‘To what Extent Was War the Main Reason Why Civil Rights Advanced Between 1861 and 1965?’ War was one of many key factors in the advancement of civil rights between the years 1861 to 1965. The path to universal civil rights was characterized by long periods of stagnation between the civil war, WW1 and WW2 and the ongoing conflict with the USSR afterwards. Every major leap was achieved due to the societal upheaval and disparate necessities brought about by war. This begins most dramatically during the civil war as Foner remarks:
Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework ‘To what Extent Was War the Main Reason Why Civil Rights Advanced Between 1861 and 1965?’ War was one of many key factors in the advancement of civil rights between the years 1861 to 1965 The path to universal civil rights was characterized by long periods of stagnation between the civil war, WW1 and WW2 and the ongoing conflict with the USSR afterwards Every major leap was achieved due to the societal upheaval and disparate necessities brought about by war This begins most dramatically during the civil war as Foner remarks: “The transformation of blacks’ role within American society began during the Civil War.” (Foner, 1987) https://www.jstor.org/stable/i305635 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902157 The environment of desperation which war provided over the years naturally led to change as it positioned the leading executives in desperate situations which eventually led to key legislation For many blacks “…the war held out the hope of a radical change in American race relations” (Foner, 1987) as black soldiers realised their worth and strive to gain the acknowledgement that they deserved however during the period of reconstruction after the war the strangle hold of Plessy vs Ferguson (1896), which created precedence and stated that blacks and whites should be kept ‘separate but equal’ allows us to ignore almost 60 years as little to no change in the state of civil rights was achieved The impact of war must be further evaluated by comparing and contrasting with other important factors such as the underlying motivation of the executive The impact of crucial legislative reform handed down by executives must be further evaluated against significant war events at the time and the media representation of civil rights as this could be the turning point behind the executives’ decisions, making it so it was not done for reasons of morality, but rather out of necessity or to quell the dissenting voice of the media The beginning of civil rights for the black community, without a doubt, began during the American Civil war with the president Lincoln’s resolve to ‘free’ the slaves of a set of given states in America The Emancipation Proclamation freed nearly million slaves in secessionist confederate states Although it led to major legislative change, the societal change was quite minimal as it required enslaved blacks to first escape captivity either by crossing union lines or through the advancement of union troops The Emancipation Proclamation was issued on the 1st of January 1863 and claimed that: "… all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, … shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…” (Proclamation 95, 1863) The significance of this presidential directive towards the advancement of civil rights, cannot be disregarded as it directly addresses the issue of slavery head on without the need to abstract The language utilized is clear in its objective, words such as ‘forever’ and ‘free’ illustrate a clear intention behind the document; that being, the freedom of African Americans within the US Nonetheless, Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework Lincoln’s intention in implementing such a change, was not “sincerely believed to be an act of justice”, but a political masterstroke that he saw as a ‘military necessity’ towards winning the war Oliver Evans Woods (1863) https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3a42348/ Amongst Lincoln’s motivation were foreign affairs between the confederacy and the European powerhouses of Britain and France who held sympathy for the southern states during the war and were also looking to expand influence over the western hemisphere, with French emperor eager to expand his empire to Mexico The cartoon above depicts a union soldier fighting Jefferson Davis president of the confederate states, behind him we see representations of both Napoleon III and John Bull jeering and egging the southern states on Napoleon III is saying “Whip him, … when I get Mexico, I'll help you whip him again.” Indeed, Britain was already aiding the confederacy as historian Tom Bingham displays in his article that the ships known as “CSS Florida, the CSS Alabama, the CSS Georgia, and the CSS Shenandoah” were built by British manufacturers for the sake of sustaining the confederate forces and the cartoon shows two burning ships in the background and John Bull is eagerly saying “…burn his Ships destroy his Commerce England has plenty more such clubs for you.” Indicating Britain’s eagerness to continue providing both armaments and ships To prevent other nations from assisting the south or even joining the war the Emancipation Proclamation would rephrase the war as a fight for freedom for the oppressed slaves Britain and France therefore faced a dilemma upon the release of the Emancipation Proclamation as they had already abolished slavery and would find it uncomfortable to oppose the individual who was attempting to free slaves Causing disruption in confederate states as freed slaves fight to leave the territory, are no longer available for the war effort and cripple the southern economy Additionally, President Lincoln justified that