Chapter 44: Segregation in the Post-World War II

PeriodHow 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, Plessy v. 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.”

Brown v. Board of Ed

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.”