BDC CH. 10 Flashcards
What event happened on Oct. 8, 1946?
400 black kids in Lumberton, NC walked out of dilapidated schools
- instigated by NAACP Youth Council
- strike lasted 9 days w/ support from parents
(IS)
What were state officials response to the Lumberton School Protests?
surprisingly sympathetic
- officials knew conditions of the schools were terrible
What serious steps did Southern states take in the 1940s to help black education?
- governors began appointing commissions to study situation + make recommendations
- used postwar tax revenues to help build new black schools + improve old ones + expand black colleges
- LA per capita sum allocated to black kids inc. to $16 to $116 from 1940-55
(GUL)
How could one say that the years post WWII produced steady advancement for blacks?
- enjoyed improved education opportunities
- made substantial political gains (inc. voter registration in rural areas)
- were finding success in the courts from federal judge decisions
(EMW)
What political advancements had blacks made since the end of WWII?
- electorate had grown from few thousand to over a million
- blacks getting elected for first time since disenfranchisement
- Reverend Kennedy Williams won city alderman board seat in Winston Salem over white candidate
- # of black elected officials still never exceeded single digits(EBRN)
What did whites begin to recognize after WWII?
the importance of the black electorate
- black votes could make the decisive difference in close races
- white politicians began to inc. court black voters
- inc. political influence allowed blacks to gain inc. in public spending (parks/playgrounds/hospitals etc.)
- many Southern cities began appointing black policemen
(BWIM)
What did the rise in black voting seem to indicate about white Southerners?
no longer committed to all out defense of white supremacy
What was the most outward change in Southern society regarding black relations after WWII?
transformation of the South’s economy
- inc. urbanization meant dec. agriculture
- dec. in cotton production + introduction of mechanical cotton picker hastened dec. in black farmers
- sharecropping became insignificant
- black pop. turning into an urban proletariat
(IDSB)
What was life like in the big Southern cities once blacks began to migrate there in the 40s?
still relegated to low pay + segregation but escaped sharecropping trap
- freer/safer than rural areas
- sheer #s + segregated black areas + anonymity of urban life provided sense of security
- black institutions (church/social clubs) were stronger in the city
- many cities had black owned newspaper + NAACP branch
(FSBM)
How did overall thought change about blacks following WWII?
ideology of white supremacy had become somewhat outdated
- scientists had disproven the old racial hierarchy myths
- Nazi death camps made racism + genocide go hand in hand
- rise of anti-colonial movements overseas made racism an international issue
- Soviet ridicule for US racism made federal gov. no longer supportive of blatant discrimination
(SNRS)
Why did many blacks anticipate another Red Summer in 1945?
thought restoration of peace would prompt whites to forcefully reassert domination
- thought they’d crack down on any blacks who challenged status-quo (especially veterans)
- string of racial violence seemed to prove this theory
(TS)
What racial violent incident occurred in Columbia,TN on February 25-26, 1946?
began w/ fight in radio repair shop between black (James Stephenson)/white veteran (Billy Flemming)
- Stephenson + family arrested
- whites gathered in town square for lynching
- sheriff planned to extradite Stephenson to Chicago
- blacks began to arm themselves to defend neighborhood against growing crowd of whites
- blacks opened fire when four police came to neighborhood
(SWSBB)
What happened after blacks opened fire on the policemen in Columbia?
TN governor called it an armed insurrection so he called in National Guard
- National Guard + armed whites began firing on black neighborhood
- after whites regained control 28 blacks indicted for attempted murder
(NA)
What were the NAACP most fearful of in the defense of the blacks involved in the Columbia incident?
thought prosecutions had greater potential for injustice than the riot itself
- Walter White feared judges may invoke legal lynching
- NAACP lawyers feared for their lives
(WN)
How did the Columbia riot trial actually so subtle changes/progress in race relations?
- Sheriff Underwood avoided lynching of Stephenson by arranging his release
- blacks able to keep white mob at bay by defending their streets
- all white jury would end up acquitting all but two of the first 25 blacks tried
(SBA)
What had changed about white attitudes at the time of the Columbia riot?
many white Southerners no longer had stomach for harshly repressing black pop.
