African-American Automotive Workers

"Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the single most important piece of legislation that has helped to shape and define employment law rights in this country (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2001)". Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, gender, disability, religion and national origin. However, it was racial discrimination that was the moving force of the law that created a whirlwind of a variety of discriminations to be amended into Title VII. Title VII was a striving section of legislation, an effort which had never been tried which made the passage of the law an extremely uneasy task. This paper will discuss the evolution of Title VII as well as the impact Title VII has had in the workforce.

They contributed to society with innovations in music and literature that promoted the cultural growth of America in the 1920s. Also, this helped feed the “Harlem Renaissance”, a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s in which black art, literature, and music experienced renewal and growth, originating in New York City 's Harlem district. It was a period of great achievement by African American writers, poets, artists, and performers. Similarly, the 1930s was occupied by the ability of African Americans to get jobs on Works Progress Administration projects because discrimination was banned by Executive Order 7046. During this time, a multitude of African Americans received wages from the WPA twice as much as their prior earnings. Another program that aided African Americans was Harold Icke’s Public Works Administration. This program provided to black tenants a more than fair share of the public housing it built. Additionally, Ickes utilized the quota system by Public Works Administration to hire African Americans in proportion to their numbers in local workforce (Document 8b). All in all, the two decades emphasized how there was an encouragement of minorities.

Civil rights leaders such as A. Philip Randolph saw the unique situation created by World War II and the acute need for workers as an opportunity to demand equality. In 1941 Randolph threatened President Roosevelt with a 100,000-person march on Washington, D.C., to protest job discrimination. In response, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, prohibiting discrimination in defense jobs or the government.

Next a case relating to employment difficulties during the Black Civil rights movement was Griggs v. Duke Power Company in the year 1971. The ruling on this case by the Supreme Court was that Duke Power Company was « discriminating against black employees, » because their qualification for employment did « not pertain to applicants ' ability to perform the job,» but rather was influenced by other factors such as race, and therefore they were not hiring people in certain racial

Although freedom to become citizens took longer and the fight more difficult, a great number of African Americans steadily gained various rights which accumulated over time. It is important to note that racial segregations momentum dissipated over time as more and more blacks held positions of authority and congressional approval overwhelmingly supported more rights for blacks. Nonetheless, it is also imperative to consider how white supremacists such as the KKK fought to undo the important developments. Till this day, both the executive legislative and judiciary wings of government are constantly battling instances of racial segregation. However, the long range effects of federal government struggle to secure equal rights for African Americans has been significant successes in the rise of African American entrepreneurship. The proliferation of blacks in both government and civil society, the rise of blacks in academia, sports and liberal arts are long effects of the fight for African American rights. This has progressively opened up American society and in a way, levelled the playing field. Also this federal government action to intervene in the affairs of the state has lived on throughout the 21st century.

This paper explains a very important moment in the history of our government that took place in Illinois in 1917. As World War I was beginning for the United States things were heating up in East St. Louis, Illinois. Anti-black riots killed or injured over one hundred black civilians. Then a Silent Parade of over ten thousand black citizens from New York broke out. Civil rights have always been an issue in our government, and according to www.kidzworld.com, after these anti black riots, things eventually led to the development of the The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and from that, Rosa Parks did not give up her seat on the bus. The creation of the NAACP also influenced the Little Rock, Arkansas incident, Martin L. King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech, and many other things which eventually led to equal rights for everyone with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This paper will explain the riots and how it shaped our government into providing equal jobs for all races.

Following his inauguration, Roosevelt's attitude toward African Americans changed little. He not only opposed vital civil rights legislation like the anti-lynching bill, designed to make lynching a federal offense, but showed little interest in challenging even the most blatant manifestations of racial injustice in the proliferation of New Deal agencies. The National Recovery Administration (NRA), Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), to name only a few, all failed to protect blacks against discriminatory employers, agency officials, and local

Blacks in the depression were among the hardest hit and the opening market of jobs in the years of the war replaced that poverty with livable reality for many. Some joined the military, hoping to fight their way to respect and acceptance in the nation they called home. But in Document B we see the continuing discrimination upon the Black population selflessly serving the country. It wasn’t until posters. like the one shown in Document A, showed people around the United States how respectable and equal these black soldiers were. At home in the work force many would be turned away because of their color. In Document F and H President Roosevelt demands the employment of blacks under Executive Order 8802, as they will help lead the nation to a war power from their dedication and hard work. As employment rose for the African Americans so did their life style, they could be cars, homes and support their families

Although there was a lot of opposition to FDR's new legislation, it was also given a lot of support by others. In "The Roosevelt Record," editorial in The Crisis, the FDR administration is praised for being the first administration to pay attention to African Americans and to include them in the government's plans. [Document I].

