Week 5 _African American Studies

Week 5: Article 2

Introduction 

This week covers what are often called “The Civil Rights Years,” which are usually said to comprise the years 1954-1968. In the years prior to 1954, however, African American had been working to define themselves as artists, particularly during the Harlem Renaissance, and to expand their educational and civil rights, especially in efforts spear-headed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Economic, social, and political progress was painfully slow, however, and many young African Americans were becoming impatient for change to occur. During World War II (1941-1945), the numbers of African Americans serving in the military rose from under 4,000 to more than 1.2 million, including thousands of African American women in the Women’s Auxilliaries. These soldiers, who had fought for liberty overseas while serving in America’s segregated military, came home to find their civil rights still strictly curtailed, and most jobs still not open to African Americans (Source: National World War II Museum,  http://www.nationalww2museum.org/assets/pdfs/african-americans-in-world.pdf

The NAACP sought change through legal means and developed a cadre of skilled lawyers to battle for equal rights through the courts. Their landmark victory was the overturning of Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme court’s 1897 ruling that permitted “separate but equal” accommodations for the races. In 1954, arguing that “separate but equal” was anything but fair or just, future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall persuaded the Supreme Court that the nation’s schools should be integrated. Southern schools, including the state universities, resisted integration for the next ten years, undermining the value of court decisions to effect social change.

After the lynching of 14-year old Emmett Till in 1955, and the subsequent acquittal of his murderers by an all-white jury in Mississippi, the push for broader civil rights reforms began to build steam among many in the African American community. Adding immeasurably to the cause was the growing national and international news media attention brought to the most egregious events of American racism, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956-57, which thrust Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., into the forefront of national African American leaders, and the month-long stand-off to integrate Little Rock High School in 1957, to which came hundreds of reporters and photojournalists from around the world. Geopolitically, the United States stood for the ideals of freedom, equality, and capitalism as a counter to the Soviet Union and China’s embrace of totalitarian communism. Racist events, especially the filmed images of the mistreatment of African Americans, however, became ammunition for China and the Soviet Union to use against the United States. How could the United States claim to be the leader of the free world to the new nations emerging from colonial rule in Asia and Africa? 

The final results of the Civil Rights movement were remarkable. The two major pieces of legislation were the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, both of which actually upheld the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, but gave specific rules as to how those Amendments should be followed by the states and businesses. However, for many African Americans, the legislation came too late, and the civil rights movement splintered into groups following either non-violent or violent strategies. In week 6, we will take a look at what we can know about one of the most controversial groups, The Black Panthers, but in Week 5, we will look at the various ways in which African Americans worked together to create social change.

Source: The World War II Museum, “African Americans in World War Two: Fighting for a Double Victory” Ihttp://www.nationalww2museum.org/assets/pdfs/african-americans-in-world.pdf