The Cold War and the Color Line - Assignment Example

The Cold War and the Color Line The first signs of the forthcoming civil rights movement can be traced back to the beginning of World War II when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 which banned discriminatory employment policies in defense-related industries contracted by the federal government. Obviously, the document was designed to prevent workforce shortages during the wartime and had absolutely no effect on segregationist policies implemented in education and employment, and discrimination persisted (Stephanopoulos and Edley, 1995). Such reluctance to provide minorities with equal rights could have cost the United States loss in the Cold War. International situation in the late 1950s – early 1960s turned domestic discrimination into literally vital issue that might affect the future of the whole world. World War II triggered the anti-colonial movement in Asia and Africa, and the balance of powers in the world – given approximate parity between the communist and capitalist blocks – depended upon what form of political establishment those new countries would choose. And again, in the 1950s several politicians tried to draw attention of the federal government to the link between discriminatory domestic policies of racial segregation and failure of the American efforts to extend political influence over new Asian and African states. In 1952, Chester Bowles, U.S. Ambassador to India, pronounced a speech at Yale University in which he clearly specified the causes of repeated failures those regions: “A year, or even a week in Asia is enough to convince any perceptive American that the colored peoples of Asia and Africa, who total two-thirds of the world's population, seldom think about the United States without considering the limitations under which our 13 million Negroes are living” (Dudziak , 2000: 77). Being put on the verge of loosing its international prestige the United States was forced to take serious efforts to improve the situation. The international pressure was accompanied by constantly growing domestic tension: throughout the 1950s black population of the country expressed increasing ability to organize and oppose segregationist laws (Borstelmann, 2002). Thus, in December 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American woman refused to give up her seat in the bus to a White man in Montgomery, Alabama. The incident resulted in a one-day boycott against segregation on Public transportation, and led to emergence of the Montgomery Improvement Association headed by a young minister from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin King. After a year of struggle and numerous arrests, the Supreme Court outlawed segregationist laws of Alabama: the name of Martin Luther King became known all over the world. Leaders of the emerging African American civil rights movement met in the beginning of 1957, and established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). This organization led by King played critically important role in development of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The black suffrage movement spread across the South where African Americans were in the majority but deprived of major political rights. Despite strong resistance of the white politicians, the Congress responded to the suffrage movement by passing the Civil Rights Act in 1957. The Act made it a federal crime to interfere with a citizen’s right to vote or be elected, and established the Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of the law. Another Act passed in 1960 banned interfering with citizen’s right to vote (Nowak and Rotunda, 1995). Gradually, black civil rights movement grew more organized and the civil rights struggle made a significant turn: while in the 1950s civil rights actions, such as Montgomery boycott, were spontaneous, the 1960s saw a series of well-organized actions. Thus, on August 28, 1963, 250 thousand of men, women, and children assembled on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial to show the government and the Congress that time had come for really meaningful civil rights legislation. It was there that Martin Luther King, who had already turned into the leader of black civil rights movement, pronounced his famous “I have a Dream” speech. The changes required by black leaders began to occur long before the march on Washington. In l961, 50 days after inauguration, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925 prescribing to eliminate discrimination in employment practices in the federal institutions and companies contracted by the government. However, the reaction to Order 10925 was rather cold: Kennedy’s predecessors issued the same orders – Roosevelt in 1941, Truman in 1953 – but the situation barely changed because the documents required a lot of supporting legislation. Kennedy avoided making the same mistake as his predecessors, and a series of laws that followed the Order demonstrated the whole world that the United States was inclined to eliminate civil rights violations. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 became the most important milestone in establishing equal civil rights for every citizen of the United States. Title VII of the Act made it illegal to discriminate minorities and women in employment, discharging, compensation, or terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. Employment agencies were legally banned to discriminate between applicants which automatically obliged Labor Organizations all over the United States rework their system of members’ classifications because in the old system members were classified depending on their race, color, religion, sex, and ethnical origin. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was also established under this document (The Civil Rights Act, 1964; Title VII). The document also prohibited discrimination for reason of color, race, religion, or national origin in places of public accommodation covered by interstate commerce: restaurants, hotels, motels, and theaters. The initial purpose of the civil rights movement was reducing inequalities between legal status of African Americans and whites. However, during only a decade – between 1960 and early 1970s – the civil rights movement significantly changed. As one may notice, the primary goal of the civil rights fighters in the 1950s was elimination of segregationist laws in education and providing African Americans equal political rights. When that goal was achieved, it became clear that: firstly, discrimination persisted in employment relations; secondly, African Americans were not the only social group discriminated in employment. Women, historically discriminated in employment practice were inspired by the example of African Americans and joined the movement also demanding equality. Furthermore, while during the early years of the civil rights movement, its participants pursued only domestic goals some of them turned to foreign policy of the United States in the second half of the 1960s, and during the early 1970s the civil rights movement transformed into powerful campaign against the Vietnam War (Borstelmann, 2002). The civil rights movement of the 1960s seriously affected life of black American population, first of all in terms of psychology. The nation that historically lacked basic human rights finally obtained legal protection and equal political rights – significance of that even could hardly be exaggerated. However, in reality the legislation failed to ensure proper protection of minorities in all aspects of employment and education: there is a number of evidence that up to date minorities are often discriminated against in employment, promotion, education, etc. Thus, the affirmative action policies initiated by Kennedy as the most important part of the civil rights campaign, largely failed: in the mid 1990s President William Clinton emphasized the need to continue the affirmative effort in employment and education (Clinton, 1996: 131). These efforts, though a bit different from those implemented in the 1960s – 1980s continue up to date. Simultaneously, the civil rights movement changed life of many other people: women, Asians, even non-Americans. The civil rights movement brought up a generation of people who continue to play important role in life of the country and produced dramatic cultural changes in the United States. The civil rights fighters and organizations appeared in the Soviets and countries of the Soviet block, and although the communist regime cruelly repressed the movement in the very beginning, it definitely played certain role in collapse of the USSR. Such spread of the movement is probably the best evidence that it was not an occasional revolt of African Americans, although precisely black citizens triggered it, but a necessary transformation of the society that had far-reaching political, legal, economic, and cultural consequences. References The Civil Rights Act, 1964, [available online from http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/laws/majorlaw/civilr19.htm] Borstelmann, Thomas, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena, Harvard University Press, 2002 Clinton, William Jefferson (1996), Between Hope and History, Crown Dudziak, Mary L (2000), Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy Politics and Society in Twentieth-Century America, Princeton: Princeton University Press Nowak, John E., Rotunda, Ronald D (1995), Hornbook on Constitutional Law, West Publishing House Stephanopoulos, George, Christopher Edley, Jr. et al (July 1995), Affirmative Action Review: Report to the President, Washington DC [available online from http://clinton1.nara.gov/White_House/EOP/OP/html/aa/aa-index.html] Read More