There are critical issues that the country faces everyday, but there may be problems that require faster responses and solution. With executive orders, these laws resulted in positive outcomes for the country. Throughout history, the country has faced many racial discrimination and oppression. In order to bring immediate stop to it, executive orders were being held. For example, 1954 court case Brown v. Board of Education brought attention to the segregation of Little Rock High School, which led to President Eisenhower’s issuance of Executive Order No. 10730. This order brought federal troops to the high school to give protection to the nine black children who were being mobbed by the citizens of Arkansas. Another problem that required executive

With the late 1940s and early 1950s, came three powerful voices fighting for change race relations in America. Approximately 900,000 young black men had recently fought a war for freedom and democracy, refused to return to the Jim Crow south, and became very vocal about wanting equal rights. Additionally, increasing support from liberals like Harry Truman and Gunner Myrdal as well as the activism of Thurgood Marshall led the legal side of the campaign for equal rights. One young black American corporal said "I spent four years in the Army to free a bunch of Dutchmen and Frenchmen, and I'm hanged if I'm going to let the Alabama version of the Germans kick me around when I get home. No sirreee-bob! I went into the Army a nigger; I'm comin' out a man." The Membership in the NAACP, jumped from 50,000 in 1940 to 450,000 in 1946 with over 14,000 branches by 1948. Eleven states and twenty-eight cities enacted laws that established Fair Employment Practices Commissions and eighteen states approved laws calling for the end of racial discrimination in public places. While legislation all over the north was ending racial discrimination in most ways, the south was much slower to act.

“Black New Deal administrator, housing expert, and economist Robert C. Weaver was placed in charge of Negro employment and training in the Office of Production Management (OPM) and on June 12 the president made a public memorandum sent by William Knudsen and Sidney Hillman, the heads of OPM, to defense contractors requiring to use black workers fully.” In the civil rights movement this was a huge step for African Americans. They were slowly beginning to be treated as equals. After a threat of one hundred thousand African Americans marching on the capital protesting full involvement in the military and defensive industries without discrimination the president had basically no choice but to pass Executive Order 8802. “The executive order declared that U.S. government policy mandated full participation in the defensive industries without discrimination on grounds of ‘race, creed, color, or national origin.’ It also prohibited discrimination in employment in the federal government and defense industires and established a Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to receive and investigate complaints and redress grievances.” The issue of full involvement in the military as equals

The use of African American manpower in war became substantial in the United States. To increase the sizes of the AAC they took the Army Corps 10th Cavalry and 25th Infantry and shrunk them and in doing this the flying corps became much larger. Then after this was done they took African Americans and involved them in the flying corps instead of using them as housekeeping detachments but the War department did not have a plan to use African American troops in war (Moye, n.d.). The War department did not want to use African American troops because they did not have a defence against political and racial pressure (Moye, n.d.). Chauncey Spencer and Dale White flew from the Second City to Washington D.C., New York City and back to Chicago to show

Government jobs and political rights were a goal for the new deal to let more Americans have access to the pleasures that any white man could have. The Shocking "grand father" laws were passed and forced Americans to take tests for the eligibility to vote. For certain minority groups, the tests would be made especially hard and a black person would almost never pass these tests. FDR spoke out against blacks being segregated from government jobs. "Black cabinets" or "black brain trust" became advisors of the president. William Hastie and Mary Leod Bethune were of the top names in this group of African Americans. They helped thousands to stay in school and learn new trades. With the help of Eleanor Roosevelt, many women took jobs at the White House. In 1936 the democratic convention declared that every platform should have an alternate of the opposite sex. The WPA hosted top jobs for women who worked in government. The most important of the women was Francis Perkins who became the first female cabinet member in the position of secretary of labor, and Florence Allen who was a judge of the circuit court of appeals.

     Martin and Tulgan (2002) claims, “ Affirmative action is the positive steps an employer takes to employ women and minorities in numbers equal to or greater than their availability and to proactively seek to employ those with disabilities and veterans” (p.89). Over the course of the years equal employment opportunity laws and regulations were put in place. The Equal Pay Act was established in 1963 to set pay based on the job category, and to prevent wage differential based on gender. In 1965 the Executive Order 11246 was passed to stop