How far had civil rights movements made progress between 1945-1950?

The period between 1945 and 1955 was regarded as the start of civil rights movements. It has been argued that during this period, civil rights movements had made progress, having an enormous impact, bringing tangible changes to the African-American community. To assess how far the progress had been made, it is important to take into consideration how it affected the Black community in America between 1945-1955.

First of all, it is undeniable that during the 1945-155 period, there was a degree of support from the Federal Government. One of the most significant government supports was from Predisent Truman, who made several attempts to call for changes and racial equality to African-American community since he was horrified by attacks on black servicemen from Second World War. In September 1946, he created a civil rights committee with liberal members, whose reports would draw attention to unacceptable situations, to investigate on the racial problems. In October 1947, the committee gave Truman their report, which was entitled as “To Secure These Rights”, saying that the USA could not claim to lead the free world while black were not equal. It advocated eliminating segregation from US life by using federal power, recommending immediate action to remedy existing racial matters. The report was revolutionary in a country where relationship between Whites and Blacks was still tense. To make these recommendations more widespread, Truman continued calling for changes in his “State of the Union addresses” in 1947 and 1948. Especially in 1948, he made executive order, which banned discrimination in armed force and civil service employments, and also desegregated international airport in Washington. It can be seen that Truman had given a marked support to help the African-American civil rights movements. Besides, it is also essential to take into account the help of Supreme Court when Earl Warren was appointed as Chief Judge in 1953. This was a significant appointment since Warren was sympathetic to civil rights issues and used his authority to persuade the Supreme Court that racism should not be tolerated. As a liberal Republican judge, he was involved in a number of landmark cases that destroyed the legal basis of segregation.

One factor which backed up the civil rights movements was legal success. In 1944, the case Smith v. Allwright led to the decision from Supreme Court that an all-white primary elections would be illegal. In the case Morgan v. Virginia (1946), it was decided that segregation on interstate bus service was not legal, and in 1950, the case Sweatt v. Painter challenged the discrimination against Black students in higher education, making the University of Texas Law School to accept Herman Sweatt as a student. The appointment of Earl Warren also undoubtedly led to an important legal success, which was known as the Brown v. Topeka case. In 1954, Oliver Brown, with the help of NAACP, brought the case to the Supreme Court, claiming that his daughter was receiving inadequate education since she had to go to an all-black school which was 20 blocs away instead of a nearby school which was only for Whites. The decision of Supreme Court was regarded as a breakthrough, since it disapproved of the decision of Plessey v. Ferguson that education could be “segregated but equal”. It decided that segregation in American School was illegal. Later in 1955, the Supreme Court once again created Brown II ruling, claiming that desegregation of education should “occur with all deliberate speed”. The legal success of Brown case was highly symbolic because it was the first time the NAACP won a case which struck the heart of segregation; and it gave belief to the Blacks that the Supreme Court was sympathetic to racism problems and would help the African-Americans community again.
Furthermore, there were also non-violent direct actions that pushed the civil rights movements forward. The first organization to organize black civil rights movement was the NAACP founded by WEB Dubois in 1909. It has achieved some successes through taking individuals complaints to the Supreme Court, for instance, Smith v Allwright and Morgan v. Virginia. Apart from NAACP, there were also other groups such as UDL, CIO, CORE, or CNO. These groups were involved in several campaigns to achieve changes. In 1947, the NAACP organized picket, in which demonstrators placed outside a place that they were complaining about, of New Orleans segregated department stores. There were also boycotts when people refused buy goods or use services. In 1953, NAACP made a boycott of a newly built segregated school in Lafayette, or in 1955, the UDL organized a boycott against bus segregation in Baton Rogue, Louisiana. Finally, there were publicity campaigns to draw attention to the issues. The CORE’s Journey of Reconciliation in 1947 in which a team of 16 activists (8 whites and 8 blacks) travelled from the north to the south of the USA in order to speak against the de facto segregation in interstate buses. The experience of the protest succeeded in raising the awareness and confidence within black community and providing publicity for the civil rights cause.

However, there were still limitations in the civil rights movements during the period. Although the government had shown support to the African-American community, the support was still limited. Truman made several attempts to help the Blacks such as FEPC; nonetheless, he failed to get the congress fund it. His efforts were obstructed by the Congress as they refused civil rights legislations; and because of the intervention from Dixiecrat Party, which disapproved of the call for equality from Truman. Eisenhower, who succeeded Truman, showed that he was unwilling to help the Blacks since he believed that the position of black should rise by itself and government’s job was unnecessary. Southern state governments, southern judges and the southern police resisted changes and used their power to intimidate campaigners fighting for an end to segregation.

Despite the fact that segregation was made illegal by Supreme Court, defacto racism still happened. After the Morgan v. Virginia, interstate buses were supposed by law to be desegregated but in reality, it still occurred. Moreover, although the Brown case led to the decision that segregation in schools was illegal, the acceptance of the ruling varied. In the peripheral and urban South, 70% of school districts desegregated quickly. However, in the heart of the old Confederacy, schools remained segregated. Some school boards maintained white-only schools by manipulating entry criteria. The case also led to massive White Resistance as the White middle-class founded “White Citizens’ Councils” which advocated segregation in local schools and also raised money to make the schools private; thus desegregation could not happen. The Brown case became a central issue in Southern politics when people started electing politicians who were strongly opposed to racial equality. Most of the politicians signed in the “Southern Manifesto” created in 1954, which rejected the Supreme Court’s Brown ruling on intergrated education. The case revitalized the Ku Klux Klan, and lynching came into existence again, for instance, the murder of Emmett Till.

Non violent direct actions were still not successful. CORE’s Journey of Reconciliation failed to force bus companies in southern states to desegregate their interstate services. Similarly, the UDL’s bus boycott failed, and Baton Rogue’s buses remained segregated. The campaigns failed since the boycott was too short to attract media attention or to hurt the bus company’s finances, and there was a lack of community involvement. It can be inferred that these organisations had not yet perfected their methods, therefore could not gain a success.

To conclude, it can be seen that the civil rights movements had made progress to some extent. One of the most notable achievements was the “To Secure These Rights from President Truman, and the legal success set foundation for the progress in the future. However, there were still limitations since there was inadequate help from the government, resistance from the Whites, defacto discrimination despite dejure ruling from Supreme Court, and also from the Black community itself, since the campaigns were not well organized enough to achieve success. Nevertheless, these failures gave the African-American experience in order to organize the campaigns more effectively, and the legal success showed that it was possible to stand up against segregation.

(40-minute timed essay)
NICOLE NGUYEN