. -l .::: :tr | L :l Jn l cJl u c
UGHTS IN THE USA. T945-68 of socialand economicdeprivationthat were
-: ::::: :.: al'lress the f,roblems
:,::e::::;el bv urbanbl acks.
::tsdiftround - The potiticalstructure of the USA in 1942 by JamesFarmer'I
. T.re congressof Racial Equality (coRE) was founded
- o :.p prec iat fcul l y i h e e v e n t st h a ra re stu d ie din th is u n it. it is im p o r e - r t:o i.:' : : ::-'.- aimed to use non-violent resistanceto challenge seglegatlon'
irn sor€ cfthe key feahres ofthe American political s1'stem. This had beenset up ir the
founded in 1957 with the help
late eighteenth century through the Constirution. . The Southem Christian Leadership Conferencewas
out of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and aimed to
Martin Luther King. tt emergd
non-violent resistanceto eliminate segfegatlon'
Three trranchei ofgovemment were set up. These rvere the Executive, the Legislature and
Atfederar tr
toco-ordinate
in1e60
started
lii#i;lllY;#,"*TJfiJ?:xilff#H5:.;[,ffii:3'J:'"$:Tifi?i:vel Non-Viorent
r rheStudent commirtee
coordinating
*orfoirn" sit-insthatweretakingplaceacrossthe south'
and Senare)andthe Judiciaryis theSupremeCourt.
Representatives i
12:The social and economic position of
btack citizens in the USA in the
The constitutionascribeddifferentfuncrionsto eachbranchof govemmentso tharnone 1940s and
on whether
court wasto adjudicate 1950s: the nature and extent of discrimination and segregat
couldbecomeall-powertul; Theroleofthe Supreme
legislation passed by both state and federal (national) govemment was constitutional
What was the situation facing black Americans in the years immediately before 19
(conformed to the rules laid down in the Constirution).
In the south
In making the Conslitution, the thirtgen statesthat comprised the original country, had
given up some oftheir powers as states,but they were not prepared to abandon all of . Blacks were subjected to de jure discrimination i.e. discrimination that was rooted it
them. The Constitution implies the existence of federalism - a system by which both
laws that had been passedin southem states.
statesand federal govemment have areasof separatejurisdiction as well as areasof
sharedjurisdiction. r Politically, blacks had no say in elections.They were prevented from voting by the
"legal" means of state laws that establishedthe qualifications required to vote. Thes
Statejwisdicticin extends to a variety of issuesconceming matters within the borders of
ranged lrom the grandfather clause (you had to be able to prove the previous two
that state e.g. the qualifications required for voting, the educational facilities offered to
generationshad voted) to the literacy clause(the ability to read).
young people, the treatmeDt of those accusedof crimes within the state.
' Where blacks had the vote, they coul@still be prevented lrom voting by the mechani
'he historical context of the campaignsfor Civil Rights the election e.g. the eight ballot box law required you to choose the correct ballot bo
ofa choice of eightl Where all else failed, violence could be used to intimidate blacl.
Slavery began in the seventeenthcentury as a mechanism for dealing with labour thus prevent them from voting.
sbortagesin the colonies.
of ' b]"""k: olace's.uch
vic
ot thecivil war ( I 861- 65)wasthedisagreement
A maincause abouttheextension *t-^::,:*f:::1
was random in : I ry,:!1':11?Ll'"4T
order to increasethe uncertainty and fear oftheil black
th:il population. In i
slavery to th€ new states that were joining the Union at the rate of one every two years in 24 blacks had died by tynching.
the early and mid nineteenth cantury. That is not to say that emancipating (freeing) the
slaver;was a war aim at the outset ior Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Partv or the I The consequenceofthe Plessy v Fergusoncasewas &e proliferation ofsegregation
NortJ. across the South. Transport, education,all public facilities were segregated;even in <
southem cemeteries provided segegation'
In the iive years following the end of the Civil War, the l3th, l4th arrd 15h amendmentsto
thii Constitution were passed.These respectively abolished slavery, gave blacks equal r Economically, blacks experiencedgreat hardship. Ifthey were employed as
citizenship rights and forbade the denial ofthe right to vote on the basis ofrace. sharecroppers,they had to work for a shareofthe crop, but needed to borrow money
the landowner to pay for equipment and seed.These loans were charged at exorbitanl
fhese amendments together with a range ofother legislation were part ofa process rates ofinterest, which often meant that the sharecropperwas perpetually in debt.
known as 'Reconstruction', (the plans and actionscarriedout by the RepublicanPartyto
r"strre the sc'..:thtc the Unicn). Tl;:s period berwceni36; antl 1877 iooke<jas if rhere Where blackswere employedin towns,they experiencedthe low wagesthat all south
_ _^.- rh-- L.lr of a^,,rh '
might be real improvementshappeningfor black citizense.g. mole than half ^r South
workers eamed.
