Pressure for change WW2

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Pressure for change WW2
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World War Two

• World War II was fought partly to stop Hitler's
  racist treatment of the Jews.
• African Americans were excited by this movement
  because if the US was fighting racism abroad,
  then it would definitely want to end racism in
  its own backyard!

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World War Two

• The NAACP in Florida started a campaign called
  the "Double V" victory against racism oversees
  and against racism at home

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World War Two

• For many African Americans, the war offered an
  opportunity to get out of the cycle of poverty
• Yet, like the rest of America in the 1940s, the
  armed forces were segregated
• At every training base, black and white soldiers
  were kept apart

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World War Two

• in the chaos of war, segregation broke down.
• It's hard to keep the races apart when both are
  being attacked
• Many African Americans received medals
• Yet discrimination continued at home

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This awareness of racism reached popular culture.
Josh White was a blues musician who wrote songs
pointing out the discrimination experienced by
blacks during the war
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Asa Philip Randolph

• 1911, Randolph moved to New York City where he
  began attending City College at night and worked
  during the day.
• As Randolph developed intellectually, he began to
  believe that the black working class was crucial
  to black progress

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Asa Philip Randolph

• founded the magazine The Messenger
• founded and served as President of the
  Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
• Porters could carry news between Black
  communities in the rural south and the Northern
  cities

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March on Washington, 1941

• Randolph put pressure on President Franklin D.
  Roosevelt
• he began organizing blacks to march on Washington
  in protest.

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March on Washington, 1941

• He demanded
• Immediate end to segregation and discrimination
  in federal government jobs
• End to segregation of the armed forces
• Support for an end to discrimination and
  segregation in all jobs in America

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March on Washington, 1941

• Roosevelt tried to convince Randolph that change
  would be gradual
• However jobs were being created in preparation
  for the war yet few Blacks were getting any
• Randolph I will bring ten,twenty,fifty thousand
  Negroes on the White House Lawn if demands were
  not met

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Executive Order 8802

• On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt responded
  by issuing Executive Order 8802, which barred
  discrimination in defence industries.
• Fair Employment Practices Committee established
• Segregation in the armed forces however continued

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Race tensions continue Detroit, 1943

• By the 1920s Detroit had become a stronghold of
  the Ku Klux Klan
• 200,000 black residents were cramped into sixty
  square blocks called paradise valley!
• Riots led to 34 dead
• Hundreds injured
• Areas destroyed

Click here to find out what happened
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Importance of World War Two

• Congress of Racial Equality(CORE) founded in 1942
• Beginning of Civil rights movement
• Initially white and Northern
• Nation of Islam members refused to serve in the
  war
• Therefore start of Black protests

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Civil Rights after the war

• 1940s some changes
• 1947, Jackie Robinson joined Brooklyn Dodgers as
  the first Black American league player
• Increase in protests

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Civil Rights after the war

• Harry Truman tried to improve their rights in the
  armed forces
• Although it remained segregated until 1950s
• Proposals that Lynching would be a federal crime
  were rejected
• 1950s saw an organised movement

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Activity

• Explain why World War Two caused important
  changes in Black attitudes to civil rights?