(Domestic) LONG TERM CAUSES

Despite the abolition of slavery and few but indisputable political rights that the Civil War granted blacks, the Civil War could not alter a racist social structure that existed in the United States for a century. Though African-Americans were supposedly liberated, they continued to face oppression and discrimination without federal protection.

-       Jim Crow Laws after Reconstruction, “separate but equal”, lynching à racial stratification was informally and systematically enforced. White Americans still believed in a “pre-existing social order”.

-       Ways around following 15^th Amendment and granting political rights to blacks, e.g. many Southern states required a fee (poll taxes) or literacy test in order to vote. African Americans normally couldn't meet these requirements.
-       Widespread presence of KKK in 1920s

-       Emmett Till’s murderers were acquitted
-       Brown vs. Board of Education, while introduced an idea of desegregation in education, didn’t effectively commence change

(Domestic) SHORT TERM CAUSES:
1940s and 1950s - the government on one hand denounced racism and on the other did nothing to stop segregation in the US military during WWII and the Vietnam War, and this hypocrisy aggravated rebellious sentiments in the black community.

-       “separate but equal” policy persisted in the army, but there more angry response because why should citizens of the same country, fighting for the same country, be treated differently?

-       Draft dodgers more commonly white, emigration to Canada was harder for African-Americans  à aggravated outrage over unfairness
- most people drafted were people of color

INTERNATIONAL/GLOBAL CAUSES
- anticolonial sentiments/movements/revolts in African countries (Ghana, South Africa etc.)
- Ghandi's mode of resistance (inspired MLK), seeing people of color resist European (white) rule inspire African-Americans to do the same in America

COLD WAR - USA'S SELF IMAGE
- US vying for leading hegemonic role on global stage, always preaching ideology (democracy, egalitarianism etc.) yet domestically oppression against African-Americans --> question of hypocrisy and reliability/credibility of US influence globally

EFFECTS: 
US - race-based legal structure breaks down (systemic/institutionalized racism is legally abolished). 
Now, hyper-sensitivity (in political rhetoric) surrounding race relations, social perception of race changes, to an extent social structure (race-based stigma is somewhat relieved, but not much). More awareness surrounding racial issues. Black empowerment and celebration becomes more common. More diversity of those in power. YET, racism persists in American society today. 

Africa - US Civil Rights leaders (Malcolm X, MLK etc.) helped spark/aid/inspire anti-colonial movements 

1960s - a decade full of student protests (Paris, London, Berlin, Tokyo), all interconnected and inspired by each other (to an extent.)

 

1861-1865 Civil War – North vs. South (supposedly) for freedom of slaves.

            13^th Amendment passes – abolishes slavery

14^th Amendment passes – declares citizenship to blacks and vouches for equal protection among all citizens

15^th Amendment passes – gives blacks the right to vote as a citizen

 

1867-1877 Reconstruction – blacks gained political power, winning election to southern state legislatures and U.S. Congress. 

NOTE: In less than a decade, reactionary forces–e.g. the Ku Klux Klan–would reverse the changes of Reconstruction in a violent backlash that restored white supremacy in the South

 

1896 Plessy v. Ferguson – institutionalized racism through segregation. “Separate but equal”, supposedly didn’t go against 14^th Amendment.

 

1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded.

 

1914-1918 WWI – blacks à manpower (military), yet Jim Crow laws were still in place

 

1920s Harlem Renaissance – artistic movement that celebrated of black culture (music, art, literature etc.), emergence of prominent black artists.

 

1920s Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance movement partially inspired MLK’s nonviolent approach to protest.

 

1939-1945 WWII – Similar to WWI, though US was more involved in WWII (hence, stronger sense of nationalism in US during WWII). The US’s fight against fascism brought attention to the US’s contradictory ideals of democracy and egalitarianism, and its unequal treatment of its people. Nazi’s persecution of Jews could be likened to white people’s persecution of black people. NAACP worked to end discrimination in military forces. Jim Crow laws were still in place.

Creation of UN and the US’s commitment to peace raised questions about the domestic situation, race relations.

WWII initiated an economic boom that raised quality of living for whites / suburban whites (dishwashers, refrigerators etc.) but not blacks. Increased disparity of quality of living between them.

            Economic boom also catalyzed globalization, which is important in the next point.

 

1950s-1980s Anticolonial movements in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Interaction between Civil Rights activist leaders and civil rights leaders globally (especially in Africa).
Case studies: Ghana, South Africa.

1947: W.E.B. DuBois gives a speech at the United Nations entitled ''An Appeal to the World''. The world hears DuBois describe horrors of racial segregation and inequality in the United States.

End of WWII – early 1990s (USSR dissolved in 1991) Cold War

Civil Rights was politicized in context of Cold War. Image of America as a democratic, just, egalitarian state in face of the Soviet Union’s inhumane authoritarian rule by Communism was unconvincing.

            Cold War à many countries underwent decolonization, likened to African-Americans’ resistance to white people in US. Parallels between European imperialism and white supremacy in the US.

Vietnam – African-Americans were over-represented in draft + still faced discrimination in army

 

1960s (UK, US) Counterculture – Questions of the attainability of the American Dream, traditional modes of authority, and experimentation with drugs. Themes linked with Civil Rights Movement’s message of racial equality.

Emergence of the New Left