Truman didn’t change anything in the south because of state laws but he did pay for the future and opened America’s conscious. In addition he made people realise that a change was required in the future. The changes that Truman suggested included that the government does something radical which is the only way segregation can remove anti lynching legislation; permanent four employment practice committee (FEPC) , this committee should encourage companies not to discriminate; get rid of discrimination in inter state travel; supreme court should be more concerned with civil rights issues. However in reality Truman was not able to introduce all these changes but did awaken America’s conscious for future change. Moreover Truman was successful in making few changes these included desegregation in Washington airport and he made sure that future presidents inaugurated ceremonies in other words desegregated ceremonies.
Truman’s limitations where that he tried but failed to extend the funding for the FEPC, this occurred because the congress prevented him. Initially he was very enthusiastic about implementing recommendations in: ‘to secure those rights’ but was concerned about losing the support of the southern white democrats. Due to Truman’s limitations there was no significant civil rights legislation during Truman’s presidency; lynching continued in the south; in 1946 several war veterans were killed in the rural Georgia for voting and a soldier was blinded because he did not sit in the back of the bus. To summarise the ways in which discrimination was reduced are that Truman showed that future change was required and this will help towards a better way of living. I consider this to be very important because Truman awakened Americans conscious for future change however he could have gone further and made various other changes occur but he didn’t want to lose the white democratic parties vote and wanted to stay leader and so this prevented further change.
Secondly I will analyse the brown case. This was about a little girl called Linda Brown, who had to travel a very long distance to go to a black school, when there was a school just few minutes away from her house, but this school was only for white children. So her father Mr brown appealed to the NAACP and they arranged the best lawyer who argued that its all about feelings and Mr Brown’s daughter feels inferior to the white Americans. This was a great argument because no one can tell a person to stop feeling a certain thing and its inescapable. The consequences that the Brown’s case had included and important precedent, this is when principles are created by an important legal decision are followed in subsequent cases; this produced change in number of places outside the deep south and Washington DC, Baltimore, St Louis and many towns and cities begun to integrate. To summarise the ways in which discrimination was reduced was due to people’s feelings and no one has the right to question a person’s feeling. I think that this is very important because it displays that feelings cannot be judged.
Finally the Montgomery bus boycott, this started in December 1955. When a women called Rosa Parks had a hard day at work and she got on the bus and then a white person came on and the bus driver told her to get off but she refused. This is the end of 1955
In conclusion the ways in which discrimination was reduced between the years of 1945 to 1955 are due to the Truman years, this was when president Truman awakened America’s conscious and made them aware of future change. In addition the Brown case displayed that a person’s feelings cannot be judged and if they feel inferior then the public has no way to change this feeling because it shows their true emotions. I believe the most important way in which discrimination was reduced was due to the Truman years as this provided with future change and awakened America’s conscious.
