World War II accelerated social change. Work in wartime industry and service in the armed forces, combined with the ideals of democracy, and spawned a new civil rights agenda at home that forever transformed American life. Black migration to the North, where the right to vote was available, encouraged the Democratic and Republican Parties to solicit African American supporters. Changes in public policy at the federal level augured the end of racial segregation, and civil rights became a national issue for the first time since the Reconstruction era.
The armed forces blended soldiers and sailors from across the nation into military units, although minorities were confined to racially segregated commands or occupations. The defense industry created jobs that eventually brought about social and legislative reform. Employers encouraged millions of married women and mothers to work outside the home for the first time, a move that for some women led to postwar employment. Approximately 65,000 Indians left their reservations to work in the wartime industries and serve in the armed forces. African Americans threatened a "March on Washington" in 1941, in their demand for a fair share of jobs and an end to segregation in government departments and the armed forces. President Roosevelt responded by taking action to ban discrimination in defense industries. To assure compliance, he formed the Federal Employment Practices Committee (FEPC);its hearings exposed racial discrimination practices and helped migrants in the North get work. The formation of the FEPC also led to the first legal case centered on civil rights issues regarding equal employment for Hispanics, whose leaders appeared before the FEPC and protested the exclusion of Hispanics from many war industries because employers considered them "aliens" despite their American citizenship.
Even as people of color served in the military, those at home still faced racial discrimination from federal and local governments. Nearly 110,000 persons of Japanese descent from Oregon, Washington, and California were removed to internment camps pursuant to Executive Order 9066, which authorized the clearing of civilians from "military areas" but were only applied to Japanese Americans. In the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943, white servicemen in Los Angeles attacked Hispanic teenagers, who received no police protection. Chinese Americans, emboldened in part by the role of China as an American ally in the war, struggled against America's deeply rooted and institutionalized anti-Chinese racism, thereby inching closer to abolishing racist ideology in immigration policies. Six states denied American Indians access to the ballot, basing their decision on illiteracy, residency, nontaxation, and wardship status.
World War II spurred a new militancy among African Americans. The NAACP—emboldened by the record of black servicemen in the war, a new corps of brilliant young lawyers, and steady financial support from white philanthropists—initiated major attacks against discrimination and segregation, even in the Jim Crow South.
Social pressure to end segregation also increased during and after the war. In 1944, the publication of Gunnar Myrdal's classic study of race relations, An American Dilemma, "offered an uncompromising account of the long history of racial injustice and a candid analysis of the economics of inequality."4 President Harry S Truman continued President Roosevelt's use of executive powers outside of Congress to advance black civil rights. In 1946, Truman commissioned a study of racial inequities that called for an end to segregation in America.
Completed in 1947, To Secure These Rights as well as legal victories in Supreme Court cases paved the way for the Second Reconstruction. In 1948, Truman issued Executive Order 9981, mandating "equality of treatment and opportunity for all those who serve in our country's defense…without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." Legal challenges to thePlessydoctrine dominated civil rights activities during the postwar era, culminating with the Supreme Court's 1954 decision inBrown v. Board of Education, which many scholars consider the birth of the modern civil rights movement.
FAQs
African Americans threatened a "March on Washington" in 1941, in their demand for a fair share of jobs and an end to segregation in government departments and the armed forces. President Roosevelt responded by taking action to ban discrimination in defense industries.
What happened in 1954 to set the civil rights movement in motion group of answer choices? ›
The NAACP's legal strategy against segregated education culminated in the 1954 Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. African Americans gained the formal, if not the practical, right to study alongside their white peers in primary and secondary schools.
What happened in 1954 to start the civil rights movement? ›
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” legally ending racial segregation in public schools and overruling the “separate but equal” principle set forth in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1889.
What are the civil rights of 1964 by the National Parks Service? ›
What is it? A landmark piece of civil rights legislation. Significance: Outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, or national origin.
How did the civil rights movement end? ›
Most U.S. history textbooks teach a narrative that the Civil Rights Movement began with the Supreme Court Brown v. Board decision in 1954 and abruptly ended in 1965 with the passage of federal legislation.
What were the effects of the civil rights movement? ›
It enabled blacks, women, and other minorities to break down barriers in the workplace. It also made access to equal education a reality for the many Southern and Northern African Americans who began attending integrated schools in the wake of the act's enforcement.
What was the key goal of the civil rights movement? ›
The Civil Rights Movement was an era dedicated to activism for equal rights and treatment of African Americans in the United States. During this period, people rallied for social, legal, political and cultural changes to prohibit discrimination and end segregation.
Why was the civil rights movement successful? ›
Was the Civil Rights Movement Successful? Overall, the Civil Rights Movement was successful in achieving its goals of breaking of the pattern of many public facilities being segregated. One of the major events that helped to achieve this was the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the desegregation of interstate travel.
Who were the five leaders of the civil rights movement? ›
Leaders in the Struggle for Civil Rights
- Roy Wilkins. Introduced at the August 1963 March on Washington as "the acknowledged champion of civil rights in America," Roy Wilkins headed the oldest and largest of the civil rights organizations. ...
- Whitney M. ...
- A. ...
- Bayard Rustin. ...
- Martin Luther King Jr. ...
- James Farmer. ...
- John Lewis.
Examples of civil rights include the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, the right to government services, the right to a public education, the right to gainful employment, the right to housing, the right to use public facilities, freedom of religion.
The Montgomery bus boycott, sparked by activist Rosa Parks, was an important catalyst for the civil rights movement. Other important protests and demonstrations included the Greensboro sit-in and the Freedom Rides.
What happened in 1964 civil rights? ›
In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
What did the 1965 Civil Rights Act do? ›
This act was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.
What are the 4 key parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? ›
Understanding the Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Title I: Discriminatory Voting Tactics.
- Title II: Desegregation of Public Accommodations.
- Title III: Desegregation of Public Property.
- Title IV: Desegregation of Public Schools and Colleges.
- Title V: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Purpose of the march
The March on Washington Movement was an attempt to pressure the United States government and President Franklin D. Roosevelt into establishing policy and protections against employment discrimination as the nation prepared for war.
What happened on March on Washington in 1941? ›
The threatened March on Washington led to Executive Order 8802, stating that there should be “no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” The March on Washington Movement (MOWM) continued.
What happened in 1942 civil rights movement? ›
A group of American conscientious objectors and pacifist allies, also inspired by the remarkable success of Gandhi, found the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942.
What was the impact of a Philip Randolph and the 1941 March on Washington movement? ›
Randolph directed the March on Washington movement to end employment discrimination in the defense industry and a national civil disobedience campaign to ban segregation in the armed forces. The nonviolent protest and mass action effort inspired the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
