How accurate is it to say that the status of black people in the United States changed very little in the years 1945

   Another important change in the status of black people was their economic status. During the Second World War roughly 500’000 black Americans migrated to the North in search of better jobs and better working conditions. Due to the war ‘boom’, the number of unemployed black Americans fell from 937’00 in 1940 to 151’000 in 1945. This showed a huge decline in the unemployment of black Americans which also showed an improvement in their status as well. This was obviously a good change for blacks at this time however some problems were still apparent. Although unemployment had dropped black Americans were still more likely to be unemployed than white people. For example, in New York only 6% of white men were unemployed whereas 10% of black men were unemployed. This clearly shows that racism was apparent in the North as well as in the south, even if it wasn’t as prominent.

   One other important change in the status of black Americans was their political status. By 1945 roughly 15% of black Americans in the southern states were registered to vote, which was an improvement from 2% in the early 40’s. Their political status was also improving in the North as well. An example of the voting power of black Americans at this time was the election of Adam Clayton Powell to congress. He was the only black American to be elected to congress between 1945 and 1955. Another example of their increasing political power was that in 16 northern states if the black community had voted as one block they would have determined the outcome of that election. This shows a big step in the status of black Americans as it now shows that even more of them are gaining the right to vote not only in the north but in the south as well. One other example of their growing political power was shown through President Truman. By this I mean that President Truman recognised how important the black vote was, and tried to appeal to the black American community to get their vote. For example he desegregated the inauguration, he desegregated the army, he tried to desegregate an airport in Washington but only manages to desegregate the canteen, and he passes the Fair Employment Practices Commission which made sure that government contracts didn’t go to racist employers. These are all clear examples of an improvement in the status of black Americans, as now even President Truman is trying to appeal to them as he has realised how strong their political influence has become.

   On the other hand however there are several example of how their status stayed the same during this period. One example of this would be the Brown and Brown II case. As I mentioned earlier this was an example of a de jure but not a de facto. Although this did bring segregation to the attention of the supreme courts and eventually they did pass a law stating that segregation in schools in America was illegal, it didn’t actually cause much change.  Another example of their status staying the same was the case of Morgan v. Virginia. Irene Morgan was fined for refusing to give up her seat on an interstate bus so she took her case to the Supreme Court where they ruled segregation to be illegal on interstate buses. However this de jure did not lead to the de facto that she sought after. As a result 16 CORE members organised the Journey of Reconciliation in 1947. This was where 8 black people and 8 white people travelled from northern states to southern states to see if segregation was still present. It resulted in 12 arrests and they failed to force the southern states e.g. North Carolina to desegregate their interstate buses. This clearly shows that very little had changed for the status of black people in public transport. One final example of how their status remained the same would be the fact that most leisure facilities in the South were still segregated. An example of this would be in Washington D.C, where in the central district of the city black Americans were not allowed in the cinemas, hotels and restaurants. This was because integration between blacks and whites was seen as wrong and they should be kept ‘separate but equal’.

In conclusion, we can see that although it appeared there were quite a few changes in the status of black Americans, none of them were actually put into practice which shows that their status changed very little. I think that the most significant case was probably the Brown case because it did actually cause some progress to be made and some schools were actually desegregated. However, the majority stayed segregated which meant that the problem wasn’t solved and the progress that had been made was not a useful as it could have been. Obviously there were other small changes such as economic status and their political status. The problem with the change in their economic status was that it only really occurred in the North and not the South, and even in the North black men were more likely to be unemployed than white men. The problem with the change in their political status was that the progress seemed to be happening in the north rather than both the north and the south and obviously this was a problem as the change was only in one area. Overall I think it is very accurate to say that the status of black people in the United States changed very little in the years 1945 – 1955.