African American - presidents Flashcards
What is Roosevelt’s New Deal?
It included aid for both white and black people without official discrimination.
It created the Civillian Conservation Corps (CCC), 1933, to provide work for the unemployed.
It stated ‘no discrimination by account of race, colour or creed’.
It benefitted black people with legislation such as the Fair Labour Standards Act, but this did not cover agriculture or domestic service, so many were excluded.
These were not from initiative but in response to demand by black republican, Oscar de Priest.
What were Roosevelt’s executive orders?
Executive Order 8587, November 1940, prohibited discrimination by race, colour or creed.
Order 8802, June 1941, to prevent discrimination in the defence industries.
These legislations primary aims were not to increase racial equality or civil rights.
What did Roosevelt do during WW2?
The war involved intense mobilisations of US manpower and economic resources, raising issues of equal treatment for African American workers and soldiers.
There were 1,154,720 African Americans in the armed forces from 1941-45, but they fought in segregated units, despite fighting for freedom and democracy.
What was Roosevelt’s impact on African American civil rights?
The impact was more positive, but limited. He could have done more, but was also limited due to the Southern Democrats.
The legislation was also not of his own initiative or his main objective.
He also did not pass an anti-lynching bill - but this is because he needs southern democrat support - who are anti-rights for African Americans.
What did President Truman do?
He was pressurised into signing an executive order in 1948, against segregation in the military.
He signed order 9981, 26 July 1948, ending segregation in the armed forces.
He appointed a committee on civil rights in 1946, and gave a message to congress, requesting key elements of later civil rights legislation.
What was Truman’s impact on African American rights?
There was some progress - in the military and armed forces.
He appeared to support civil rights but did little to back this up through legislation, so had a very limited impact.
He did not return the civil rights position to the early 1870s.
What did President Eisenhower do?
An executive order in 1955 stated the principle of equal oppportunity in federal employment.
Despite being against the ending of ‘seperate but equal’ he still gave federal support for the desegregation of schools.
In 1957, African Americans right to vote became law.
The Justice Department now had a civil rights department, and the attorney general was given rights to intervene where rights were threatened.
He appointed Earl Warren to the supreme court, who was a key vote in passing Brown v Topeka.
How was Eisenhower’s impact limited?
In the South there were still cases where African American rights were infringed, and local juries did not enforce the law.
The civil rights act did not add substantial numbers of African American voters.
Only 28% of those voting age were registered by 1960.
What was Eisenhower’s impact on African American rights?
Despite having personal views against civil rights, he had positive actions, which lead to some significant progress.
He said appointing Earl Warren was the ‘biggest mistake of his life’ - as it helped end segregation of schools.
Why was there such limited progress 1930 - 1960s?
External factors: the Prolonged Depression of the 1930s, the second world war and then the cold war took precedence over civil rights.
The influence of the Southern Democrats in Congress meant civil rights bills were not passed in 1938, 46, 48 and 50.
The action of civil rights would have required lots of government intervention in the south where racism was firmly established.
The influx of African Amercians into the north meant racial hatred had become common.
A lack of electoral pressure, as many African Americans could not vote.
What had changed by the 1960s?
The continuing violence and discrimination of the south had given ammunition to the Communists in the Cold War who saw the USA as merely defending a rotten capatalist system.
Better communications, especially TV sets, brought racial violence home to Americans nationally, creating more pressure on the government.
The murder of 14-year old Emmet Till, by two men in Mississippi August 1955, and the aquittal of his killers by an all white jury after only 1 hours deliberation, shocked the USA. His crime was talking ‘fresh’ to a white woman.
African Americans were better organised and more skillful at making demands.
What is Little Rock 9?
After Brown v Topeka, the NAACP enrolled 9 African Americans into Little Rock high school.
They were denied entry by angry crowds, supported by the Arkansas National guard, ordered by Faubus.
The mayor asked for federal help and Eisenhower sent members of the Airbourne division to control the guard.
The students were allowed in, but faced harrassment.
Faubus shut all public high schools, intending to shut and privatise them, to enforce segregation.
How did Little rock 9 change things?
Pictures of southern mobs abusing a black schoolgirl in 1957 were dangerously bad for the image of the USA.
It also showed the president intervening with state forces on the side of the African Americans.
What impact did president Kennedy have on civil rights?
Despite his sympathetic speeches and his appointment of more African Americans to positions of authority, he was slow to make civil rights the key element in his administration.
It was difficult to take decisive action given the influence of the southern bloc in congress.
He submitted a general civil rights bill 19 June 1963.
How did Kennedy’s death impact civil rights?
His assassination on 22 November 1963 meant he was succeeded by Lyndon B Johnson.
He was a southern democratic president, with vigorous new leadership, and with the very emotional rallying cry that Kennedy’s vision had to be fulfilled, civil rights legislation became more extensive and more effective than any time since reconstruction.
