HIST 2112 Lecture 17 Outline of Last Lecture I Welcome to Levittown II Economic Growth in the 1950s A Growth B What made all this growth happen a Cold War Military Spending 1 The creation of military industrial complex 2 The interstate highway system b Deliberate Government Policy 1 The continuing influence of the New Deal idea of activist government 2 1950s corporate liberalism 3 The Liberal Consensus Example Dwight Eisenhower JFK III 1950s Corporate Liberalism in Action A Highway construction and Federally backed mortgages a Goal b Mortgages and racial discrimination IV Hyperconsumerism A Consumerism as Freedom a The kitchen debate 1959 V Cultural Critics of Corporations Consumerism and Suburbia A Sloan Wilson Man in the Grey Flannel Suit 1955 B C Wright Mill White Color 1951 C David Riesman The Lonely Crowd 1951 D William Whyte The Organization Man 1956 E Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique 1963 VI Consumerism and the Teenager Outline of Current Lecture I The Fabulous Fifties A The Civil Rights Movement The Second Reconstruction II Why the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s III IV I A WWII B Cold War C Expectations in a consumer society The Legal Approach early 1950s A The NAACP and Brown vs Board 1954 a Massive Resistance 1 George Wallace Lester Maddox School choice segregation academics etc 2 Civil Rights as communism B Little Rock High School Desegregated 1957 The Civil Disobedience Approach 1955 1965 A Major Inspiration murder of Emmett Till 1955 B Montgomery bus Boycott 1955 a Debut of MLK and the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference C Sit Ins early 1960s D Nonviolence as official strategy a Birmingham Protests 1963 b Freedom Rides 1961 E Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964 A Successful Legacy A Civil Rights Act of 1964 B Voting Rights Act of 1965 C Success on the ground but massive resistance goes on Current Lecture To Redeem the Soul of America The Civil Rights Movement II The Fabulous Fifties A The Civil Rights Movement The Second Reconstruction Sharecropping tar paper shacks legacy of civil war 80 years later 14th amendment black people are citizens slaves 15th amendment black men can vote 19th amendment women can vote These are not really enforced until the civil rights movement and after III Why the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s A WWII War changes things B Cold War IV Lot of black men who are in military in WWII go to Europe and are not allowed in combat Seriously segregated US military black soldiers walk into streets of Europe to find no segregation there D This is what life could be like in the US Come back from WWII wearing your uniform you have contributed to defeating Nazi s gives you huge pride how come I can fight for this country and come home to be a second class citizen Blacks had to form their own unions Russians Soviets not really models of democracy Soviets comment about how America is not really free just look at your blacks who are enslaved Civil Rights people fight to have their ducks in a row as far as democracy goes fight for equality and freedom C Expectations in a consumer society 1950s economic growth is so intense that everybody makes more money and are doing better creates a sense of the sky is the limit Everything is possible Blacks think why not improve race relations while improving the economy The Legal Approach early 1950s Robert Frank picture The Americans Takes pictures of everyday people in the 1950s bus with whites in front and blacks in the back If you can get laws supporting segregation in places like schools abolished then that will bring equality You go out violate segregation laws get trial trial becomes law about laws itself because they re Unconstitutional laws removes keystones of segregation A The NAACP and Brown vs Board 1954 NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Most hated organization in the south Goes after school segregation laws Brown vs Board segregation in schools Topeka Kansas 1954 o Supreme Court rules that segregation in school is unconstitutional o Separate but equal is automatically make a judgment about who is better and who is not it is neither separate nor equal o Panic in the south o 1955 Supreme Court says get moving will all deliberant speed on this a Massive Resistance segregationists try to resist de segregation 1 George Wallace Lester Maddox School choice segregation academics etc o People absolutely refuse and say MAKE ME George Wallace during 1930s was a strong liberal when it came to race joked that he was a socialist judge who made it where you had to respect blacks in the court room by calling them Mr and Mrs o Government wants to be Governor tried to win with social programs loses and eventually president o Needed issue to become elected rabid support for segregation gets elected as governor o Goes and apologizes to all civil rights people when he has an epiphany after almost being assassinated 2 Civil Rights as communism o MLK at Communist training school a guy sneaks in and takes pictures of it o Little communists in the 1950s attached themselves to the civil rights movement how little number of people there are B Little Rock High School Desegregated 1957 Federal order you ve waited long enough now desegregate it s been three years Fall of 57 is the year we ll desegregate A large white mob surrounds the school to physically prevent the 9 black students that are coming Orval Farbis governor decides that maybe he can be the strong segregationists and makes a stand orders Arkansas national guard to physically surround the school to prevent them from entering This goes against the Supreme Court What is the president going to do He doesn t like the threat to the federal government and executive power by Orval Farbis He will not be pushed around by a governor He nationalizes the national guard which he sends home send in the 101 airborne division and escorts those 9 to school for the entire year V The school board shuts down the year after for a year so they don t have to desegregate Legal Approach is not working have to do something more than change the laws The Civil Disobedience Approach 1955 1965 faze of protests A Major Inspiration murder of Emmett Till 1955 o Major shifter brings people to realization that you need more than the NAACP you have to get out on the streets yourself and make the change B Montgomery bus Boycott 1955 o Rosa Parks story NAACP activists for years not the first person to do this she s just the most famous this was