Truman's Civil Rights

Question 1

What did black soldiers experience during the war?

Answer 1

• the Red Cross wouldn’t accept blood donations from black people
• soldiers were segregated and fights often broke out between white and black soldiers

Question 2

What did African Americans face in the North under Truman?

Answer 2

• de facto segregation: prejudice but not by law
• only 8% lived outside the South but the Great Migration saw an increase in the North, due to new job prospects, fear of the KKK, etc.
• after moving, many lived in cramped apartments with high rent
• as white people moved to the suburbs, white political power grew, and groups such as the NAACP and CORE grew in membership

Question 3

How did civil rights groups campaign under Truman?

Answer 3

• NAACP sought to challenge segregation through courts
• established a Legal Defence Fund in 1939 and could hire the best black lawyers, such as Thurgood Marshall
• many cases focused on undermining Plessy v Ferguson, which stated that ‘separate but equal’ facilities were acceptable

Question 4

How did Truman respond to civil rights?

Answer 4

• 1946: established ‘The President’s Committee on Civil Rights’ and told members he wanted the Bill of Rights to become a reality
• committee released report entitled ‘To Secure These Rights’ in 1947: attack on discrimination in both the North and South
• Truman responded by asking Congress to support federal protection against lynching, protection of the right to vote, and a permanent and better funded FEPC