equal treatment in hiring for federal jobs - significant impact
- 1948 (before desegration of armed forces) - sent a civil rights message to congress - he called for both a federal law against lynching and desegration of the armed forces
- made clear attempts to advance black civil rights ]
- 1948 election - Truman received two thirds of black american vote
integration in proffessional sports
- black americans had been prominent in professional sports before 1945 but due to talent rather than racial equality
- EG; 1930/40s Joe Louis had won more titles than any other heavy weight champion
- 1936 Olympics - Jesse Owners won the 100 metres and long jump (hitler left in disgust and Roosevelt refused to welcome him to the white house)
- 1947 - Major League Basketball
- Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson as first ever black professional at top level
- when retired his number 42 was withdran by all MLB teams in his honour
- BUT
- majority of black americans stilll faced racial segregation in most sports - faced difficulty in acquiring jobs - in coaching - and getting same pay and conditions as whites
- faced verbal abuse from spectators
intergration in popular media
- black americans tended to get supporting role in menial positions
- first black american to win an Oscar - Hattie McDaniel - played servant in Gone with the wind in 1939
- LIMITED in cartoons - onyl seen in Tom and Jerry - black maids legs
- nat King Cole became a popular ballad singers but found it difficult to tour in the old south
- Rock n Roll gave black American singers a real chance to get national recognition
Growth of the Naacp and the Brown Case
- founded in 1909 - aimed to gain full civil rights by legal means - by US court system
- after 1945 - worked closely with other civil rights groups such as CIO’s Political action Commitee
- NAACP made representations to the presidents committee on civil rights and the committees report - To secure these Rights - owed a lot to NAACP evidence
Brown Versus Board of Education 1954 - 1954 - supreme court declared seperate but equal education facilities unconsitutional - unanimous decision (9-0)
- education facilities were not of equal standard- affecting African American children physiologically
- NAACP legal team
Sweatt Versus Painter Case 1950 - demanded $3 m upgrading of African American Univeristy in texas because of inferior conditions
** Brown II case** - supreme court demanded the integration of all public schools with deliberate speed
- faced resistence from whites in old sourth - creation of white citizen councils to oppose integration - Mississippi state governer.
- Virigna state closed down the public school system
- 1955 - 100 congressmen sighned the Southern Manifesto - declaring that the Brown Case was abuse of judical pwer
- 1956- not one school was integrated in the deep south
Civil Rights - extent of change by 1955
- rise of mass media and television news - issue of civil rights into everyAmerican household . can no longer regard the African American as ‘invisible man’ suffering discrimination in silence
1. desegration of armed forces
2. Brown vs Board of Education
3. Brown II supreme Court Case
BUT - degree of change was very limited - 1955 - all the segregated public schools remained and public facilities such as toilets, benches, fountains and transport
- old south - Black Americans still faced considerable racial discrimination in hosuing and employment
- EG : of opposition to civil rights - Southern Manifesto signed by 100 congressmen - defend legal segregation
Montgomery bus Boycott 1955-56 =
* creation of MIA
* rise od national prominence of Matin Luther King JR
* growth of concerted , organised and peaceful reistance by african americans to bus segregtation in Old South
* Rosa Parks , NAACP activist - arrested for not giving up seat - case used to launch a campaign to end bus segregation
Congress of racial inequalities
- multi racial organiation
- advocate non violence to achieve racial equality - isnpired by ghandi
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residual discrimination
**Black Americans **
* still suffered discrimination in hosuing and employment
* many blacks lives in ghettos - Harlem and Chicago - below the poverty line
* Black Americans were disenfranchised
* Poll tax prevented black americans from voting
* white supremacist groups maintained black american status as second class citizens
**Mexicans **
* Mexicans had been deported in WW2
* 1945- agricultural improvements - 7.5 million acres of land added to south west - attracted Mexican seasonal workers
* 1953- Eisenhower adminsitration shipped over 3 million ilegal migrants back to Mexico
* 1/3 lived below the poverty line
* Hispanics from Puetro Rico moved to USA in large number and lived in ghettos - Harlem - regarded as second class citizens
* increase in immigration caused tensions for states clsoe to Mexican border
* West Side Story in 50’s
**Native Americans **
* 1944: NCAI - included all americans tribes (emulate NAACP)- legal redress for problems
* NCAI - helped prevent eisenhower ending Indian rights on reservations
* 1953: pass HCR 108 - called for end of reservation system
* 500,000 acres of land transferred to non Indians
* Reloation Programme aimed to remove Native Americans from reservations with aid for moving costs and assistance in finding jobs and housing
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