How far did the lives of black Americans improve between 1945 and 1980?
There was certainly a signifcant improvement in the lives of black Americans between 1945 and
1980 however to understand the extent to which their lives improved, it is important to look at
legislation introduced as well as changes in social attudes. Change occurred in the lives of black
Americans in education, economic status, politics and within society in terms of segregation and Jim
Crow laws in the South. Considering the extent to which things changed and how quickly these
changes came about is also important.
Segregation, especially in the south of the USA was a big issue that the civil rights movement were
keen to irradiate. There were several campaigns which aimed to desegregate society, one of which
was the Montgomery bus boycot in the 1950s. The campaign targeted the bus companies until they
went bankrupt and had no choice but to desegregate their buses. Although ofcially, buses were
desegregated, black Americans were still targeted and social attudes meant that in many cases,
segregation continued. While legislation banned interstate bus segregation, in reality this wasn’t
enforced and the freedom rides tested it, with blacks and whites travelling together on interstate
buses. They sufered abuse from police and the public, one bus was frebombed and many freedom
riders were arrested, beaten up and imprisoned. In addition to the results of the bus boycots and
freedom rides, sit ins also aimed to improve the lives of black Americans and was successful in
desegregating diners and the campaign to desegregate Birmingham in 1967 was another successful
one. These campaigns legally and ofcially desegregated areas of America, supposedly improving the
lives of black Americans signifcantly but there was still a lack of social acceptance of desegregation
which meant that it took a long time for things to drastically improve.
In particular, the desegregation of education had a big impact on the lives of black Americans. It was
the Brown vs Board of Education legal case which led to the federal legislation which called for
desegregation of schools across the country. This was incredibly signifcant and in theory, should
have improved the situation for black Americans signifcantly as it meant that black children had
access to schools with beter facilities and resources. This would have given the next generation of
black Americans the opportunities that they needed to improve their own lives in terms of their
qualifcations and employment. However, this didn’t actually happen and many southern states
ignored the legislation, keeping their schools segregated. This is evident in the case at Litle ock
High School where nine pupils were refused entry to a previously white school. The case shows a
very slow rate of progress and improvement as even though the decision of President Johnson to
send in federal troops to help the black students showed government support for the civil rights
movement, the students were subject to abuse because of their race throughout their time at the
school showing a lack of social acceptance of desegregation.
The employment opportunities open to black Americans improved between 1945 and 1980 which is
an important indicator of an improvement in the general quality of life for them because beter
paying jobs allowed them to move out of poverty. The average socio-economic score increased from
16 to 31. This was gradual however and the African American community remained (and remains
today) one of the poorest. The failure of Martin Luther King’s ‘Northern Crusade’ in which he fought
for social equality but many of his socialist ideas weren’t popular in government so not much
changed. The improvements made to the socio-economic status of black Americans were minor and
there was no legislation put in place to ensure improvements.
