African Americans in the North and South (1945-1952)

Question 1

What was the effect of WWII on African American soldiers?

Answer 1

• They were very segregated and the Red Cross refused to take blood donations from black soldiers
• Their time in Europe increased black consciousness as they were treated a lot more fairly

Question 2

What was the experience of African Americans at home?

Answer 2

• There was a Great Migration from the South to the North and the West
• Black Newspapers like the Chicago Defender became popular
• There were different Civil Rights campaigns like the NAACP (est. 1901) and CORE (est. 1942)
• The were still racial tensions after the war like the 1943 Race Riot in Detroit where 34 were killed

Question 3

What was the experience of African Americans in the South?

Answer 3

• They lived in small rural towns under Jim Crow Laws
• They could not stand up against segregation due to fear of lynching or losing their jobs

Question 4

What was the experience of African Americans in the North?

Answer 4

They faced prejudice under ghettoisation and de facto segregation

Question 5

How many African Americans migrated to the North in the 1940s and the 1950s?

Answer 5

• 1940s 1.4 million
• 1950s 1.1 million

Question 6

What was a prominent Civil Rights group in the North, established in 1930?

Answer 6

The Nation of Islam (est. 1930)

Question 7

Who were some black celebrities?

Answer 7

• Jackie Robinson - the first black Major League baseball player in 1947 and he was named MVP in 1949
• Singers like Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday

Question 8

What was a benefit of mainly black concentrated areas?

Answer 8

They were able to have Black people in the House of Representatives like William L Dawson in Chicago

Question 9

What was a time when the justice system in the North was harsh to African Americans?

Answer 9

When Malcolm X faced 8-10 years for a burglary in 1946

Question 10

What were some campaigns for Civil Rights?

Answer 10

• CORE had a ‘Journey of Reconciliation’ in 1947
• The NAACP hired black lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and won several cases (notably 1954 Brown v Board which was first brought up in the last month of Truman’s presidency)

Question 11

What was the Journey of Reconciliation?

Answer 11

Led by CORE in 1947, 16 men went on an integrated bus and, although they were arrested several times during their journey, they were about to gain media attention on issues concerning segregation

Question 12

What were Truman’s attitudes on Civil Rights?

Answer 12

• He said in a speech in Missouri in 1940 that he believed in the ‘brotherhood’ of black and white men above the law (this was unexpected considering his racist upbringing in the South)
• He was also the first president to address the NAACP in 1947

Question 13

What did Truman do for Civil Rights?

Answer 13

• He made the President’s Committee on Civil Rights in 1946
• He signed an executive order to desegregate the army in 1948

Question 14

What was To Secure These Rights?

Answer 14

• It was a report published by the President’s Committee on Civil Rights in 1947 which outlined the need for civil rights legislation and proposed various measures to address racial discrimination and inequality in the US
• It wasn’t supported by Congress so not a lot was done on it