Carolina's lower statelegislaturewas black.
' The consequenceofeconomic hardship and discrimination was social deprivation: po
As the SoLrthrvas resto[ed,so the fights grantedlo blacli citizenscatttcrtttclc't tllrearrts
housing, low living standards,poor health, lower levels of educational pro rision.
state laws eroded them. -fhis situationlvas corttittnedin the impottant 1396Suprenle
Court rulir-rgofPlessy v Fergusonthat statedthat segregatiorr (separationofthe races)on
'separale0,,, In'the north
trartsport\vas constitltional as long as the facilitiesthat were prr'' iclerlwelc
but the ruling that facilities I
equal'. Segregationnow spreadright acrossthe south, In the period after the Civil War therebeganthe processof migration lrom the southt
shouldbe'equal' was ignored' northern cities that seemedto offer more prospectofemployment.
I hemainf eat ure o f t h e t r v e n t i e t h c a n tu r wa sth e m ig r a tio n fr o m th e so u th tothenorth'.B l acksw eresubj ectto
!o that race, which had been a southem issue in the nineteenth century, became a national the nature ofblack life in the cities led to the experience ofdiscrimination.
issuein the twentieth century.
I Politically. there were no lar,vspreventingblacksfrom voting in the north, although
,rstanding Civil Rights 1945 - 1968 poveft\'sometil)respreventedregistrationof the right to vote. Wben blacl<svoted.
al thoughthey'l .rad general l ysupported the R epubl i cenP artvun ti l 1931. the; l ai gel 1"
so that you can
ike most revision notes, the material here is presentedchronologically )sw
wtLLr
i tc hed
r tLr tl
Lrr rei€rl rriiLr r qs r i urc us
l egtanc fi rom
r ( ) r rlrr(")'ri 6tr rto
u( rthe
r s uEtr
D emr roc
i Llr'raLi
l r ur
c 't(
ParLvtl'
eth e w a y i n w h i c h t he mo ve me n td e ve l o p"i' Ho*,"u"t,youshouldalsobeabletol ook
+L- ^l,rnnntnow when vou have revised sufficiently to ' Violence and race riots occurred periodically in northem cities' These rvere generally
the material thematically ac(oss the chronology'
Some of the key
the material, you should re-'urange it thematicaliy'
: familiar with .|...^+^;6|.,^',"h^llldt?-AfAfQeitthematlcaliy.Someofekey
Detroit.
emes that You could consider are:
rediffering arrdactiosgf$l.oassive
motivations resistance-and
l:9lt::TS,:"'j:: ' 1i::l*ii:':::::.f"1%""1ii::"?::,iLlll'itTi;i:L"f::Hf "tlf:H:
of the
igcludedirectcomparisons and
aims,strategies effectivily segregatedin largely black communities (glrettos),such as Harlem in New
;,;;ffi;;;;;""iiruiJ"rra York and watts in Los Angeles. 90% of the population of theseghettos was black. Henc,
reersof Martin LutherKing andMilcolm X') their children also went to largely black schools,which were under-funded relative to
white areas.
ranges in voting rights.
. Economically, blacks experiencedgreat hardship- Many ofthose who came from the
Enges to segregation.
south were unskilled and where they found jobs, they were often menial. Those blacks
who acquired greater skills still found it difficult to improve their economic condilion.
>veloprnentsin educational opportunities'
in the course ofthis unit. The . A strike was organised by 25,000 white employeesat Packard in Detroit in 1943 because
number ofdifferent black organisations will be identified
are as follows: three black employees had been promoted.
;;il" il;ii't"
-"otiio.a
people Q.{AACP) was As in the south, economic hardship dd discrimination led to social deprivation.
re National Association for the Advancement of Coloured
*ith the help of w.E.B. Du Bois. It pursued legal and political methods
_a"Ji*lsog
the vote for blacks'
achieve its uim ofending segregation and obtaining
n
