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AA turning points (Reconstruction/Amendments
P/E/S CR - de jure not de…
AA turning points
Reconstruction/Amendments
- P/E/S CR - de jure not de facto
LINCOLN
- Emancipation Proclamation 1863
- 13th A - No longer slaves
- 14th A - civilians
15th A - voting
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During this period the NS attempted to impose their wishes regarding the new status of AA’s on white southerners
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HOWEVER...
- The white south resented the attempts at controlling their society and by 1877 had largely re-established their right to run their states in the way they wanted #
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Johnson's plan
Once any SS accepted the end of slavery and rejected the confederacy, it was readmitted into the union
50% of people from each former confederate state who voted in 1860 election needed to swear an oath of allegiance to the US.
White officials who had served the confederacy were now elected to govern the SS
The ex-confederate states introduced ‘black codes’ to ensure AA’s didn’t gain economic, social and political of legal equality
CR at 1866 and 75 were both beneficial to AA's.
- e.g. full citizenship e.g. Social CR.
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‘New Frontier’ speech set out, among other things, JFK’s pledge to tackle poverty, ignorance and prejudice
HOWEVER...
- JFK reacted to the freedom rides only when it seemed law and order was breaking down
- In September 1961, JFK ordered the end of segregation on interstate travel as he wanted to avoid violence
- Reacted in a similar way to the Birmingham Protest
- JFK did not have the full support of Congress behind him - hindering his ability to pass legislation
- Needed to keep conservative elements on side to pass social reform so therefore wanted to avoid confronting the South
- He needed black, but more importantly Southern Democrat votes - illustrating it was a complex issue - JFK was worried the SS were not maintaining effective law and order, but if they did then he would not be able to interfere - JFK also appointed judges who favoured segregation to try and win favour in the south
EXECUTIVE ORDER MARCH 1961 - JFK created PCEEDO (President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities)
Aimed to prevent discrimination for those doing business with federal govt. - start of positive discrimination as places were set aside for AA’s in companies wanting government contracts
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Was preparing new CR bill when assassinated in Nov 1963, but it was only modest (to assist desegregation in schools and aid AA Voting rights)
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Ruled that AA girl Linda Brown was allowed to attend her nearest all white school - unconstitutional to ban her
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LT impact:
- The SC (judiciary branch) showed they no longer had the political difficulties concerning positive action over CR that were still present in Congress and Presidency
- Led to more LIBERAL SC verdicts e.g. Boynton v Virginia
HOWEVER...
- Eisenhower did not think it should be enforced on people in the South who didn’t want it – they weren’t ready for it = DELAYED which led to BROWN 2 urging "will all deliberate speed"
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HOWEVER...
- Controversial: could any type of discrimination be justified?
- Some CR figures eg. Whitney Young thought affirmative action was unwise due to the emphasis of US society on meritocracy
- Lawrence Reddick of the SCLC agreed - he argued affirmative action ‘violates our principle of equality’
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In Cumming V BOE in 1899 the separate but equal doctrine was extended to schools, even though here the great amount spent on white schools made a mockery of true equality.
LBJ
HOWEVER...
- He had the support of congress so could have passed more CR bills
'SECOND RECONSTRUCTION'
- LBJ was elected with catchphrase ‘great society’ - CR issue central
- He managed to bring together a pro-CR coalition of Democrats and Republicans - Even former Presidents signed a statement supporting CR to emphasis cross-party support
- Southern resistance largely defeated, and the Act was past with a large majority in Congress
- Appointed Thurgood Marshall to SC 1967
- Between January 1964 and April 1968, President Johnson pushed through more civil rights legislation than all presidents before and after him
1968 CR Act - Social
- 'Fair housing act'
- The act defines housing discrimination as the “refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of his race, colour, religion, or national origin”.
Where Kennedy dreamed, Johnson achieved
WW2
Tensions erupted during war - e.g. 1943 race riot in Detroit - mass media attention led to a change in opinion - went well
Over 100,000 AA’s sent to UK - broadened their horizons
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HOWEVER... Army still segregated
- Double V Campaign - Hypocrisy as can't fight Nazi's abroad but continue to be segregated and repressed at home
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- AA Robert Wever became special advisor on the Economic status of the Negro in 1932 and later head of the influential public works admin - His appointment led to grants of $45mil to build schools, hospitals and homes for AA's
- AA's benefitted from poor relief and job creation projects administered by the Federal Emergency Relief administration from 1933-35
as well as the world progress admin (1936). >1/4 Million American's were given literacy help via federal aid projects - employment training was also provided by the National Youth admin, which was advised by the influential AA reformer, Mary McLeod Bethune
- Eleanor Roosevelt supported AA organisations and openly disapproved segregation.
- The NAACP grew in membership in late 1930's after decreasing as they were seen to have beurocratic outlook (90,000)
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- Sharecroppers couldn't pay rent. Little was done for the 200,000 who were evicted. When federal programmes reduced crop production and paid farmers for not producing crops - No money paid directly to poor AA tenants (E)
- Attempts to improve working conditions excluded groups where AA was most common - agriculture and domestic work.
- The national recovery administration attempted to est. fair rates of pay and conditions, but did not encourage similar requirements in the industrial N. Regulations evaded by many S employers
- The strengthening of the unions by the Wagner Act ensured big employers used unionised labour - went against AA interests, who were casual workers so not unionised
- Social security act provisions did not apply to the bulk of the work done by AA's
- Segregation in WW2
- the provision of work by the Civilian conservation Corps to help the unemployed did offer some relief, but labour camps segregated and AA's worst work.
- FDR didn't improve voting rights