A short-term reason for the major problems was the Second World War. Many blacks attitudes changed after this event. The army contained a substantial amount of black people who got told they were fighting their opposition for democracy, in order to bring about freedom. This was a false hope. When the soldiers returned from the war they enjoyed few rights, which went against what they had been originally been told. This caused frustration amongst blacks and they were unwilling to put up with it. Eventually in 1909, an organisation called the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) was set up. It set its sights on abolishing segregation and gaining various rights for the blacks. The leader, a man called Thurgood Marshall challenged the Legality of the segregated schools. He could only do this with the help of brave and determined blacks because any attempts to challenge segregation would lead to a hostile reaction by whites.
In 1955, the Supreme Court turned its attention to putting a rule onto the segregation of schools. The decision was that schools must be desegregated and quickly! This decision may not have came about if Chief Justice Earl Warren had not of been appointed. This is the most important reason why desegregation became such a problem:
It caused outrage, as southern politicians were not happy, they said that the rights for the states to govern their own affairs was being violated. Some states were very eager to get their own way and resorted to closing and reopening schools as ‘Private’ to accommodate for whites and even sackings were being dealt out to staff that attempted to promote desegregation.
The Supreme Court decisions started off a chain of violence in the southern parts of America. The Ku Klux Klan, an organisation that targeted blacks using forceful violence and murderous techniques, greatly increased its members. The Klan did such things to scare blacks and to get them to continue sending their children to separate schools. Still unhappy about desegregation, a large group of whites caused trouble, which led to black children not being able to attend school without the help of state troopers. The federal government did nothing about these matters, until events in 1957 forced them to do so.
These events took place in Little Rock, Arkansas. Their governor did not ad would not accept desegregation and prevented the blacks there from going to school. He did this by sending 270 National Guardsmen in, supposedly to keep the peace. All of this stemmed from the Supreme Courts settling choice in 1955, to desegregate.
The events were caught on television and shocked the American nation, putting pressure onto the President to make the governor accept desegregation. However, President Eisenhower originated from the southern states and did not wan to get into a conflict with the southerners. The law needed to be respected and failure to do so would be seen as a weakness on his account, but this was not Eisenhower’s only issue. He had to worry about the image that was being conveyed to other countries. The USA criticised communist countries for their abuse of human rights yet this was hypocritical considering the abuse of black civil rights that arose in America.
The President eventually came to a point where something had to be done. Eisenhower had to talk with Little Rocks governor Faubus, hoping to reach a decision about the black children and their rights education. This did not happen and the National Guardsmen who Faubus sent to the school were made to leave by the Federal Court.
Black Children saw this an opportunity to go back to school, but instead of schooling they suffered abuse by a large group of whites. The police did nothing to protect the innocent black students and defied the Federal Laws. So Eisenhower sent an amazing 1100 paratroopers to the school for the protection of the blacks.
This might sounds victorious for the people who believe in desegregation, but the pace of desegregation continued to go slowly. Whites still would not accept this and went to extremes by transferring their children to different schools or not at all.
As well as the attack on segregation in education, racial segregation became an increasing dilemma. Nevertheless, the impact of World War 2 increased the confidence of blacks determined to fight discrimination. In result of this, a serious of demonstrations was carried out against the ‘Jim Crow Laws’. In Alabama, Martin Luther King first came to prominence with his policy of non-violent disobedience. After an important boycott of the buses in 1956, the Supreme Court announced bus passengers being segregated was unconstitutional. The ‘non-violence’ success was adopted by other states and in 1960; a group of black students started a sit-in movement. They sat at lunch tables reserved only for whites and this proved effective; leading to the desegregation of shops, restaurants and theatres.
The 1950s in the USA were a turning point for the struggle of blacks against segregation and inequality. In conclusion to the major problem of desegregation the law changed and the government were made to accept and support it. The big fuss which was made about desegregating schools, led to separation in general, all in all making it a long-term reason why desegregation was a major problem in the 1950s.