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Segregated society (“separate but equal”) Entrenched opposition to change, especially among white Southerners Many blacks were poor, owned little property, held unskilled jobs, were mistreated in the courts, and were deprived of education. Blacks were generally not allowed to vote.
By W.J. Cash, once an editor of the (P. 14) Charlotte News (predecessor of Accommodationism ◦ Conservative, gradual, cooperative with Ashmore) segregationists A study of the psyche of the Confrontationalism Southern white ◦ Attacks on discrimination Scientific radicalism ◦ Violence ◦ Criticism of black leaders who could be ◦ Impulsiveness persuaded by whites ◦ Racial intolerance, even cruelty Separatism ◦ Racial purity, separate institutions for blacks, even a separate nation
The war had ended in 1945. During it, the U.S. had fought bigotry and injustice, such as Hitler’s persecution and murder of Jews. How could the U.S. accept racism at Chapter 3 home?
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They would fight … In the 1940s, they feared that an end to ◦ To open the Southern mainstream to blacks segregation could invite racial cataclysm. ◦ To bring the South into the national But they sought better schools and mainstream opposed demagogues, lynching and the They weren’t necessarily pushing poll tax. integration — at least, not at first. They sought racial progress by evolution, not revolution.
Harry Ashmore (Charlotte & Little Rock) What they did push Ralph McGill (Atlanta) ◦ National unity Hodding Carter Jr. (Greenville, Miss.) ◦ Obeying federal law Hazel Brannon Smith (Lexington, Miss.) ◦ Rising above regionalism Buford Boone (Tuscaloosa) Their positions evolved. Lenoir Chambers (Norfolk, Va.) Bill Baggs (Miami)
“I’ve come to believe that the important Born in Greenville, S.C. things, the essential freedoms, the Army lieutenant colonel democratic processes are luxuries, not Nieman Fellow inalienable rights, and the price we must Influenced by Myrdal’s pay for them is high. Sometimes we fight “An American to preserve them with guns, sometimes Dilemma” with typewriters, but always we must Charlotte News stand ready to fight.” Arkansas Gazette —Harry Ashmore (Little Rock)
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“There may be separation of the races and still equal justice before the law; equal Born in east Tennessee opportunity to use one’s skills and still not Met Myrdal in Sweden have to mix with other workers; equal while traveling under a opportunity for education, without mixing fellowship in schools.” The Atlanta Constitution —Ralph McGill Front-page columnist
Southern regional Its editors wanted “thoughtful stories, reporter for The sensible, high-minded coverage, with New York Times — little expectation that the job would its first full-time entail daily reports of breaking news.” correspondent in the South But the pace would quicken, and The Dapper and cheery Times would have to change course. Raised in Virginia Covered the news at a slow pace.
It peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, the “There is little in American society that authors say (p. 7). was not altered by the civil rights News coverage brought “significant and movement. There is little in the civil enduring changes” in … rights movement that was not changed ◦ Civil rights by the news coverage of it.” ◦ The way print media and TV did their jobs
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Broke the color His story became the first running race barrier in Major story that the white press covered along League Baseball, with the black press. joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. It was a chance for blacks to show they could compete.
J. Waties Waring, Charleston, 4 main candidates in general election S.C. ◦ President Harry S. Truman (Democrat) In 1947, he ruled that … ◦ New York Gov. Tom Dewey (Republican) ◦ Blacks were entitled to attend state law school. ◦ Henry Wallace (Progressive) ◦ They were entitled to participate ◦ South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond in the Democratic Party primary. (Dixiecrat — States’ Rights Jeffersonian Handled Levi Pearson’s suit on Democratic Party) free student transportation, Most black papers endorsed Dewey. which led to Brown v. Board of Education. Two-third of blacks voted for Truman.
Republican governor of California Tom Dewey’s running mate Lost the 1948 presidential election. President Dwight Eisenhower appointed him chief justice of the United States. Warren led the Supreme Court when it ruled in 1954 on Brown v. Board of Education, outlawing school segregation. Why is this man smiling?
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