The Civil Rights Act of 1964

According to a public-opinion survey distributed by the Bureau of Intelligence in 1942, “the vast majority of white Americans were ‘unaware that there [was] any such thing as a Negro problem’ and were convinced that blacks were satisfied with their social and economic conditions” (Foner 880). This was very alarming to me, considering that the majority of Americans were oblivious and believed that all blacks agreed with segregation, the “separate but equal” institutions were indeed equal [picture segregation], and blacks enjoyed living in poverty while the white population had the privilege to participate in the prominent consumer culture. It could attributed to the fact that white people believed segregation “didn’t restrict [them] in any way, so it was easy to accept things the way they were” (Foner 960). This survey was taken a year after A. Philip Randolph wanted to March on Washington, calling for equal employment, an abolishment of segregation, and a national antilynching law, which did bring about Executive Order 8802, but somehow in the following year the majority of white Americans believed that black Americans were perfectly fine with their poor living, social, and economic conditions.

During World War II the modern civil rights movement began. The quote by Alice Paul, the National Woman’s Party leader, “How could the country fight for democracy abroad, while denying it to women at home?,” applies to every minority during the second world war. How could Japanese Americans be draft and expected to fight for the democracy of others, yet they were stripped of their rights guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment by those who swore to protect those rights? Why would black Americans go risk their lives to ensure a free world when at home they were imprisoned? These questions were so “fragile” that American delegate at the conference that established the United Nations (an organization designed to ensure the “free world” stays free) “opposed any statement affirming human rights out of fear that it would lead to an international investigation of ‘the Negro question in this country” (Foner 910).  The double-v campaign, victory overseas and victory at home by ending segregation, become driving force behind the protests to come. The first great victory was the threat of a March on Washington, which resulted in the banning of discrimination in defense jobs and the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Commission to ensure that the laws were enforced (FDR was obligated to pass it since “the prospect of thousands of angry blacks descending on Washington… ‘scared the government half to death’”). Though the commission lacked any real enforcement power, Executive Order 8802, was “hailed… as a new Emancipation Proclamation” by the black press. It was the “first federal agency since Reconstruction to campaign for equal opportunity for black Americans, the FEPC played an important role in obtaining jobs for black workers in industrial plants and shipyard…. By 1944, more than 1 million blacks, 300,000 of them women, held manufacturing jobs” (Foner 881). I love the quote “My sister always said that Hitler was the one that got us out of the while folks’ kitchen” (Foner 881). It is very powerful because Randolph proclaimed racial discrimination as “pro-Hitler”, yet Hitler (WWII) was the reason behind a great expansion in their rights. This prominent event set the stage for the rest of the events that would take place years later that would lead the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act, and the 24^th amendment.

 The next big stride taken was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, where the national government (schools in Orange County, California where already desegregated) deemed that separate but equal did not apply to public schools. Resisting, many southern schools frantically tried to resist integration. Many people are familiar with the Little Rock 9, but are unaware that they were not the first to integrate. The Clinton 12 (1956) in Clinton, Tennessee were the pioneers. My great aunt, Alvah McSwain, was one the twelve. 

The Clinton 12

Next, the Montgomery Bus Boycott that took place in response to Rosa Parks giving up her seat on a public bus resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public transportation is unconstitutional.

Sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter

Another protest that occurred were sit-ins in Woolworth’s, a diner that did not allow black people to sit at lunch counters, after encountering violence and abuse, the five month sit-in resulted in the desegregation of their lunch counter. Following their example, Students Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized sit-ins. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized Freedom Rides to go from Washington D.C. to New Orleans. While riding on interstate buses, in Alabama the bus’ tires were slashed, protesters were almost killed by a firebomb, and were badly beaten with bats and chains. Their perseverance was rewarded when the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered the buses and terminals desegregated (partly because the violence was aired on television). 

Children’s Crusade

The turning point, in my opinion, was the Children’s March, or Children’s Crusade in May 1963. Since Birmingham had the reputation of being the most segregated city in America, earning its nickname “Bombingham”, MLK believed that if they could change Birmingham, they could change the rest of the south.  The only way to “break” Birmingham was to fill the jails and in order to do this they would need volunteers to, well, go to jail. The only people that volunteered were children.  MLK organized this while in jail after being arrested by Police Chief Eugene "Bull" Connor for demonstrating without a permit with the help of his “secret weapon” James Bevel. On “D-Day” children of all ages left school at 11:00 am with the goal of getting arrested. At the end of day one, 973 children were arrested. By day two Police Chief Eugene "Bull" Connor, the same person who had MLK arrested, ordered the release of attack dogs and high powered fire hoses on a group of children. At the end of the day 1,922 children were arrested. Day three would result in the arrest of 4,163 children. The event made headlines, headlines that would make their way to President Kennedy. After seeing what had happened to these children, Kennedy felt disgusted and called Birmingham a disgrace. A month later, calling for the passage of a bill that ended racial discrimination, Kennedy said “We preach freedom around the world,… but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other, that this is a land of the free except for Negroes?” (Foner 980). 

President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act

Several months after, Kennedy was assassinated, leaving it up to his Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After an 80 day filibuster in Senate conducted by southern senators and the inclusion of women’s rights in hopes that it would not get passed, the bill in July 1964. During his term has President he also managed to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 24^th amendment, outlawing the poll tax in federal elections after the efforts of those who participated in Freedom Summer and MLK’s march from Selma to Montgomery. The marches encountered extreme violence, such as the use of whips and tear gas, giving it its name Bloody Sunday. Interestingly, the 24^th amendment was not adopted by Mississippi until 2013.

Video on Mississippi's adoption of the 24th amendment

Other than the Civil Rights legislation passed during his term, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty; this was the main focus of his idea of the Great Society, making it the first thing he declared he’d do the night of his inauguration. Sadly, instead of being remembered for all the good he had done for the people of his country, he is sourly remembered for the disaster of the Vietnam War. Although his programs that still exist today have given people great support, he failed to eradicate poverty. In 1950, half of the nation’s black families live in poverty. In 2012, the median household income for blacks was $33,321 while the median of all the races was $51,017 (U.S. Census Bureau).

In 2011, fourteen of sixteen of the states with the highest poverty, 14.4% to 21.2%, were in the south where blacks make up most the population (Henslin 231). This could be attributed to the fact that African Americans have the highest high school dropout rate among all the other racial groups. If Johnson believed “The man who is hungry, who cannot find work or educate his children, who is bowed by want, that man is not fully free,” does this mean that even after all the great victories made during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, we are still not free?

Just to add in my two cents about my generation in regard to the civil rights movement… It truly angers me how all people of color, not just black people, take for granted what sacrifices people in the past have done in order to ensure and secure their freedom. Many people were severely beaten, hurt, thrown in jail, and even murder all in the effort to grant freedom for themselves, others, and the later generations of their people. When people say they do not want to vote or take part in politics, it just… makes me disappointed how we are taking this luxury for granted that one hundred years ago only a minority had. Their unwillingness to participate in politics and letting their voice be heard, will forever keep them imprisoned due to them allowing others, senators and house of rep members, to speak for them and not having the power to vote on what they believe will benefit them. 

Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2014. Print.

Hensl     Henslin, James M. "Social Class in the United States." Essentials of Sociology: A Down-To-

               Earth Approach, Tenth Edition. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 228-36. Print.

"Income, Poverty and Health Insurance in the United States: 2012 - Tables & Figures."United States Census Bureau. United States Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

Joiner, Lottie L. "How the Children of Birmingham Changed the Civil-Rights Movement." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.