To what extent was the NAACP responsible for the successes
of the civil rights campaign 1945-1955?
Between 1945 and 1955 it could be argued that many of the successes of the civil rights
movement could be attributed directly to the work of the NAACP. However progress was
also made through the work of executive branch of federal government, through the change
in attitude caused by the Second World War and by the work of other civil rights groups such
as CORE, and the African American Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. This isn’t to say
the NAACP wasn’t significant, but it could be easily argued that these additional powers
played a hugely significant role in the progress of civil rights at this time period in American
history.
The work of the NAACP through court cases challenged many of the Jim Crowe Laws which
directly discriminated against African Americans in the southern states, raising the profile of
the plight of black people as well as leading to some significant De jure changes which would
affect the entire union. Even prior to 1945 this could be seen through the case Smith v.
Allwright in which the black Texan, Lonnie E. Smith was helped by the NAACP in order to
illegalise the use of all white Primary elections within the United States. A significant ruling
in that Primaries selected who could be elected to congress and by barring black people from
these elections, it was unlikely that any if the candidates would support civil rights. This isn’t
the only case in which the NAACP was involved, where Morgan v. Virginia 1946 made the
segregation of interstate travel unconstitutional. The biggest case wouldn’t occur until 1954
when segregation within the education system was legally challenged in the Supreme Court
legally ending the segregation of schools. This occurred when Oliver Brown, a black man
living in Topeka, Kansas took the state to court on the grounds that he had to take his
daughter Linda to an all-black school 20 blocks away, when there was a segregated white
school very close to their home. Once again the NAACP took this case to the Supreme Court
which under Supreme Justice Earl Warren unanimously agreed that the segregation of
schools was unconstitutional on the grounds that it was detrimental to the mental health and
living standards of black children early in their lives. This case in particular was very
significant in that it in that it repealed the Plessey v. Ferguson case, a 50 year old court ruling
which ruled in favour of ‘separate but equal’ services. This provided a huge boost in morale
for the civil rights movement, and ended a significant piece of legislation which could
potentially sustain a gap between the socio-economic status of White and Black people by
limiting access to education early on. By ending segregation in schooling, this disparity in
status could be addressed to some extent by providing black children with sufficient means to
get into university and exit the poverty trap in which many black people found themselves in
after the war. However while all these court challenges were successful they in general only
provided De Jure change rather than De facto change as casual, and institutionalised racism
still continued to exist within individual state governments. As a result many of these rulings
were simply ignored by state governments and segregation of schools, and of interstate travel
continued. In fact it wouldn’t be until well after 1955 that any significant De facto change
would actually occur such as the freedom rides of the 1960s, and the little rock nine incident
in 1957. Because of a lack of a time frame on these issues, change was extremely slow and
often non-existent. In addition to this there was often racist white backlash to some of these
rulings, for example after the brown case here was resurgence in KKK activity when Emmett
Till was murdered and his murderers found innocent, as well as the formation of white citizen
councils in order to make white schools become private so that they could avoid integration.
However while all this is true, the change in attitude caused by the NAACP’s work with the
Brown case resulted in increased confidence within the black community and highlighted
greatly the injustices of Jim Crowe laws. These would be essential later in the civil rights
campaign as a means to challenge De facto segregation and to increase support for the civil
rights cause, so in a way the NAACP was integral to the success of the civil rights movement
from 1945-1955 and beyond, though it wasn’t solely responsible.
Change was also somewhat caused by the intervention of presidents on the matter of civil
rights. Truman for example was really the first president to take a progressive view on the
topic by forming a liberal committee to analyse the problems facing African American’s at
the time. The result of this was the creation of a report ‘To secure these rights’. This
highlighted the needs of black people and then provided recommendations to meet them.