the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to the following states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, and North Carolina Coincidentally, all the states named were in fact states in rebellion and the abolition of slavery did not apply to any of the states under Union control This factor, once again, reinforces the idea that the legislative document was only created for the sake of achieving victory by undermining Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework and crippling the confederacy from the inside as it was a well-known fact that southern slaves were utilized to support their armies on the field, and they were also known to manage the home front so more men could be sent to war Not only this, but the slave trade was a major investment in southern culture as the southern states were incredibly rich and their source of wealth was centred around the slave trade and cotton farming which was usually traded with neighbouring nations such as Britain and France President Lincoln shrewdly justified the EP as a fit and necessary war measure in order to create chaos and halt the confederacy’s use of slaves and therefore stopping they’re use in the war effort whilst equally sabotaging the confederacy’s main source of income To add EP states the freed slaves can join the army bolstering his troops and providing soldiers who must win the war to maintain their freedom While Lincoln had provided the grassroots for the development of civil rights the reality of the situation was lacklustre and following the Emancipation Proclamation little to no change was achieved during the following 70 years The plight of African American and other minority groups was put under further strain by the premature ending of Reconstruction under Rutherford B Hayes who upon his election in 1877 ended reconstruction to help deal his way into the White House by gaining support from southern states The conclusion of Reconstruction made all the progress achieved by Lincoln redundant in the Southern states as the removal of an effective force allowed southern leaders to create their own laws to prevent the advancement of civil Rights Due to this development, ‘Jim Crow’ laws and racially motivated groups like the Ku Klux Klan started to rise in prevalence due to the inherent racist attitudes within the southern states As an article published by the Associated Press outlines: “Hideous things happened in the decades after the Civil War Freed slaves who tried to vote were beaten, jailed, lynched Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan stopped thousands from registering [to vote].” Katherine Rizzo, AP, 2005 The landmark moment during this 70-year period was Plessy vs Ferguson (PvF.) The supreme court decided in favour of Ferguson enshrining into law the doctrine “… ‘separate but equal’ as a constitutional justification for segregation, ensuring the survival of the Jim Crow South for the next half-century.” (History.com Plessy v Ferguson, 2023) Effectively creating precedence that allowed states to impose racial segregation widely and laws over which the subsequent executive would have little sway even in times of war and gave the executive the ability to essentially ignore the plight of certain racial minorities in the United States For instance, President Grover Cleveland despite being a reformer who won the support of many new ‘white’ immigrants to the U.S “On the issue of race, he agreed with white southerners in their reluctance to treat African Americans as social and political equals…” (Henry F Graff – millercenter.org – 2022) Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework On the issue of suffrage for African American voters he was vocal in his belief that it was a ‘social issue’ (Graff, H, 2022) and not a problem for central government essentially relying on PvF to redeem him of responsibility in this important issue Briefly outline the failings of the executive in those years… Hayes – premature end of reconstruction Plessy v Ferguson – Supreme Court – civil rights a state issue Woodrow Wilson—miller centre University of Virginia Grover Cleveland – Downright racist Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework Executive Franklin D Roosevelt should not be ignored when regarding the advancement of civil rights; as he made some incredible legislative remarks such as executive order 8802 and the civil right act of 1964 which, pushed the civil rights agenda forward However, Roosevelt’s actions, much like Lincoln’s, are not always driven by their own conscience but forced by pressure from a third party In Roosevelt’s case these pressures derive from the need for factory workers to manufacture the machinery of war particularly in the case of executive order 8802 and by the threat of a mass march on Washington in support of civil and worker rights Despite the United States claims of neutrality and reluctance to be drawn into another war in Europe, as early as September 1940 FDR declared a national state of emergency and authorised the ‘Selective Training and Service Act’ (1940) These actions clearly demonstrated his intentions to be ready for war when it became necessary to join Given that WWII revolutionised warfare making forces heavily reliant on modern machinery such as Tanks, Planes and Automatic weaponry there would have been concern about being able to provide a sufficient work force to be able to sustain the factories that would be required to mass produce armaments It is perhaps not a coincidence then that FDR chose to issue ‘Executive Order 8802’ in June of 1941 as this would help him to recruit from the disenfranchised massively unemployed black community Executive Order 8802 stated the following: “…there shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defence