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Chapter 44: Segregation in the Post-World War II Period. How did segregation affect American life in the postwar period?. A Nation Divided: Segregation in American Life. Racial segregation led to the expectation that blacks were to accept their lesser status in society.
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Chapter 44: Segregation in the Post-World War II Period How did segregation affect American life in the postwar period?
A Nation Divided: Segregation in American Life • Racial segregation led to the expectation that blacks were to accept their lesser status in society. • In private or among other blacks, they acted normally. • Around whites, they put on a “mask” hiding their true feeling and acting meek and inferior.
Segregation in Public Accommodations • 1896, Plessyv. Ferguson allowed separate facilities, instituting “separate but equal.” • Legalized segregation in: • Theaters • Restaurants • Libraries • Parks • Transport services
Jim Crow Laws • Separate facilities for whites and blacks across the South • Waiting rooms • Rest rooms • Train cars and buses • Park benches • Separate telephone booths
Segregation Cont’d • Often there were no accommodations for blacks at all. • Restaurants refused to serve African Americans • No bathrooms for blacks • Black schools were often inferior
Segregation in Schools • Since 1888, all schools in the South and some in the Western and Northern states were segregated • Teachers in black schools got lower salaries and had harder working conditions • Lacked books and supplies
Segregation in House • De Facto Segregation • Established by practice and custom, rather than law • Restrictive Covenants • Neighbors would agree to not sell or rent to African Americans • De Jure Segregation • Segregation by law • Most common in the South • Racial Zoning • Local laws defined where different races could live
Segregation in Marriage • Between 1870-1884, 11 states passed laws against miscegenation (interracial marriage) • They stated that blacks were inferior to whites and that any amount of racial mixing through marriage or childbirth threatened the “purity of the white race.”
Segregation in the Workplace • Few blacks held white collar jobs • Those who did were usually teachers and ministers • Most worked in agriculture and services • In 1940, the median income level of black men was less that half that of white men. • Inequity in jobs was also a product of poor schooling for African Americans. • Illiteracy and a lack of education helped trap blacks into low-level jobs.
Segregation in Politics • Southern whites found a way to disenfranchise (deny voting rights) to African Americans. • POLL TAXES • LITERACY TESTS • WHITE PRIMARIES • Democrats excluded blacks from being party members
Political Segregation Cont’d • Gerrymandering • Practice of redrawing the lines of a voting district to give one party or group of voters an advantage
Small Steps Toward Equality • Jackie Robinson • Original Rosa Parks? • Famous baseball player • Crossed the color line in baseball when Brooklyn Dodgers hired him • Firs black major league baseball player
Segregation in Armed Forces • Truman knew the desegregation of military was necessary • Moral reasons • Political reasons • Hypocritical to fight Nazism and anti-Semitism abroad while maintaining a color line at home.
Executive Order 9981 • “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.”
Tides Begin to Change • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) • Nonviolent direct action as a means of change • Peaceful protest at a segregated coffee shop • NAACP
Courts Begin to Dismantle Segregation • In the 1930-1940’s, courts began to strike down Jim Crow laws. • In 1948, Shelley v. Kraemer ruled that states could not enforce restrictive covenants
Landmark Brown v. Board of Education • Class-Action suite • NAACP’s lead attorney was Thurgood Marshall • Argued the segregation harms African American children • Doll Test • “The negro child accepts as early as 6, 7, 8 the negative stereotypes about his own group.”
Earl Warren and the Warren Court • During Brown v. Board, Warren became chief justice • Brown v. Board decided that “separate could never be equal.” • Schools needed to be desegregated w/ “all deliberate speed.”
