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Civil Rights in the Truman Era - Coggle Diagram
Civil Rights in the Truman Era
The Changing Context
Demographic and economic changes
The relationship between Democratic Party and African Americans Change. Most African Americans who first voted would vote Republican, but after New Deal some moved Democrat
Effect on political balance of power in North
Tipping the Black vote in the North starts to tip the vote of key Northern cities.
Signs of Improvement for Black people in
Income - median family income increasing, and getting closer to the median white family income. 1949 - black median income 51% of white median income
Employment Opportunities - between the 1930s and the 1940s the number of Blacks in white collar and semi-skilled work doubles
Life Expectancy still below whites, but increasing
Home Ownership increased
Education levels increasing
In the South, 2% of Blacks registered to vote in 1940, up to 12% in 1947.
Liberal Progress
A. Philip Randolph, threatened a March on Washington in 1941
Double V Campaign
NAACP - legal strategy, set up in 1909
CORE - Congress of Racial Equality - sit ins and freedom rides, but without the media attention as in the North
Gunnar Myrdal, 1944 - Civil Rights as individual and national moral problem.
Truman's Inheritance
Background of prejudice from upbringing, but conscious of need to change
Returning veterans' mistreatment, such as the blinding of Isaac Woodard in February 1946
Obstacles
Congress
South
Conservatism
Radicalism
Avoiding any association with the Left - because of the Red Scare
Deliberate attempt to become less radical
The Cold War
Cold War climate: Red and Black Scare
No leadership figure
Randolph good, but easy to attack as being a subversive figure.
Only one Black Congressman
DuBois - flirted with Communism in the 1930s
Robeson - son of a runaway slave
Peekskill Riot
Progress
Civil Rights Committee: 'To Secure these Rights' 1947
Civil Rights Message to Congress February 1948
Civil Rights Plank - Democratic Party Platform
Presidential Executive Orders
Vinson Court
Evaluating Truman
1960s-1970s - Truman's actions seem inadequate (Berstein, Berman)
Berman suggests Truman deserves credit for awakening the nation's conscience
Cold War distractions (Dudziak, Borstelmann, Anderson)
Anderson - only looks good if judged by a very low standard
Gardner: 'Harry Truman knew in his heart and soul that civil rights was a moral imperative that had to be pursued regardless of the political consequnces.'