industries and in Government, because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” (Executive Order 8802, 1941) The goal was, to put an end to any practise of discrimination in federal agencies and all unions and companies which were engaged in war-related works It enabled African American individuals to get jobs which previously were only available to white citizens or to reduce fears they may have had regarding the working environment Therefore, the order pushed civil rights forward and created some level of equality within the defence industry The main way in which this was accomplished, was through the creation of the Fair Employment Practise Committee (FEPC) who’s overall purpose was to investigate complaints of racial discrimination and take action against perpetrators of workplace racism Although the scope of this committee was quite limited due to their lack of enforcement power, the committee symbolized FDR’s attempts at forwarding the civil rights agenda albeit indirectly It also added to the ‘Great Migration’ of black Americans from the Southern states towards the north highlighting the willingness of African Americans to relocate away from the Jim Crow south and making the plight of this community a wider national issue This is particularly significant when we consider that the advancement of civil rights had mostly stagnated during the previous 70 years Roosevelt’s decision to endorse civil rights protections in the defence industry clearly shows that war was a significant driving factor behind this important moment in the advancement of rights for ethnic minority groups in the USA However, there is another factor which pressured him to provide these protections and that came from the African American leader A Philip Randolph who was head of the notorious Brotherhood of Sleeping car Porters a worker’s union During 1941 the ‘Black Worker’ journal published an article ‘Call to Negro America to March on Washington for Jobs and Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework Equal Participation in National Defense’ This publication and the threat of a mass march of up to 100,000 blacks on Washington caused intense media scrutiny and pressure on FDR to provide a solution Randolph’s timing was critical as he realised that as the USA ramped up for war this would be an ideal time to seek the furtherment of his civil-rights agenda A particularly poignant incident in September 1957 highlights the state of civil rights in the southern state of Arkansas The incident had begun when nine young African American students had enrolled in Little Rock high school, formerly an all-white school but as a response to the U.S supreme court decision of Brown vs Board of Education three years prior In which segregated schools had been found to be unconstitutional under the fourteenth amendment was forced to allow registration of black students The interactions between Governor Orval Faubus and President Eisenhower are revealed in no uncertain terms by Harry Ashmore a Arkansas Gazette Journalist who won a Pulitzer prize for his coverage of the incident They reveal the popular sentiments of the Southern state of Arkansas and highlight the gradualist inclinations of Eisenhower Faubus’ actions clearly demonstrate his unwillingness to fulfil federal law and allow entrance to the black students as despite arguing that the “National Guard would protect the right of the nine enrolled Negro children to enter the high school without interference” (Ashmore, Harry September 1957, Arkansas Gazette) In contrast, when the time came for the students to enter the school Lt Colonel Marion Johnson informed them: “…on orders of Governor Faubus, the students are not to be permitted to enter the school” (Dwight Eisenhower and the Central High Crisis, 2022, nps.gov) His actions on the day seem to have been an effort to appeal to a small minority of influential white voters and the anti-integration protestors at the school which brings to the fore the fact that the southern states were still very much struggling with the gradual erosion of Jim crow laws brought about by supreme court decisions to uphold the fourteenth amendment over the “separate but equal” policies favoured by some southern states On involving the national guard Faubus made the incident at Little Rock High School a federal issue On September 7th Eisenhower made it clear that perhaps considering his gradualist view of the civil rights agenda that he saw the issue not as a civil rights violation but as a question of state vs federal governance As the integration of schools had been ordered by the Supreme court it was the president’s obligation and mission to uphold and enforce these changes In a telegram to Faubus he states: “… that the Federal Constitution will be upheld by me by every legal means at my command.” And later in his personal diary he restated that: Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework “… where the Federal government had assumed jurisdiction and this was upheld by the Supreme Court, there could be only one outcome – that is, the State would lose…” Furthermore, Eisenhower chose to deploy 1200 armed U.S Airmen in a clear show of force against the governor and the white protestors and supporters of segregation in Arkansas and other Southern states One could argue that Eisenhower’s willingness to utilize the armed forces to defuse a potentially harmful and dangerous situation emphasises his agenda to make the US a freer and safer environment to peoples of all ethnicities The significance of his actions in this instance cannot be ignored as it could be argued that this event displays Eisenhower’s will to enforce the ideology of “the free world” that the U.S espouses to be The