There is a claim that from 1941 to 1980, fundamental changes took place in American society, which contributed to a change in the position of African Americans. It is worth noting that this historical period is filled with various political events that had a direct impact on the transformation of society. New laws and programs were introduced that were aimed at overcoming discrimination. To a certain extent, the criteria of social and political status, as well as education, are of particular importance since they determine the position of African Americans. However, it is worth noting the fact that, in many respects, the laws adopted were conditional in nature. Consequently, they had only a minor impact on the position of African Americans in society.
Social Position
Under the pressure of the powerful speech of African Americans, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, which formally eliminated discrimination against African Americans in all spheres of economic and political life, in schools, and in public places. In particular, the law recognized illegal discriminatory practices of entrepreneurs when refusing to hire, dismiss, or infringe on the status of an employee on the basis of race, skin color, religion, gender, and nationality, as well as when refusing to train and retrain under the apprenticeship program (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). The law required the application of the same rules and procedures to all voters within a particular administrative-territorial division.
The authorities partially limited the use of the literacy qualification, which disqualifies mostly black population from participating in elections. A characteristic feature of the 1964 Law was that it addressed the issue of equal rights for Americans to work (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). For this purpose, a special Commission for the Promotion of Equal Employment was created, which, however, could not solve this problem since the law only applied to workers of small enterprises with fewer than 15 people employed (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). If an employee applied to the Equal Employment Promotion Commission or the court, the entrepreneur could always refer to their low qualifications. At the same time, the law had a number of vulnerabilities. It did not guarantee in any way the mandatory implementation of the provisions contained therein. Most of its norms were declared, some of them were leveled by reservations, and finally, in the practical implementation of the law, much was left to the discretion of local judicial and administrative bodies.
For more than three decades, technological progress has almost not reduced the ratio between the incomes of white and black American families. Thus, in 1950, the average income of a Black family was 54.1%, and in 1969 and twice in the 1970s, it reached 61%, but in 1985 it was 55.7% of the average income of a white family (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). However, in absolute terms, the gap between their average income has grown almost eight times in 35 years (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). The workforce included more than 20 million white women – 1.5 times more than the entire male and African American female workforce combined (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). As one of the reasons for this state of affairs, there were an essential changes in the number of working family members in recent decades.
In other words, with the development of society and the associated increase in unemployment in the United States, on the one hand, there was a noticeable increase in the proportion of working white women. On the other hand, especially in the late 1970s – 1980s, there was an even more noticeable decrease in the proportion of working African American women and, accordingly, the number of workers in Black families (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). The growing scale of the ghettoization of African Americans, the concentration of a racially homogeneous population in the ghetto, and the isolation of the ghettos, which increasingly turned into hotbeds of unemployment, poverty, and despair, contributed to a further increase in tensions in race relations.
Political Position
The Voting Rights Act, a groundbreaking new law, was passed in 1965. It stipulates that any state may suspend the use of specific tests used to exclude voters if the court believes that doing so could result in restrictions on individuals’ ability to vote based on race or skin color. The Federal Government was allowed to send its registrars to the states and electoral districts, which were responsible for correcting electoral lists compiled in violation of the law. Until 1967, such checks were not carried out in states as Georgia in a number of Mississippi and Alabama counties (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). Moreover, even in the case of clear discrimination in states where 50% of voters registered, federal powers could not be applied (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). However, due to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act as a whole, the legal status of Americans of color has become more solid. Thus, the level of registered young voters in Mississippi increased from 5% to 70% in the ten years after the adoption of the law (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). The law marked the beginning of mass registration of Blacks as voters and served to increase their political consciousness, thereby preparing the conditions for further anti-racist struggle.
The beginning of the 70s brought amendments to the Law on Voting Rights. Such provisions were a temporary ban on the use of literacy tests and other discriminatory tests of black Americans. The expansion of voting rights became a general trend in the development of American democracy in the twentieth century, but at the same time, it was very slow. Thus, compared with 1970, in 1987, the number of black Americans holding elected office in America more than quadrupled, but this number was only 1.3% of all elected officials in the country, although blacks make up 11% of Americans with voting rights (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). Therefore, it should be noted that changes in this criterion occurred rather slowly, which suggests that the situation has not actually changed for the majority of African Americans. However, it should be noted that these measures have had an impact on the political awareness of African Americans in such a way that they can understand their capabilities and responsibilities.
Education
It is worth noting that there have been active changes in the field of education policy. The report “Equality of Opportunities in Education” (1966) by James Coleman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago (1926-1996), had a significant impact on education policy, showed that school funding has little effect on student achievement, background and socio-cultural status should be taken into account (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). James Coleman found that in the 1960s, schools for African Americans were funded almost equally, but in racially mixed classes, children learn better (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). Throughout the 1960s, integration continued, with some states and cities trying to overcome segregation (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). In addition to bilingual education and the teaching of English as a second language, multicultural development programs have been established in schools. Textbooks and manuals have been revised to understand the diversity of cultures and civilizations better. In the 40s and early 50s, the Supreme Court insisted that the principle of separate but equal service should apply only to the system of higher and postgraduate education.
In some states, the court would only find that an applicant was eligible for admission to a higher legal school for white people if there was no higher educational institution for African Americans. It was only in 1954 that the Supreme Court undertook a direct and comprehensive review of the principle of racial segregation in all educational institutions maintained at public expense. Meanwhile, in 1965 — 10 years after the Supreme Court decided to desegregate schools without deliberate delays — in more than 75% of South school districts, racial segregation persisted (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). Racial integration was only symbolic in some states — for example, in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). In 1961, none of the schools in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana had yet coeducated Blacks and Whites (Bloom & Hatcher, 2019). Therefore, it is worth noting that in the future, there will be gradual movements toward creating opportunities for African Americans in the field of education. However, in reality, schools and universities in many states have not been able to put the new laws into effect. Thus, the situation of African Americans remained in an insufficiently progressive position.
Conclusion
Having considered all the criteria presented, the laws and actions adopted did not have a significant effect on the situation of African American society. Therefore, they cannot be called fully transformative. This can be traced to the fact that the entrenched ideas among the population will not allow people to overcome the wrong perception of the African American population. All this subsequently led to active actions and struggles that could further stigmatize the African American community. Consequently, only minor changes took place from 1941-1980, which had to be continued in subsequent periods.
References
Bloom, J. M., & Hatcher, R. G. (2019). Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement (2nd ed.). Indiana University Press.