Racial inequality is a complex issue that requires the efforts of the whole society in the history of the United States. The overwhelming movement faced periods with different emphasizes and prevailed forces and entailed courageous efforts of advocates, group leaders, and ordinary people of all races. The following review summarizes key features and stages of the movement and describes the racial inequality problem from different perspectives.
Intellectual Crosscurrents
World Warr II provided an impetus for the American society to realize the contradiction between the emerged ideals of liberty and racism, which coexisted in the United States for so long. The life of blacks in the middle of the 20th century was characterized by illiteracy, crime, delinquency, disease, and family instability as manifestations of frustration and the difficulties of living with the stigma of inferiority (Franklin, Higginbotham, 2010, pp. 474-485). In the beginning, the research unraveling these issues was largely focused on identifying issues, but later it served as the basis for actions. An American Dilemma led to the formation of liberal anti-racial consensus as a federal government structure and gave rise to civil rights organizations. Social scientists investigated the biological basis for racism. Other researchers, though, explained it by cultural differences, and the emphasis on assimilation and culture has been made. Scientists examined blacks’ culture and history, helping better understand African Americans as an individual nationality. Later, however, cultural emphasis began to be viewed as another justification for racial segregation, so it was abandoned by society.
Black Internationalism
The racism experienced by black society was relevant not only to the U.S. In 1947 India became independent from Great Britain, and anti-colonial protests began worldwide: In Jamaica, Ethiopia, Ghana, and others. The United Nations Charter in the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization emphasizes the importance of human rights. The June 1946 Petition aimed to eliminate discrimination in all fields of life: social, political, and economic (Franklin, Higginbotham, 2010, pp.485-492). The time between 1940 and 1960 was a period of black internationalism.
Labor Civil Rights
African Americans had become an integral part of the industrial economy and labor in the 1940s. After the great depression, the new economic focus was on the unitization of black and white Americans, which gave rise to the formation of labor unions. Labor Civil Rights originally emerged in the southern states and claimed the rights of black workers for a higher salary, improved conditions at the workplace, and promotion (Franklin, Higginbotham, 2010, pp. 492-500). After 1947, however, the labor civil rights paradigm was replaced by the concept of liberal rights.
Truman and Civil Rights and Fighting for Civil Rights in the Courts
President Truman continued a long-lasting process of eliminating racial discrimination beginning with the report To Serve These Rights, distributed to thousands of Americans. The order requiring fair employment in federal service had been given in 1948, and the new policies allowing African Americans to serve in Army were adopted in 1949. The rights of black Americans for higher salaries, better education, equal employment, and public transportation were defended in courts (Franklin, Higginbotham, 2010, pp. 500-509). Black lawyers viewed trials as a path toward racial equality. However, many white men opposed this movement in southern states, which led to southern white opposition. At the same time, black people could not wait for the laws to change and for courts to defend their rights, and therefore, formed a movement demanding freedom at the moment.
Non-violent Direction Action
Another type of activism emerged, which emphasized racial equality in everyday life rather than merely in court, called the Congress of Racial Equality. The Montgomery bus boycott was one of the first examples of non-violent resistance in the United States. It symbolized the frustration of the black society and, under the leadership of Martin Luther King, was a token of rejection of gradualism in a straddle for freedom and served as a strategy for winning the nation’s sympathy. Women played an important role in the boycott. Moreover, the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus, had become one of the key events of the protest (Franklin, Higginbotham, 2010, pp. 509-518). Later, the actions of the other four black women caused the adoption of a new lawsuit that challenged segregation policies and, therefore, led to the movement’s victory.
Movement Milestones and the Northern Side of the Movement
The non-violent direction movement had its stages of development. The new leader James M. Lawson was teaching the philosophy of non-violence in 1958. Students’ protests began in 1960, followed by the formation of the Albany movement in 1961, but it eventually failed due to fractioning of civil rights groups. Guided by their experience, Project C attempted to change the economic structure of Birmingham, where racism had been widely spread. After the arrest of King and Abernathy, the Letter from Birmingham’s Jail allowed society to realize the racism of government officials towards African Americans and other minorities. Massive desegregation of social areas, caused by protests, happened in 1963. In 1964 one of the most prominent civil rights campaigns, called Freedom Summer, reunited whites and blacks in the straddle for racial equality and led to the emergence of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (Franklin, Higginbotham, 2010, pp. 518-536). In the North, people also fought against discrimination, which was especially intractable in the problem of housing and poor education.
The Landmark and Limitations of Government
The government was believed to be important in ensuring racial equality, which is why civil rights advocates pressured it to provide advancements in laws. Congress remained the most resistant to changes. In 1957 and 1960, The Civil Rights Act was the first attempt in ensuring changes in Congress. The presidentship of Kennedy further improved the situation: Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965. After that, many other important changes happened, including considerable desegregation at schools, but deeper, structural issues of racial inequality were revealed. These data indicate that although the civil rights movement was successful, other issues remained unresolved.
The long-lasting straddle for racial equality has existed for decades and entailed its victories and failures. Throughout that time, engaging in civil disobedience was risky due to the possibility of the escalation of the conflict, accompanied by murders, mass arrests, bombings, and further segregation. Experience of these years has shown that the non-violent nature of protests and collective actions guided by strong leaders and supported by the whole society, including white and black Americans, is paramount. These days, when racial equality reaches its apogee, society still needs improvements in laws and work with people, aiming to eradicate inequality at all levels: cultural, economic, and mental.
References
Franklin, J. H., Higginbotham, E. B. (2010). From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans. McGraw-Hill.