use of trained soldiers to defend these students is Eisenhower’s way of setting an example to the rest of his nation on how individuals of colour are to be treated Arguably this can be seen as changing the course of civil rights setting an example and demonstrating the way in which the executive can use power to enforce fair treatment in America’s education system the restrictions imposed by PvF having been removed Perhaps though his motivations stem from the media pressure, remembering that at this time the global image that the U.S wants to project during the challenges of the cold war and its ongoing rivalry with the USSR The importance of media coverage of the Little Rock incident is particularly emphasized by the image of Elizabeth Eckford (below) and her stoic show of courage in the face of discrimination and the sentiments of white protestors and the lack of support for her shown by the soldiers: Despite the US’ attempt to portray itself as a bastion of freedom and democracy giving it the right to act as ‘world police’, this powerful image seeks to destroy their credibility by highlighting the hypocrisy of the plight of African Americans in the Jim Crow South As highlighted by Ibram X Kendi “With the globally circulating sights and sounds of Government troops defending howling segregationist mobs, Little Rock harmed the American freedom brand.” (Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning) The U.S tried to present its soldiers as peacekeepers with the ability to bring and uphold freedom for oppressed people around the world particularly in its fight against the ‘tyrannical’ USSR Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework However, in this image the soldiers in the background of the picture seem disinterested and unsupportive for the lone Elizabeth Eckford as she is oppressed by the crowd, far from protecting this innocent girl from the crowd they stand amongst them and seem to be doing very little Furthermore, the vitriolic scream of the woman behind Elizabeth and the apparent disgust from the women to her right coupled with the composed and stoic expression of the courageous young girl make this image incredibly impactful It stands in stark contrast to the description of black Americans espoused by the white community for decades Instead of a monstrous, murdering rapists from which upstanding white citizens need protection by lynch mobs hanging them from trees The reverse is shown a ‘proper’ young lady, notebook in hand, seeking an education only to be attacked, spat at and stopped by the baying uncontrolled mob mentality of the white South For years the justification for lynching and segregation laws protecting the white citizens from ‘monsters’ evaporates as a lie Given the fact that this took place during the cold war, the underlying threat of embarrassment from their nemesis the USSR may actually have been what drove Eisenhower and not the executive’s moral crusade driven by conscience During this time, Russian backed media was more than happy to try and humiliate the United States by pointing out inadequacies in her social cohesion This point is further reinforced by historian Mary Dudziak who states in her book ‘Cold War Civil Rights’ that “Early on in the Cold War, there was a recognition that the U.S couldn’t lead the world if it was seen as repressing people of color” and the factor of media helped to bring this to life; and, therefore, the only reason why Eisenhower was eventually forced to react accordingly is simply due to the wider context of the cold war as this period of time was dominated by clashing ideologies of communism and Capitalism and an event such as this one spreading worldwide could have potentially led to the downfall of the US This, in seeing this confrontation of hatred, many other nations might choose the USSR and communism as a source of aid instead of the US due to the undeniable hatred harvested and practised in their nation The factor of media has significant value as the advancement of technology in the 1950s allowed the spread of media representation and this image in particular, to other nations within the global community The USSR was adept at picking up images such as this one and using them to embarrass the US, as popular Russian newspaper agencies took advantage of the incident to create further hatred for the US alongside criticising US ideologies and pointing out how communism is more abstract and safer than the US’ way of life As appointed by the article written by the ‘Atlantic’ the Soviets took full advantage of this opportunity and did so by creating statements about the incident in their most popular newspaper sources such as the Komsomolskaya Pravda which was a newspaper company ran by communist youth organisations and they ran a story on the incident at Little Rock which displayed the images of the events alongside the caption “Troops Advance Against Children!” The story went on: The patrons of Governor Faubus who dream of nooses and dynamite for persons with different-colored skins, advocates of hooliganism who throw rocks at defenseless Negro children—these gentlemen have the audacity to talk about “democracy” and speak as supporters of “freedom.” Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework (Komsomolskaya Pravda, 1957) This further spread the issue around the globe forcing the eventual and necessary interruption of the executive to attempt to defuse the situation and resolve the anger The significance of war once again undermines Eisenhower’s commitment as he had to prevent the USSR from besmirching his country’s reputation and ridiculing their ideals, which in turn might have made the idea of communism more appealing to other nations Eisenhower’s true priorities in little rock are highlighted when analysing the speech he directed on the 24th of September (the same day in which he took action regarding the incident at little rock) In the source ‘Eisenhower’s address to the Nation on Desegregation in Little Rock, Eisenhower discusses the upheaval that occurred at little rock in an attempt to diffuse the situation with the hope that no further incidents will occur Interestingly, throughout the speech, Eisenhower consistently reiterates the fact that it was a simple misrepresentation and that his so called ‘enemies’ are incorrect in their assumption In the speech Eisenhower states the following: ‘Our enemies are gloating over this incident and using it everywhere to misrepresent our whole nation We are portrayed as a violator of those standards of conduct which the peoples of the world united to proclaim in the Charter of the United Nations.’ (‘Eisenhower’s address to the Nation on Desegregation in Little Rock, 1957) The source holds great significance given that the language and expressions used by Eisenhower because seem to convey that his resolve at little rock was indeed a war measure Eisenhower’s tone and specific use of words seems to suggest that his actions at little rock were simply made to restore the US’ international reputation Given these events took part during the cold war, and the fact that Eisenhower was devoted to the idea of containment, he had to take drastic measures as an event like this which spread globally might cause nations to become wary of the US and decide to join their rivals/ communist side Eisenhower, due to his policies against the spread of communism, could not allow this to happen and so he attempted to restore the US’ global influence through the actions he took at little rock and clarified them when he gave the statement Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework Executive/Federal government – Lincoln tells us his intentions are driven by other factors This relationship between war and the executive was demonstrated again by Roosevelt in the 1940s Context – significance of Roosevelt’s 8802 - is that it moved the civil rights agenda forward for the first time in 70 yrs, demonstrating the limitations of the executive in its own right Briefly outline the failings of the executive in those years… Hayes – premature end of reconstruction Plessy v Ferguson – Supreme Court – civil rights a state issue Woodrow Wilson—miller centre University of Virginia Grover Cleveland – Downright racist The African American leader A Philip Randolph who was head of the notorious Brotherhood of Sleeping car Porters, had long fought for African American rights when it came to the issue of black employment Randolph had previously tried to persuade executive Roosevelt to end discrimination in the working environments once the probability that the USA would join the second world war started to rise This request was utterly ignored by the likes of Roosevelt given that he evicted more interest in the war itself than anything regarding civil rights Roosevelts ignorance led Randolph to threaten Roosevelt with a march on Washington if he did not abide his request and eventually Daniel Swain-Kirkwood History Coursework Randolph garnered masses of support from fellow African Americans which could be argued was the reason behind Roosevelts legislative decision In May Randolph issued a “Call to Negro America to March on Washington” and spread support of his peaceful protest through the use of media to enable its full capabilities Randolph’s media piece told the following message: Even though Randolph’s aspirations behind the march did not reach their full potential, it can be argued that the events definitely succeeded in forcing Roosevelt into making the Executive Order by threatening him with a march which could only be viewed as chaotic for the government the usage of media holds significant value in this instance as it led the march to spread all across the nation which, in turn, garnered the support of 10,000 African Americans who had promised to join the march alongside Randolph Overtime, the popularity and spread of the march increased to the point where Randolph was claiming that there would be 100,000 protesters or more which were going to show up Roosevelt acknowledged that 100,000 protester marching in the capital city would be nothing less than embarrassing and chaotic for the government itself and would more than likely distract attention from the main source of concern at the time In order to appease the protesters, and especially Randolph, Roosevelt agreed to respond accordingly to their complaints Conveniently enough, among all the different matters which Randolph’s source pointed out the only one which Roosevelt was willing to comply with was the one concerning employment issues One might argue that this was probably due to the fact that he saw potential in this specific complaint as he would also be able to capitalise off of it as there would more likely be more individuals helping the government in their, soon to be, war efforts Following the Executive Order, Randolph discontinued the march as he found Roosevelts decision a good step towards civil rights improvement and so decided not to pressure him anymore; with the Executive order passed only a couple days prior to when the march was to take place And so, the reason behind the Executive Order was simply a combination of applied media pressure by an African American civil rights leader as he threatened him with a situation which, if carried forward, could only be viewed as embarrassing for the government; alongside the upcoming war which saw an increase in job positions within the defence industry This created a chance for Roosevelt to succeed in preparing for the war at a faster paste