Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-69751-5 – History for the IB Diploma: Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas Mike Scott-Baumann and Mark Stacey Excerpt More information 4 The emergence of the civil rights movement in the 1940s and 1950s Timeline 1941 A. Philip Randolph plans March on Washington; Roosevelt establishes Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) and bans segregation in defence industries 1944 Supreme Court outlaws all-white Democratic primary election in Texas 1947 publication of report To Secure These Rights 1948 Truman orders desegregation in armed forces 1954 May: Brown v. Board ruling declares ‘separate but equal’ schools unconstitutional 1955 May: Brown II ruling orders desegregation of schools ‘with all deliberate speed’ Dec: start of Montgomery Bus Boycott 1956 Mar: Southern Manifesto denounces Brown ruling Nov: Supreme Court rules segregation on Montgomery buses to be illegal, leading to end of boycott 1957 Jan: Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) formed Sep: Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas; Civil Rights Act passed 1960 May: Civil Rights Act passed Key questions • How did the civil rights movement emerge during the Second World War? • How far did the NAACP and Supreme Court achieve desegregation in education? • What was the signifi cance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955–56? 62 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-69751-5 – History for the IB Diploma: Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas Mike Scott-Baumann and Mark Stacey Excerpt More information The emergence of the civil rights movement in the 1940s and 1950s This chapter examines the impact of the Second World War on black Americans in the USA, and the emergence of the civil rights movement during those years. It then focuses on two key events. The fi rst was the Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling on desegregation in schools. This was a signifi cant breakthrough but aroused massive resistance in the South, as shown in Little Rock, Arkansas. The second was the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 to 1956, which was hugely successful and also brought Martin Luther King to the forefront of the civil rights movement. Overview • The effects of the Second World War on the lives of African- Americans contributed to the development of black activism. • The growing strength of the NAACP and of a grass-roots voter registration campaign signifi ed the emergence of civil rights as a movement. • The NAACP had piecemeal success in its legal challenges to the Jim Crow laws. • The Supreme Court ruling against segregated schools eliminated the legal basis for segregation, but also triggered massive white resistance in the South. • Events at Little Rock High School led to federal intervention, but also highlighted the tenacity with which the South defended segregation. • The success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott has often been attributed to the heroism of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Their roles were crucial but so were those of other individuals, and ultimate success was due to sustained, local, mass action. • The boycott led to the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). How did the civil rights movement emerge during the Second World War? The Second World War and its outcome would have a dramatic impact on the lives of all Americans. Not only would 14 million Americans be called up to fi ght (and similar numbers migrate to the cities to work in war industries), but the USA would emerge as a superpower claiming leadership of the ‘Free World’. Not surprisingly, the war had a huge impact on the lives of millions of black Americans as well as white. Nearly a million were called up to fi ght, and a larger number would leave farms in the South to seek work in cities, both in the South and, more especially, in the North. African-Americans knew that the USA’s entry into the war in 1941 meant that they were fi ghting to defeat an avowedly racist Nazi Germany. They were determined to exploit that. 63 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-69751-5 – History for the IB Diploma: Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas Mike Scott-Baumann and Mark Stacey Excerpt More information Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas Black Americans were eager to play their part in the war effort, but were determined not to go unrewarded as they had done after the First World War. As Crisis argued: ‘Now is the time not to be silent’. Many supported the ‘Double V’ campaign (launched by the black newspaper Pittsburgh Courier), to win a double victory, conquering racism both abroad and at home. President Roosevelt responded by appointing the first black general, Benjamin O. Davies, and calling for equal opportunities for all in the armed forces. This was easier said than done. Many army leaders had a low opinion of black soldiers, and resisted pressure to enlist them in combat units. Many of the military training camps were situated in the South. Not only did black soldiers come up against racism within the camps but black soldiers from the North, unused to Jim Crow laws, were shocked by the treatment they received outside the camps. Insulted or refused service in shops and bars, they also came up against segregation on public transport. Nowhere was this worse than on buses: there were numerous incidents where black soldiers were ordered by the drivers not to sit in ‘white’ seats and, when they refused, were arrested and, in a few cases, shot. Discrimination in the North Discrimination in the North was not as extreme, but it was widespread. Over a million blacks left the South and found better- paid, more secure jobs than they had had on farms in the South. But, as in the First World War, race relations often became more tense, especially as competition for urban housing led to overcrowding and the deliberate exclusion of blacks from white neighbourhoods. Chicago’s black population doubled in the 1940s and was increasingly squeezed into unsafe, insanitary housing, sometimes ten to a room. There were numerous outbreaks of violence in northern cities, the worst being in Detroit. During the war, 50,000 blacks arrived in the city, lured by job opportunities in arms production. There were even more white immigrants, many from the South. An incident in a park on a hot afternoon and rumours of a white woman raped by a black man triggered a race riot. Large mobs of whites entered the black ghetto to hunt for victims. By the time order was restored by troops, 34 people had been killed, 25 black and nine white, and hundreds injured. The development of black activism The black response to racial discrimination took many forms. One example of direct action was the plan by A. Philip Randolph to organise thousands of blacks to march on Washington in 1941. The aim was to pressurise the federal government into banning all job discrimination in war industries; in other words, in all the shipyards, 64 © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-69751-5 – History for the IB Diploma: Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas Mike Scott-Baumann and Mark Stacey Excerpt More information The emergence of the civil rights movement in the 1940s and 1950s aircraft and weapons factories that were producing arms for the government’s war effort. The mere threat of such a demonstration in Washington led to Roosevelt setting up the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to ensure that blacks were employed in the war industries. This showed what the threat of mass protest could do, and it boosted confidence in the emerging civil rights movement. In reality, the FEPC had limited impact. There was widespread resistance in the South, where employers insisted that white workers would refuse to work alongside blacks. Even in the North, some unions organised ‘hate strikes’ where white workers walked out, refusing to work with blacks. A. Philip Randolph (left) leads a protest against the Jim Crow Laws © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-69751-5 – History for the IB Diploma: Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas Mike Scott-Baumann and Mark Stacey Excerpt More information Civil Rights and Social Movements in the Americas The growing impact of the NAACP The campaigns run by the NAACP and many local black organisations were probably more significant, in the long term, in advancing the cause of black civil rights. As the First World War had led to a huge rise in support for the NAACP, so did the Second World War. Membership leapt from 50,000 to 450,000 by the end of the war. The organisation attracted far wider support in the South, especially in the growing urban population, and gave its backing to numerous small-scale, local campaigns. More and more blacks, freed from dependence on white landlords, had the confidence to attend NAACP classes where they learnt how to pass literacy classes and pay the poll tax so that they could register to vote. The development of this sustained, grass-roots activity marked a new development in the campaign for black civil rights in the South. This movement was complemented by the gains of the NAACP lawyers, who took an increasing number of legal cases to the Supreme Court. The court was now more receptive, thanks to the appointment, by President Roosevelt, of several more liberal judges. In 1944, the Supreme Court outlawed the all-white Democratic primary election in Texas.