The foundation of the Civil rights established in the 1930’s and 1940’s were more significant than the contribution of Martin Luther King.

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The foundation of the Civil rights established in the 1930’s and 1940’s were more significant the contribution of Martin Luther King.

In This essay I will plot firsly the significance of, the foundation of the civil rights movement, with particular emphasis upon the role and subsequent achievements to come out of the New Deal, NAACP and the second war. Then I will look at the contribution of Martin Luther king. In this paper I will attempt to show that the early movements of the 1930’s and 40’s set in motion a chain of events that meant by 1948 the progression of the civil rights movement was inevitable.

Sub questions underlying debate. What is more important the long-term or the short-term causes of an historical event. As it is unlikely that either Martin Luther King nor Malcolm X would have had the impact they did activist working between 1933 or 1948 but the social situation of blacks was changed more dramatically by King and probably by Malcolm X than the earlier events.

 Can we assess different types of contribution against others? What is more important, changing the way people think about race or changing legislation promoting the before mentioned cause. what is more significant the first Black being omitted into a white university or the right to vote being granted to all black men there is no clear cut answer to this type of question.

The organized mass protests of the 1950’s and 1960s were a product of the “coalition building and consciousness raising” founded in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The new deal of Roosevelt’s’ administration brought with it a new national political culture and climate, opened new opportunities for the blacks within it, transformed the nations’ views on blacks focusing huge levels of attention upon their cause and encouraged blacks to speak out against their situation and “threatened the architecture of states’ rights.” The development of the NAAC in both size and influence was also a result of the New deal.

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 lead to a period of economic depression in the US. In 1932 Roosevelt was elected president. He attempted to solve the problems of the US through a programme he called the New Deal.

The New Deal’s massive federal program of jobs and relief “implicitly challenged the southern structure of state’ rights supported by legalized white supremacy.”

This state sponsored questioning of White supremacy brought the stock and file of the black community to question its own position and white supremacy, civil activism erupted in an unprecedented way after the New deal was announced.

Modjeska Simkins, describes Roosevelt and his New Deal “he took the jug by the handle. He tried to give the people who were down and had noting a little something he put some strength in the back bone of people… it was a short in the arm for negroes”This awakening of political consciousness is one of the most important events in the history of civil rights movement.

Federal relief programs provided massive amounts of aid to Blacks and Whites alike. Many Blacks were able to take jobs previously restricted to them, Black writers, for example, participated in the New Deal's writing projects, while other black Americans interviewed former slaves for the Works Project Administration (WPA). Jobs were provided and the WPA developed a non discrimination policy. African American Governors were consulted by FDR. This group of Black political leaders became known as the Black Cabinet. Blacks were later appointed to the Cabinet, an American first. Although the positive aspects of the Deal did exist especially at first it hurt the Black citizens, Federal Housing Agency stopped black from moving into white neighborhoods and some public works projects refused to hire blacks. AAA pushed African Americans off their farms because it paid the White landowners not to grow food. When they received this money they dismissed many tenant farmers and workers. Recipients of AAA money were supposed to share with their Black workers but the reality is that this wasn't done. Social Security left out blacks because it was only those who worked and paid FICA tax into the system would get out of the system. Since many African Americans either worked "off the books" or for cash, they never paid in and thus never received Social Security. This was not a sign of a racist president but one how saw the necessity of the Conservative South’s vote. To get their vote, he had to permit discrimination when the programs started operating. Importantly those advantages were sizable enough to awaken black American’s from their stagnant history of the 1920’s.

The President began to name African Americans to important posts. One of the most important of the people was Mary Mcleod Bethune. Bethune was a well known educator from the south. Roosevelt appointed Bethune as director of Negro affairs in the national youth administrations from 1936 to 1944. Bethune’s job was to make sure money intended for African American students actually reached them. She helped over 300,000 African American people get an education. The new Deal did not end discrimination, but it began to move toward that goal.

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The New deal was a “shot in the arm for negro’s” the passion needed to be maintained. Despite the maladministration of many of the programs especially in the south, it is still fair to say that Blacks would benefit as a result of “the federal government’s growing commitment to a decent standard of living for all citizens without regard to race”. Charles Foreman believed that if blacks were to attain fair treatment they would need to maintain the “activism and Militancy” the new deal inspired. Both “community pressure” and an increase in the number of black Political Representation in government were ...

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