Eisenhower and the Early Civil Rights Movement. Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: Role of...
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Eisenhower and the Early Civil Rights Movement. Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: Role of Truman: Most of his civil rights efforts were blocked
Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: Role of Truman:
Most of his civil rights efforts were blocked by Conservative
Democrats in Congress 1948 Executive Order 9981 desegregates the
military 1951 Appoints the first black federal judge William Hastie
Above: Truman with Wm Hastie in the US Virgin Islands where Hastie
was the Governor from 1946-49. Hastie received a recess appointment
to the US 3 rd Court of Appeals in Oct. 1949. He was confirmed by
the Senate in July 1950. He will serve on the Appellate Court for
22 years.
Slide 3
Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: Black Migration:
WWI Great Migration WWII migration to both North & West After
WWII, migration from rural South to southern cities By 1960, 30% of
blacks had left the South. Significance?
Slide 4
Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: Role of
Capitalism: Post-WWII industrialization in the South = economic
opportunities Emergence of a black middle class Jim Crow released
social tensions that were bad for business & image of the
South
Slide 5
Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: The Democratic
Party: Starting in 1936, blacks became an important bloc of the New
Deal Coalition As blacks make the move to the Democrats, southern
conservative Democrats begin to leave the party 1948 Democratic
Party platform embraces the cause of Civil Rights From right:
Hubert H. Humphrey, Coretta Scott King, and Dr. Martin Luther
King
Slide 6
Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: The Cold War:
Global competition with the USSR especially in the third world made
racism and segregation at home more difficult to export the
American version of freedom and democracy abroad Many Americans
believed that the Civil Rights movement was influenced and funded
by Labor Unions and communists
Slide 7
Origins of the Modern Civil Rights Movement: The Role of TV:
Influence blacks? Influence whites? Used by Civil Rights
organizations & leaders?
Slide 8
Desegregating Schools: NAACP had been working for decades
trying to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson 1954 SCOTUS ruled in Brown v.
Board of Education that separate but equal facilities are
inherently unequal 1955 SCOTUS followed up with Brown II ordering
communities to desegregate their schools with all deliberate speed.
Southern Manifesto signed by southern members of congress urged
defiance to court order By 1957, only 684 of 3,000 affected school
districts in the South had begun to desegregate NAACP Legal Team
that won the Brown case. Thurgood Marshall in center.
Slide 9
Eisenhower & Civil Rights: While Eisenhower was not an
outspoken advocate of civil rights, he did understand the
executives constitutional role in enforcing the law Appointed
California Governor Earl Warren as Chief Justice of SCOTUS Some
southerners might have taken his silence on civil rights as tacit
agreement with their resistance
Slide 10
Montgomery Bus Boycott 1955 Civil Rights activist, Rosa Parks,
refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, AL. She was
arrested. The black community in Montgomery organized a boycott of
the citys busses and down town shops that discriminated against
blacks. The Montgomery Improvement Association was led by the young
Martin Luther King, Jr. On 5 June 1956, the federal district court
ruled in Browder v. Gale that bus segregation was unconstitutional,
and in November 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Browder v.
Gayle and struck down laws requiring segregated seating on public
buses. The boycott lasted 13 months and demonstrated Kings
trademark non- violent protest techniques.
Slide 11
Showdown in Little Rock In 1957, white mobs prevented the
desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas Gov.
Orval Faubus used National Guard to block entry of the first black
students to Central High After a meeting with Eisenhower, Faubus
withdrew the troops and the white mobs returned In response,
Eisenhower deployed troops from the 101 st Airborne Division to
escort the students to classes for the entire school year In
protest, Faubus closed the public schools the following year to
prevent their integration
Slide 12
Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Act marked the first occasion
since Reconstruction that the federal government undertook
significant legislative action to protect civil rights It
established the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department,
and empowered federal officials to prosecute individuals that
conspired to deny or abridge another citizens right to vote.
Moreover, it also created a six- member U.S. Civil Rights
Commission charged with investigating allegations of voter
infringement. But, perhaps most importantly, the Civil Rights Act
of 1957 signaled a growing federal commitment to the cause of civil
rights.