Truman issuing this order proved a big win socially for Black people, and this shows that to a fairly large extent that black people’s position was improved, because now that Blacks and whites could mix in the military, peoples opinion can change on them, as they will be fighting with each other and saving one another, so trust will be built, therefore blacks are no longer thought of as animals but as near enough equals.
Not only did desegregation occur but after the war the NAACP and CORE started gaining members so much that members tally’s grew over 4 times than before the war, this is a big step up socially because not only did Blacks join, but many more Whites started to join, this is a huge step up the social ladder for blacks because now they are gaining support of the people they are trying to influence.
The whole social stratus improved staggering amounts however it could have improved further if it was not for the deep seated racism that was still around, this limits the overall extent to which black people improved socially because they still have the KKK around, killing innocent black people, meaning that a small percentage of white people’s views changed but still a large percentage against them.
The economic in the early 1945’s was very poor, very few black had a well paid job, let alone a job, many were labourers, however it was extremely alarming in the south were blacks from the slave trade originated. The Klu Klux Klan was set up in 1886, a few leaders of the confederate army created the KKK, in 1915 it started up again, by the time the southern blacks had started work in the north, through workers needed from the war conscription, the KKK had grown to over 2 million members, this was due to Blacks taking whites jobs through cheaper labour for the company.
This shows that to a small extent the economic status of blacks increased due to jobs being created in the industrial north to help replace the whites that left their jobs to help with the war effort. This is turn shows that they improved economically through families now having a steady income, and an added bonus was that many blacks throughout the war period were promoted, as they could do the same job but at a cheaper price. However the extent to which the position of black people, could gave improved more if it wasn’t for rival killing organisations such as the KKK and the deep seated racism from the South spreading North and giving the KKK such an attractive way for the whites back into their jobs.
The main political success blacks had with winning equal rights was the Brown vs. board of education’s case. The Brown vs. board of education was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Courts that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed state-sponsored segregation, the Supreme Court stated that the segregation in schools being passed would break the 14th Amendment equal protection clause. This was a major win for the blacks as the Supreme Courts had just supported their point of view and they had just won a major case, making them equals in the Supreme Courts point of view.
The overall extent to which political success helped improve the position of black people, was massive, for the supreme court to overturn a state decision in favour of Black people was a huge Step for America obtaining equal rights. The limiting factors of this however was, this sparked up more feud with the deep seated racist southerners, again by rising numbers of the KKK and other killing organisations being set up.
The overall extent to which the black peoples position improved to a large extent, this is due to the positives outweighing the negatives. The major successes were socially and politically, but that doesn’t mean to speak that they didn’t achieve great success economically, because they did, a regular income for a black family was a huge success, and being promoted in a job created room for other blacks to gain a job, the social success was through Truman ordering the desegregation of the military, this meant that whites could now socialise and see how Blacks are not animals they are humans beings exactly the same as whites, however the deep-seated racism was still around meaning there was still a barrier blocking blacks obtaining full equality. The political success was through the Supreme Court overriding a state law, for Blacks to have the highest court in America on their side in education, now gave Blacks and equal right to education, however students having to be escorted to their school showed deep-seated racism was still a huge barrier to success for blacks obtaining an equal position in society as a whole.
by
cmeddz (student)
