Should The President Truman's Decision To Desegregate Segregation?

This was a drive to end discrimination in federal employment (historylearningsite, Civil Rights in

With the Soviet Union threat rising, desegregation of the armed forces may have seemed an unnecessary distraction with concern that racial friction between soldiers in theoretical “desegregated” units would reduce army efficiency. However, these opinions fail to factor the large scale African American boycott of the military, making desegregation a decision in the interest of a more effective use of manpower in the armed forces. Once issued, the order’s indisputable, positive effects were felt politically, socially, and economically. The Executive order immediately subdued the African American boycott threats, ensuring the military and economic stability America needed in light of the Soviet threat. Though the military was not fully desegregated until 1954, merely issuing the order impacted the political stage greatly, giving civil rights movements a new sense of belief in non-violent protesting, thus inspiring many new humanitarian reforms.

The Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 in the case of Hernandez v. Texas was the start of a breakthrough for Mexican Americans in the United States. The case was brought to existence after Pete Hernandez was accused of murder in Jackson County, a small town called Edna, Texas. The special thing about this case that makes it significant was the jury that were including in this trial. It was said that a Mexican American hadn’t served on a jury in the county of Jackson in 25 years. With the help of a Mexican American lawyer, Gustavo Garcia, the case was brought to the highest court level and was beheld as a Violation of the constitution.

According to famous Enlightenment thinker John Locke, the role of the government is to protect the natural and basic rights of its people in order to maintain peace throughout the country. America’s Founding Fathers constructed the Constitution in order to do so. Nevertheless, their descendents have not been completely successful at following these guidelines. In The Louisiana’s Separate Car Act passed in 1892 required whites and blacks to sit on separate railroads. This act enforced ‘separate but equal’ accommodations.

On the night of his death he was accompanied by two of his family members, when he was shot by State trooper on February 18th, 1965. His death inspired many to join the march from Selma to Montgomery in his honor. After being stopped by state troopers in the first march, Martin Luther King, Jr. called for a second march with federal protection. Finally the Federal Voting Rights Act was passed on August 6th, 1965. To this day, the march remains an important piece of

This case, which concerned racial segregation laws for public facilities such as restrooms, restaurants, and water fountains, made its way all the way to the Supreme Court. As way of background, in 1890 Louisiana passed a law which required blacks and whites to ride in separate train cars. However, in 1892, Homer A. Plessy, who was a black man, boarded a car designated for whites only. He was asked to leave, but refused and was arrested immediately. In the case, Plessy vs Ferguson, Plessy’s position was that his rights were violated under the 13th and 14th amendments of the Constitution, which dictated equal treatment under the law.

The supreme court ruled that the racial segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. This was a huge milestone for segregation. After this case came Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. This case was really a big starting point and also led to the downfall of the Jim Crow Laws. In the first two cases Dred Scott vs. Sanford and Plessy vs. Ferguson, the outcome was not the greatest for African Americans.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's decision to desegregate public schools was a significant step toward achieving racial equality in the United States. In 1954, the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education declared that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This ruling set the stage for the desegregation of schools across the country, and President Eisenhower played a crucial role in making it a reality. One of the main reasons why desegregating public schools was a good idea is that it provided equal educational opportunities for all students, regardless of their race.

Mary Anderson wrote in her letter, “Congratulations on your courageous action in the Little Rock affair (McGwin, Docs) ”. Integration problems were not just in education but in daily life. The Montgomery bus boycott began on December 5, 1955 on the day of Rosa Park’s hearing. This is said to be the first large-scale demonstration against segregation in the United States. The boycott was going to continue until Alabama met the demands, so “On the afternoon of December 5, black leaders met to form the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) (Montgomery Bus, history.com)”.

Hostility between whites and African Americans in Arkansas was persistent even with the efforts to ensure equal rights for every citizen throughout the state in early 20th century. One source of this hostility was segregation. This existed especially in the school system. However, state laws stated that separate public schools were unconstitutional as a result of Brown v. Board of Education. Little Rock Central High was the first Arkansas school to integrate.

Board of Education case, came another pivotal moment for minority rights. On December 1st, 1955 the renowned Rosa Parks forever changed history as she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, as a result of not sitting in the back of the bus where African Americans were assigned. She became a prominent civil rights activist, and boycotted the Montgomery bus department for more than a year following her arrest. Among those who joined her was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1957, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas’s decision, segregation in public education violated the Fourteen Amendment, but Central High School refused to desegregate their school. Even though various school districts agreed to the court ruling, Little Rock disregarded the board and did not agree to desegregate their schools, but the board came up with a plan called the “Blossom plan” to form integration of Little Rock High despite disputation from Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus. Desegregating Central high encountered a new era of achievement of black folks into the possibility of integrating public schools, and harsh resistance of racial integration. Although nine black students were admitted into Little Rock harsh violence and

Even 10 years after the brown vs. board ruling, students in New York were still protesting for inequality. “On Feb. 3, 1964, more than 460,000 students, predominantly black and Puerto Rican, stayed out of school to protest educational inequality and school segregation in the Big Apple” (Salon.com article & boycott flier). The ruling did fix segregation in the schools but inequality still occurred. Due to this, many students didn’t go to school to protest. Even after the boycott, people were still fighting for school zoning and segregation.

The ruling thus lent high judicial support to racial and ethnic discrimination and led to wider spread of the segregation between Whites and Blacks in the Southern United States. The great oppressive consequence from this was discrimination against African American minority from the socio-political opportunity to share the same facilities with the mainstream Whites, which in most of the cases the separate facilities for African Americans were inferior to those for Whites in actuality. The doctrine of “separate but equal” hence encourages two-tiered pluralism in U.S. as it privileged the non-Hispanic Whites over other racial and ethnic minority

Unbenounced to her, Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat to a white man ignited one of the largest and most successful mass movements in opposition to racial segregation in history. At a time when African Americans experienced racial discrimination from the law and within their own communities on a daily basis, they saw a need for radical change and the Montgomery bus boycott helped push them closer to achieving this goal. Unfortunately, much of black history is already excluded from textbooks, therefore to exclude an event as revolutionary to the civil rights movement as this one would be depriving individuals of necessary knowledge. The Montgomery bus boycott, without a doubt, should be included in the new textbook because politically