Some of these recommendations could be addressed; however the vast majority could never
be passed by a largely hostile congress. This meant that not much change could be made by
the president for example he could never find the funding for a permanent FECP, however he
did end segregation within the armed forces, a significant symbol of change for the united
states, in a time when the country was trying to appear free by comparison with the soviet
union. He also moved black people into significant federal government roles such as Ralph
Bunche as American ambassador to the UN. In a wider context these changes may seem
rather minimal but they did essentially get the ball rolling in terms of change in the way that
Federal government deals with the issue of civil rights. Ironically though while Truman’s
successor president Eisenhower did not support the civil rights movement in principle, he did
elect Earl Warren as supreme justice which actually benefited the NAACP somewhat during
the Brown v Board of education, an action which Eisenhower would later say was ‘Biggest
damn fool mistake I ever made’. While up to 1955 Eisenhower refused to involve himself in
the civil rights movement, this was significant, although by comparison with the work of the
NAACP, the efforts of presidential power was fairly limited being held back by both
congress, and by the power of white voters particularly amongst the southern democrats. This
isn’t to say that they weren’t responsible for some of the successes of the civil rights
movement between 1945 and 1955 but the work of Truman and Eisenhower simply didn’t
match that of the NAACP in terms of progress. Instead it was a contributing factor to the
success of the civil rights movement for the most part.
The Second World War could also be seen as a turning point for the civil rights movement by
providing support for the civil rights movement between 1945 and 1955. During the Second
World War, 1.2 million black men were enlisted into the United States army, all of which
were sent to the southern states for training where many of them first encountered the
segregation of black people in the southern states. This coupled with the focus of liberty and
equality spouted during the war radicalised many black soldiers who were irritated by both
the irony which was being spouted the American government, and the poor quality of life that
black people in the south suffered. From this the idea of the double V came. The idea of a
victory over both the fascism of the Nazis in Europe, but also the fascism of the USA’s own
government. From this much support had been created for such groups as the NAACP, and
anger within the black community had risen. Perhaps the most significant thing about this is
that it would change the attitudes of black people within the United States and provide a
different way for African American’s to deal with their situation. On the other hand while this
was likely very useful in changing the opinions of Black people with regards to civil rights, it
couldn’t really be considered a success in its own right, but rather a contributing factor
leading to increased support for the NAACP and in fact enabling it to carry out its job more
easily and efficiently.
Finally there is also the direct action which was the work of groups like CORE who in 1947
went on a ‘journey of reconciliation’. This was I direct response by another civil rights group
to challenge the De facto segregation after the De jure change brought about by the NAACP.
This specific example was challenging interstate travel segregation and was essentially
attempting to practice the supposed rights gained for Black Americans through the judicial
process. This kind of direct action by CORE and other groups provided a testing bed to see
what had actually been achieved. This and boycotts controlled by the NAACP such as the
Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 were extremely effective in fighting for change by directly
acting against racism as opposed to attempting to simply change the law only through judicial
means. One could argue that direct action was in fact more effective in that it actually showed
some form of action in response to discrimination and could actually affect white racists in
real world terms such as financially. On the other hand this form of protest also incited much
violence from groups such as the Klu Klux Klan whom during the Montgomery bus boycott
bombed both Rosa Parks’ and Martin Luther King’s homes. This form of protest also isn’t
completely removed from the NAACP whom would provide support and structure for these
kinds of protest. Rather this again shows the significance of the NAACP but it a different
light, and with the help of more minor civil rights groups like CORE. Rather this is a
significant form of protest responsible for the successes of the civil rights movement at this
moment in time but again boosts the significance of the NAACP.
Over all the evidence seems to suggest that the NAACP played an extremely significant role
in the successes of the civil rights movement providing change through both judicial and
direct means. Along the way the group is boosted by presidential and the Second World War
(second world war massively increases support of NAACP) but these factors are more like
contributing factors as opposed to actually being responsible in their own right. Each has
their own successes and short comings but the all feed into the NAACP making it
increasingly powerful in the battle for civil rights. Rather the NAACP is one of the most
significant factors, but it wouldn’t be nearly as significant if it weren’t for the work of CORE,
or the radicalisation caused by WW II. In conclusion the NAACP is highly responsible for
the successes of the civil rights movement in this time period, however it is not solely
responsible and is actually helped greatly by other factors.