- feared/ashamed of mob violence
- many National Guardsmen were disgusted by the unlawful actions of local police in Columbia
(FM)
What prevented 1946 from becoming another Red Summer of 1919?
preventitive actions by governors/sheriffs had dec. lynch #s to single digits
- officials took action mostly to avoid federal legislation
- dec. especially noticeable post 1935 (peak of NAACP antilynching campaign + FDR Civil Rights Section)
- even w/o federal lynching law FBI probes + federal prosecutions had their effect
(ODE)
What were some landmark cases of the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department?
- 1940 = CRS brought federal gov.’s first police brutality prosecution
- 1942 = instituted first federal investigation of a lynching
- both seriously aided by Thurgood Marshall
(NNB)
What significant event happened on September 19, 1946?
Walter White met w/ Harry Truman
- Dec 5 = Truman appoints President’s Committee on Civil Rights (PCCR)
- asks it to recommend more effective measures for protecting civil rights
- persuaded to create by White talking to Truman about issues
(DAP)
What was the PCCR’s “Secure These Rights” demands?
- federal laws against lynching + police brutality
- abolition of poll taxes
- federal protection of voting rights
- federal fair employment laws
- establishment of permanent Civil Rights Commission
- better action in FBI civil rights cases
(FAFFEB)
How did the Truman administration defer from the Roosevelt administration when it came to civil rights?
- Truman administration withdrew support from segregation
- Truman admin. created comprehensive plan to incorporate blacks into everyday life
- would later become Civil Rights Act of the 60s
(TTW)
How did Truman’s support for civil rights also coincide w/ his political ambitions?
- started political career in Missouri (where blacks freely voted)
- accustomed to cultivating black support
- became president at time when black vote inc. in influence due to influx of Southern migrants
(SAB)
What did Truman do to appeal to blacks during the 1948 elections?
- addressed joint session of Congress on civil rights
- called special session of Congress to consider civil rights legislation (ban poll tax)
- issued Executive Order 9981 (led to abolition of segregation w/in armed forces)
(ACI)
How did the ten years between WWII + start of the Civil Rights Movement resemble the pattern of one step forward two steps back for blacks?
got favorable court decisions/encouraging presidential statements but still treated as second class citizens
- whites still defended segregation in the South
- white legislatures in rural black belt opposed black voting
- whites imposed ceilings on black voter registration even in big cities
- the North still had pervasive job/housing discrimination
What was the main issue as to why blacks were still being treated like second class citizens in the years leading up to the civil rights movement?
lack of strong action by the federal gov. to end segregation/discrimination
- Southern Democrat + Northern Republican coalitions in Congress stymied all racial equality efforts
- campaign to abolish poll taxes failed
- FEPC was abolished
- Truman couldn’t get proposals onto actual legislation
(SCFT)
What do many historians think the effect postwar years had on blacks?
destroyed tentative gains made by blacks between 1941-45
- black veterans came back to same poor status
- Cold War split New Deal coalition + crippled Southern liberalism + ended many civil rights orgs.
- communism had become national obsession by 1950
(BCC)
What early actions did Truman take against Communists in the 1940s?
- instituted federal loyalty program in 1947
- prosecuted/jailed leaders of Communist Party in 1948
- denied Communists same constitutional protections as American citizens
- Communist Party no longer recognized as legitimate political group
- intervention in Korea made communism tantamount to treason
(IPDCI)
What effect did the Cold War have on civil rights efforts?
- sidelined the issue of racial discrimination
- inflicted direct damage on civil rights by silencing most vocal supporters of racial equality
- Communists had been active in nearly every liberal/labor civil rights org.
(SIC)
What did the Cold War force many organizations to do?
rid themselves of Communist members or face FBI investigation
What happened to the Southern Conference for Human Welfare (SCHW) during the Communist purge?
would be labeled as a Communist front org. by House Un-American Activist Committee (HUAC)
- never recovered from report
- had served as a beacon of hope for Southern blacks who wanted to combat poverty/racism/one party rule
- demise was a grievous loss
(NHD)