Why was progress towards racial equality so slow in the period 1945 - 1955?

The Presidents in power during this time period equally play an important role in regards to limited progress made towards racial equality. President Truman (1945-53) had been committed to challenging Southern racism as he realised the growing importance of the black vote to the Democratic Party. Truman had very limited success as his initiatives were simply not comprehensive enough to deal with the racism that existed at all levels of American society. We can notice this through traits of unworkable and unrealistic recommendations within the, ‘To Secure These Rights’ report. An example is shown in the report as it recommended that local police protect the black community and that local governments in the south should bring about desegregation. These statements were extremely unrealistic due to the simple fact that local police forces alongside local state governments were overwhelmingly racist and had no intention of aiding black people. His actions therefore resulted in very little action and the action that was carried out proved to have very limited success and therefore contributed to the slow progress towards racial equality. President Eisenhower (1953-61) contributed to the progress of racial equality during this period even less. His intervention in the state of Arkansas on the issue of Little Rock can be seen as progress made as Federal Government had interfered with states on the issue of racial equality however this still was not enough to actually have any impact on changing the attitudes of southern politicians. Eisenhower also demonstrated through his refusal to welcome the decision of the ‘Brown Case’ that we can notice he had no intention of getting involved in civil rights issues.

During this period, in order to contest laws already in place against racial equality, or to prove something is racially unequal or unfair, they had to be brought through courts of appeal and due to racism in the courts, the cases were usually taken to the Supreme Court. This had a crucial influence on the progress towards racial equality as this process was a long and arduous. The ‘Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka’ case in 1954 and the following case in 1955 highlight the multiple problems faced by organisations and also support the conclusion that the limitations outweigh the success from the trial. The case delt with younger school children such as Linda Brown who was forced to go to an all-black school located 20 blocks away from her home. Her father argued that this is unacceptable and that she would be better off attending the local white school, which was closer to their home. The NAACP had taken the case, once again, to the Supreme Court and the Court unanimously decided that segregation was illegal in American schools. Although the Court’s decision was seen as a turning point in the civil rights struggle, the problems that the case highlighted may be of more importance. The first problem highlighted is that the Case lasted three years from start to finish and therefore suggested that legal methods of campaigning in general were relatively slow. The second problem we come across through the ‘Board of Education’ cases is shown simply through the need of a second case and the reason it was held. The ‘Brown II’ case of 1955 highlighted that in the first year, the de jure victory from the case resulted in very little de facto change. In response, the court produced the ‘Brown II’ ruling stating that desegregation of education should occur ‘with all deliberate speed’. This decision upset both sides of the civil rights movement. The NAACP believed that this case was too vague and therefore wasn’t a strong enough decision to force any change. We find out this is in-fact true as by 1957, only 750 out of 6,300 schools had been desegregated. On the other hand, the southern racists saw this as a further attack against segregation. Evidence for this is also shown as it stimulated ‘White Backlash’ which started with the establishment of the White Citizen’s council to demand the segregation continued in local schools. The Council also helped raise money to encourage the privatisation of local schools to avoid desegregation. The Support for opposition such as the White Citizen’s Council demonstrates the lengths at which the general public are willing to go to protect segregation. This suggests that the degree of racism among the general public is extremely high.

This anger towards the attack against segregation was seen by Eisenhower as the only outcome from the case as he believed any legal changes made would do nothing to change the hearts or minds of the Southern white racists. He also believed in general that de jure change was incapable of becoming de facto change while viewing the rule as counter-productive as he believed it only infuriated the white racists further. Eisenhower’s thoughts on the outcome of these cases suggest that even though the concern of little de facto change was raised, the conclusion of the court didn’t change anything apart from the anger of white racists towards the racial equality movement, therefore contributing to the lack of progress.

Organisations established and active throughout this time period play an important role when considering the progress made towards racial equality in terms of legal action. However other methods of campaigning such as direct action were developed. It is important to consider whether the efforts made by these organisations were effective and how they contributed towards racial equality. C.O.R.E is one organisation involved in the civil rights movement and their ‘Journey of Reconciliation’ in 1947 also supports the principle that de jure change didn’t lead to de facto change and how this slowed down the progress towards racial equality significantly. They wanted to prove this. 16 CORE activists (eight black and eight white) planned to travel by bus from the northern states to the southern states. The main aim was to draw public attention to the fact that many bus companies were ignoring the ruling of Morgan V. Virginia (1946) which stated that segregation on interstate buses was illegal. The use and the successfulness of direct action are shown through the result of CORE’s ‘Journey of Reconciliation’. Although it was a success as it proved that bus companies in the southern states were ignoring the Supreme Court’s ruling, the de facto change that has occurred from the Morgan V. Virginia case is so little that the activists were arrested and they failed to force southern states such as North Carolina to desegregate its interstate bus services. This shows that the progress towards racial equality was slow as almost a year after the court case and even after the following campaign, the interstate busses still remained segregated in areas of the southern states. There were several prominent civil rights groups active during this period aiding the same cause of racial equality however they all differ on issues of method and calmative leadership at a national level didn’t exist. I believe that this also contributed to the lack in progress towards racial equality.

To conclude, the main reason that progress towards racial equality was so slow through this period is because the rulings such as Morgan V. Virgina, Sweatt V. Painter and Brown V. Board of Education all showed that segregation was unconstitutional and success of winning these cases are somewhat hindered by the fact that the de jure victories were so slow to produce de facto change. Examples have shown that when these problems are highlighted, they are not enforced with urgency due to the fact that the authorities enforcing these laws do not believe in the rulings themselves. This then leads on to the development and presence of organisations such as the White Citizen’s council and the Ku Klux Klan that increased fear within the African American community. Fear of prosecution slowed down not only the participants in the cause of racial equality but also willingness to enforce any legal action in favour or aiding the civil rights movement.