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The Civil Rights Movement in the 1940s & 1950s [APUSH Review Unit 8 Topic 6] Period 8: 1945-1980
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The Civil Rights Movement in the 1940s & 1950s [APUSH Review Unit 8 Topic 6] Period 8: 1945-1980

Civil Rights Movement Foundations: 1940s-1950s

Overview of the Civil Rights Movement

  • The video introduces the focus on the development and expansion of the civil rights movement from 1945 to 1960.
  • It highlights that many promises made to Black Americans post-Civil War were unfulfilled due to systemic racism and legal barriers.

Historical Context

  • Jim Crow laws, voter suppression tactics (like poll taxes and literacy tests), and Supreme Court decisions (e.g., Plessy v. Ferguson) upheld racial segregation.
  • Activists in the 1940s and 1950s aimed to pressure the government into fulfilling civil rights promises.

Government Actions for Civil Rights

  • President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 in 1948, banning segregation in armed forces, though enforcement lagged until after the Korean War.
  • The Committee on Civil Rights, established by Truman in 1946, recommended desegregation of armed forces, abolishment of poll taxes, and federal protection against lynching.

Landmark Supreme Court Case: Brown v. Board of Education

  • The case addressed racial segregation in schools; Oliver Brown's daughter was denied entry to a nearby white school due to her race.
  • In a unanimous decision (1954), the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, declaring separate educational facilities inherently unequal under the 14th Amendment.

Implementation Challenges Post-Brown Decision

  • The ruling mandated integration "with all deliberate speed," which led to resistance from Southern states who exploited its vagueness to delay action.
  • Southern opposition included the Southern Manifesto arguing against perceived judicial overreach and instances like Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus using National Guard troops to block integration at Little Rock High School in 1956.
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AP HEIMLER REVIEW GUIDE (formerly known as the Ultimate Review Packet): +APUSH Heimler Review Guide: https://bit.ly/44p4pRL +AP Essay CRAM Course (DBQ, LEQ, SAQ Help): https://bit.ly/3XuwaWN +Bundle Heimler Review Guide and Essay CRAM Course: https://bit.ly/46tjbZo GET FOLLOW-ALONG NOTEGUIDES for this video: https://bit.ly/3NUwwmj HEIMLER’S HISTORY MERCH! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_bOoi0e3L3SJ1xx5TZWHPw/store Instagram: @heimlers_history Heimler's History DISCORD Server: https://discord.gg/RHQcq6C6AN For more videos on APUSH Unit 8, check out the playlist. In this video Heimler takes you through Unit 8 Topic 6 of the AP U.S. History curriculum which is set in period 8 (1945-1980). Before the Civil Rights Movement really gathered steam in the 1960s, there were foundational steps taken in the 1940s and 1950s. Because of the landmark case Plessy v Ferguson, racial segregation was the law of the land. That decision was overturned in Brown v The Board of Education which ordered the desegregation of schools. However, there were not a few southern states that opposed this measure, claiming it was a gross abuse of power by the Supreme Court. One manifestation of that was Arkansas governor Orval Faubus who worked against desegregation in his state. However, even with that opposition, Arkansas witnessed integration with the Little Rock Nine.