The Launch Pad: A Better Deal for African Americans
Abstract:
After World War I, African Americans continued to face discrimination, unemployment, and persecution in the United States based on the color of their skin. However, in the 1930s and 1940s, the landscape of United States society began changing. The social, economic and political transformation of African Americans during the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidency, 1933-1945, represented a turning point in race relations in the United States. The seeds that were sown in the 1930s and early 1940s represented a primary shift in the condition of race relations that set the stage for the massive Civil Rights gains of the late 1950s and early 1960s. African Americans altered where they lived, where they worked, and who they voted for. The societal shifts during the time period, such as the black migration North, having better paying and better skilled jobs, the rise of Union and black organization membership and even the slow paced movement in the government created a vortex for change. African Americans experienced a different way of life overseas and upon returning from military service, to see “whites only” bathrooms and seats only at the back of the bus made African Americans more resolved to fight for equality. The hypocrisy of the United States hailing itself as the champion of human rights and condemning other countries for atrocities against the oppressed while not giving Civil Rights to African Americans was being derided in the global community. These fundamental changes created the launch pad for future Civil Rights leaders upon which they would build their platform for the transformation of the lives of African Americans.