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| Adam Fairclough focuses on the period from World War Two to the present day, to discuss the struggle of black Americans to achieve civil rights and equality of status in the country of their birth. |  A picket line of African-American men and women demonstrates against segregation in South Chicago, Illinois, 1941
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In 1941, when America entered World War Two, most blacks still lived in the Southern states. There, they could not vote. Laws requiring separation of the races required black children to attend segregated schools that were grossly under-funded and, in many cases, consisted of falling-down shacks. Blacks travelling by bus were made to sit in the rear seats; if journeying by train, in separate carriages. Whites addressed blacks by their first names only and never used courtesy titles like 'Mr' or 'Mrs'.
'Racial discrimination infected the entire nation ...'
Racial discrimination infected the entire nation, not just the South. Blacks in the North lived in ghettos, because they were unable to buy or rent houses elsewhere. Many trade unions routinely excluded blacks from membership. Although no laws required them, segregated schools were common in Northern cities. Above all, racial segregation was still the official policy of the federal government. Within the armed forces, for example, blacks served in segregated units or, in the case of the Navy, were virtually excluded. The constitutional amendments that had been enacted after the Civil War to protect blacks from discrimination were dead letters. For most white Americans, racial discrimination did not appear to be a problem: they accepted it as normal.
'Blacks were quick to compare the racial theories of the Nazis with the racist beliefs of Southern whites.'
Nevertheless, blacks had high hopes that World War Two would enable them to regain some of their lost rights. For one thing, they believed that if they fought for their country they should be rewarded with equal citizenship. In the second place, President Roosevelt defined the conflict as a war for democratic freedom. Blacks were quick to compare the racial theories of the Nazis with the racist beliefs of Southern whites. They vowed to conquer 'Hitlerism without and Hitlerism within'. Finally, the expansion of the wartime economy enabled blacks to enter industries that had previously barred them, leading them to hope for promotion and access to more decision-making positions.
The outcome of the war, however, proved a massive disappointment. The government refused to abandon racial segregation in the forces, and was even reluctant to send black troops into battle. Roosevelt did nothing to challenge the mass disenfranchisement of black voters in the South. And although the president ordered an end to discrimination in the defence industries, white workers stubbornly resisted the recruitment and promotion of blacks. When a shipyard in Alabama, under government pressure, employed a dozen black welders, thousands of white welders rioted.
Why this sudden about-turn by the federal government? One reason is that the war had helped to discredit theories of racial superiority. When Allied troops uncovered the full extent of the Holocaust, the world recoiled in horror. Racism, whether in the form of anti-Semitism or proclamations of white supremacy, could never again be respectable.
'... the Cold War had made racial discrimination an international issue.'
Furthermore, the Cold War had made racial discrimination an international issue. As the colonial empires of Europe broke up, the United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for influence among the non-white peoples of Asia and Africa. Soviet propaganda lashed the United States for its treatment of blacks. Racial segregation suddenly became an embarrassment to Washington. Anxious to erase this stain on America's reputation, the Supreme Court, in its celebrated decision Brown v Board of Education (1954), declared that segregated schools were unconstitutional. Although the government did very little to implement the decision - President Eisenhower considered it a mistake - Brown helped to launch a second Reconstruction of the South.
'... by strictly adhering to non-violent tactics, blacks claimed the moral high ground ...'
The civil rights movement was bold and brave. In the South, whites outnumbered blacks by four-to-one and monopolised state power. But by strictly adhering to non-violent tactics, blacks claimed the moral high ground and gained the tactical advantage. Modelled partly on the tactics used by Gandhi in India, but mainly inspired by Christian faith and optimism about America's democratic promise, the civil rights movement tried to make racial segregation unworkable, even if it meant ignoring judges and defying policemen. Blacks now willingly went to jail rather than submit to racial segregation.
As blacks in the South became increasingly confident about the sympathy of the outside world, their protests snowballed. In 1960, black college students staged 'sit-ins' at cafeterias that served only whites. In 1961 integrated teams of black and white travellers staged bus journeys, or 'Freedom Rides', across the South, challenging segregation laws along the way.
'... the world was sickened by the sight of white mobs and club-wielding policemen attacking non-violent, hymn-singing marchers.'
In the face of these challenges, whites often reacted by arresting the protesters, and sometimes by attacking them. The Ku Klux Klan revived: it set off bombs and killed civil rights workers. But the leaders of the civil rights movement refused to be deterred by prison: King went to jail 13 times. And by maintaining a discipline and a spirit of non-violence, the movement turned the violence of its opponents to its own advantage. Newspaper reporters and television cameras inadvertently aided the movement: the world was sickened by the sight of white mobs and club-wielding policemen attacking non-violent, hymn-singing marchers.
Civil rights protests reached a crescendo in 1963-5, with dramatic confrontations in Birmingham and Selma. After the Birmingham protest, Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, banning racial segregation. The Voting Rights Act, passed in 1965, guaranteed the right to vote - a right that had already been granted in 1868, but that had been abridged in 1900.
Malcolm X, a member of the Nation of Islam, vented the feelings of disillusionment and anger that were common in the Northern ghettos. A witty and articulate speaker, he openly castigated whites for being murderers and hypocrites. Like Marcus Garvey, he urged blacks to separate themselves from white society. He also ridiculed King for adhering to non-violence.
'Malcolm X's rejection of Christianity limited his appeal.'
Malcolm X's rejection of Christianity limited his appeal. Yet although his message was an extreme one, millions of blacks lauded his stress upon racial pride, and applauded him when he castigated white society. He was murdered in 1965, but despite this his message lived on for some years, and the urban riots that wracked America from 1964 to 1968 made it clear that many blacks had given up on the idea that non-violent protest could change conditions in the North.
By 1966 many civil rights workers had repudiated King's ideal of integration, and were calling instead for 'Black Power'. Members of groups such as the Black Panthers openly carried guns. By the time of King's assassination in 1968, the non-violent civil rights movement had ceased to be an effective force. The momentum towards a more violent approach was not, however, maintained for long, and it too had faded away by the early 1970s.
Racial tensions and problems remain. Poverty, unemployment, family breakdown, and continuing segregation have bred feelings of despair among a younger generation. A million blacks are in jail - half the total prison population. Some young members of black society turn to crime; many turn to drugs. Just as in the 1960s, police brutality - as vividly demonstrated by the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1992 - still sometimes sparks rioting. After 1970, however, white Americans became tired of hearing about the complaints of black Americans.
Despite these disappointments, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s achieved some impressive results. In the South, blacks gained the right to vote, and they now routinely elect mayors and Congressmen. Schools are no longer segregated by law. Toilets and waiting-room are no longer disfigured by 'white' and 'coloured' signs. Everywhere, blacks have gained access to jobs that were previously closed to them; the black middle-class has grown in size and wealth, and blacks have reached positions of power and influence that would have been unthinkable 40 years ago.
Books
To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership and Martin Luther King Jr by Adam Fairclough (University of Georgia Press, 1987)
Martin Luther King by Peter J Ling (Routledge Historical Biographies, 2002)
Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David Garrow (Jonathan Cape, 1988)
Published on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ History: 2003-04-01
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