HY 357 Lecture Notes - Lecture 52: White Flight, Desegregation, Southern Democrats
6 Jun 2018
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Breaking Down Segregation
Eliminating segregation in the United States has proved to be a long and difficult process.
Presidential actions and court decisions were important early steps. While segregation codified in
law no longer exists, de facto segregation based on income and housing patterns continues.
Executive actions
The first meaningful gains in civil rights came after World War II. In 1948, President
Harry Truman ordered an end to segregation in the military and the federal
bureaucracy. Segregated units in the U.S. Army were disbanded within three years, and
the Korean War became the first conflict in which blacks and whites truly fought side by
side.
Truman ran into difficulty when he tried to push his civil rights agenda through
Congress. A federal anti-lynching law, the outlawing of poll taxes, and the creation of a
civil rights commission were opposed by Southern Democrats. The Courts proved to be
more willing to look at these issues.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
In 1950, Oliver Brown sued in federal court over the segregation of the school system of
Topeka, Kansas. The Supreme Court's 1954 decision in the case, which held that
separate schools were inherently unequal, was important for several reasons. Topeka
was not a Southern city; the Court hoped to limit backlash in the South by using a case
outside the region.
However, the Court ordered the desegregation of the schools, not their integration.
Although the terms are often used synonymously, they actually have different
meanings. Desegregation refers to eliminating laws that call for
segregation; integration means actively designing government policies to mix different
races. The Brown decision did not call for integration but demanded desegregation "with
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Document Summary
Eliminating segregation in the united states has proved to be a long and difficult process. Presidential actions and court decisions were important early steps. While segregation codified in law no longer exists, de facto segregation based on income and housing patterns continues. The first meaningful gains in civil rights came after world war ii. Harry truman ordered an end to segregation in the military and the federal bureaucracy. Segregated units in the u. s. army were disbanded within three years, and the korean war became the first conflict in which blacks and whites truly fought side by side. Truman ran into difficulty when he tried to push his civil rights agenda through. A federal anti-lynching law, the outlawing of poll taxes, and the creation of a civil rights commission were opposed by southern democrats. The courts proved to be more willing to look at these issues.
