The Seizure Of Segregation In The 1950's

What is segregation? Segregation is setting apart or separation of people or things from others or from the main body or group. (dictionary.com) In the 1930s African Americans did not have the right to vote. The policy of segregation meant that blacks had their own churches, schools, football teams, and even their own cemeteries. The Great Depression also took place in the 1930s. The economic crisis of the 1930s, the Great Depression, is one of the most studied periods in American history. Racism was at a high point in the 1930s.

In Spite of the devastating history of segregation in the United States. A lot has changed in the past fifty years since segregation ended. The United States shifted from arresting African Americans for using “white only” facilities to integrated schools all over the country. Influential individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr helped pave the way for African Americans to live as equals to along with their white counterparts in the United States of America.

“The Jim Crow regime was a major characteristic of American society in 1950s and had been so for over seven decades. Following slavery, it had become the new form of white domination, which insured that blacks would remain oppressed well into the twentieth century.” (Morris) Civil rights and segregation were the two main issues during the 1950’s and 1960’s. While the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,

At the time of the African-American Civil Rights movement, segregation was abundant in all aspects of life. Separation, it seemed, was the new motto for all of America. But change was coming. In order to create a nation of true equality, segregation had to be eradicated throughout all of America. Although most people tend to think that it was only well-known, and popular figureheads such as Martin Luther King Junior or Rosa Parks, who were the sole launchers of the African-American Civil Rights movement, it is the rights and responsibilities involved in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision which have most greatly impacted the world we live in today, based upon how desegregation and busing plans have affected our public school

From the 1920’s to the 1940’s it was pretty hectic. There was so much going on during this time including segregation. In 1925, the US Army Air Corps allowed them to join. Soon after that, white men from the south did a study on the african americans that got let in the air force. This study concluded how african americans were barely fit for combat, and subservient. In 1939 the naacp started a campaign. “The NAACP took aim at the military’s segregationist policies. Negro newspapers and civic groups around the country began a public campaign to integrate the armed forces.”

The 1950’s through to the 1960’s was known as the era throughout history as the time of equality, but at the same time unjust and disproportionate. During the time of segregation there was only two options; if you’re white, you go to a white financially flourishing school; if you are black you go to a lower impoverished school. This led into an uproar between the congress and all the people with power within the supreme court. “The decision overturned the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the court ruled that segregation laws were constitutional if equal facilities were provided to whites and blacks. Segregation was therefore justified under the doctrine “separate but equal,” but in few cases were segregated facilities actually

One historical reason for these correlations is, in 1940, the federal government endorsed disinvestment in the areas where blacks lived, transferred money into suburbs that were “whiter”, and supported spatial segregation. This act by the government caused neighborhoods that were not white to become poor, and neighborhoods became segregated due to spatial segregation. Factors like investment, money, and segregation are strongly related to racially isolated neighborhoods. Another historical reason is the National Housing Act of 1934 which only was for white people. This act subsidized home mortgages for whites only, so only white people could move to the suburbs. Therefore, suburbs were only white neighborhoods not for people of color. This

In the 1950s African Americans were involved in segregation. Segregation is the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things; an example is when blacks were segregated because of their skin. Blacks fought over and over for equality, and that is the base of the civil rights movement. Several events happened during the movement such as Plessy V. Ferguson in 1896, brown V. Board of Education of Topeka in 1957, and even Little Rock fall of 1957. A very interesting one was Little Rock Central High School desegregation.

During the early 1960s, Birmingham, Alabama was considered to be one of the most racially divided cities in the United States despite the city's population of approximately 350,000 people and 60 percent being white and 40 percent being African Americans. Birmingham, Alabama’s law enforcement, firefighters, salesperson in department stores, school bus drivers, bank tellers, and cashiers had no employed African Americans. African Americans who were secretaries were not allowed to work for white professionals. Many jobs available for African Americans consisted of manual labor in factories, provided maid and yard services, or working in other African American neighborhoods. Jobs that had to lay off employees for whatever reasons would often lay

In the 1950’s young American boys often joined groups like The Boy Scouts of America to make friends and socialize. They would learn things in an organized fashion and were rewarded for their efforts and their accomplishments. Segregation was still strong at this time and the African American boys were not allowed to join these groups. They began to join together to make their own groups based on neighborhoods and schools. They socialized together and began to grow connections they might not have had any other way.

In the 1950 's, segregation and discrimination were extremely prevalent. King and his supporters faced harsh treatment and unfair laws such as the Jim Crows Laws that stated, “Black were forbidden to use the same drinking fountain as the whites, as well as restaurants, theaters, or public facilities, and blacks had to sit in the rear of the buses”(Myers 112). In 1955, two cases of this unfair treatment were conducted, first a 15- year old girl refusing to give up her seat to a white man and second a 42-year old woman named Rosa Parks who was being forced to giving up her seat for a white man. Both of these cases lead these women to jail sentencing, even though it was their right to sit in the colored section of the bus (“Martin Luther

The Union was in a state of exceedingly high tension as it split into two on the issue of slavery. It was a question of moral integrity and whether it should be allowed to continue. Racism permeated the institution of slavery. The color of a man’s skin did not keep him from fighting for freedom in the wars that took place in America, although it was a way white people sought to justify their mistreatment of them. Slaves were viewed as inferior beings by southern whites and as the abolition movement gained momentum in the north, the slave owners began to see northerners as inferior as well for sympathizing with such barbarians. The Dred Scott case only serves to further this point; slaves were by law not seen as citizens. Consequently,

Segregation caused distress and anger between the races in America. Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites all throughout America. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) backed desegregation of public places 100% (Stokes 80). After the reconstruction period was over, America had extreme economical and industrial growth (“Racial Segregation” 2). Brown vs. Board also helped desegregate America in schools. Segregation affected many people in many ways and created violence and distress between blacks and whites within the country.

Body 1: During the Civil rights era the oppression of African American citizens was a very common thing. So, much so that seeing coloured citizens being abused, treated badly or being in a segregated area was just a normal part of everyday life. Most of this segregation came from the “Jim Crow” laws. These laws were ironically named after a group called the “Virginia Minstrels” which was a group of white men who smeared black cork on their face and played songs and danced. These laws effectively created two separate societies the African Americans and the Caucasians. This meant that blacks and whites could not ride together in the same rail car, sit in the same waiting room, sit in the same theatre, attend the same school or eat in the same

Blacks in America were treated badly during the 1960s. Martin Luther King was a major activist during this time. Blacks all over were mistreated and worth nothing. They soon decided to take a stand and begin fighting for their rights by joining sit-ins, protest, and freedom rides.