Discuss the Causes and /or Consequences of the Post-World War Two Civil Rights Movement in the US
Introduction
The economic system in the US was very devastating during world war two. The world war brought a lot of massive destruction. Many people lost their lives, for example, Europe indicated the highest number of people who died in the battle. The war led to the formation of the Civil Rights Movement. The movement was formed to fight for the economic rights of black Americans. Despite struggling to fight for their rights, they faced opposition in many instances. The Civil Right movement was the beginning of a new revolution in the economy, social and political set up. The end of the war brought an end to inequality and segregation of non-American Citizens. The Judiciary was given a mandate by the federal government to take action on those found violating the laws. This paper focuses on economic causes and the consequences of the post-World War 2 civil rights movement in the US.
Background of Post-World War Two Civil Rights Movement in the US Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The Civil Rights Movement was formed in the twentieth century in 1946 (Hall,2007). It was established to improve the life of black Americans in the US. During this time, they faced a lot of challenges, such as racial segregation and slavery. The motive of the movement was to bring an end to the sufferings of African Americans. During president Abraham Lincoln’s reign in the US, slavery was outlawed and came into enforcement in 1865 (Hall,2007). The period when civil war came to an end is known as Reconstruction. This period involved the amendments of the fourteenth and fifteenth laws into the US constitution. The legislation ensured the equality of Black Americans residing in the US. The changes caused the abolition of slavery for Black Americans, while racial segregation was still ongoing in the South (Boustan,2013). The discrimination was referred to as Jim Crow, which meant black people would continue being inequal while the white people denied them their freedoms and political rights. Civil Rights Movement responded to the problems of black soldiers during World War Two. Many Black Americans fought in this war to ensure democracy coexist in the US. Civil Rights Movement advocated for justice, nonviolent protest, power-sharing between black and white people. In 1964 most of the textile companies in the US started to employ African Americans, for example, the South Carolina textile company. The movement has won many victories, for instance, ending the racial segregation in the South and creating awareness of Black American cultural heritages. The fight for equality led to the election of the first Black American president in the US.
Cause 1 of the Factors affecting Economy During World War Two
The first economic factor that affected world war two is the great depression. The great depression caused the economic decline of the industrialized world that lasted from 1929 to 1939(Boustan, Fishback & Kantor,2010). It caused the deterioration of trade internationally. It began by the fall of the American market in 1929 that affected most countries that depended on its stock and money lending (Amadeo,2020). Franklin Roosevelt was the American president during this time. The president promised to enact a deal that would promote capitalism and good governance. The deal was enacted to bring solutions to the economic crisis. Roosevelt was determined to take action on the economic woes of the country. First, the president announced a holiday for banks where they would remain closed until Congress passed new legislation for opening the banks (Boustan et al,2010). After the banks reopened, the president urged citizens to put their savings in the banks, and by the end of that month, almost three banks had opened. Roosevelt’s administration passed laws for stabilizing the economy through agricultural production and creating jobs. The economic indicators in the United States during world war two showed great depression, and its gross domestic product declined continuously for four years. The global trade reduced by 25%; for example, in Germany, the percentage of unemployed people reached 30% (Boustan et al,2010). So many countries faced financial crisis; for instance, the Austria bank collapsed in 1931, according to Amadeo (2020), this affected trading among the European countries.
The great depression caused a rise in unemployment rates in the US. The economy was very devastating; most of the banks declined, causing unemployment rise by 25% in 1929; there was increasing homelessness (Barile,2017). The international trade was slowly collapsing, and the prices of the commodities were also decreasing. The economic output of the US was falling by 1929 as measured by the GDP(Amadeo,2020). The economic output was $105 billion, which is equivalent to $1.057 trillion in the current economy today (Amadeo,2020). During this time, the economy was shrinking, and most of the banks were falling. According to the statistics carried out in 1931 to 1932, the GDP fell by 6.4% and 12.9 respectively (Amadeo,2020). By 1933 the United States had suffered four years decline in national output as measured by GDP. The crash of the stock market caused havoc in the US. This is because most of the shares bought by people were rendered worthless. The decline of the economy was the leading cause of unemployment in America. In America, about fifteen million people lost their jobs; this contributed to an increase in the unemployment rate. The bank failures contributed to the unemployment rate in the US. For example, many people used to deposit their money in banks. When people realized the banks’ faults, they rushed to take their money from the banks, but it was too late for them because they lost all the money. Most of the companies, businesses, and factories began firing their workers due to bankruptcies. President Roosevelt’s reign brought a new revolution in the economic sector. When he was elected, the people were still struggling with unemployment, and the economy was still unstable (Barile,2017). In 1935 the president launched a second deal comprising the federal programs. An association was formed to provide jobs for unemployed individuals (Barile,2017). This association was known as the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The new deal helped in the recovery of the great depression by the introduction of some new laws.
Cause 2
Protectionism was another factor that affected the economy in the US. Due to the high population in European countries, most of the nations had inadequate food to feed their people. Japan is one of the nations that decided to expand its military to acquire the resources it needed. Japan began by invading Manchuria to acquire the resources in 1931 (Amadeo, 2020). In 1937 Japan attacked the US gunboat; this was the beginning of the war (Amadeo,2020). Protectionism caused imperialism since no country wanted to be controlled or restricted from acquiring resources. Imperialism is the act of extending the power of the country to other territories to have direct control of its economy. The United States spent a lot of money defending other nations from the exploitation of its resources from countries of interest. The US military was based in different places around the world. For instance, from Germany to Japan, therefore, the US government had an obligation to meet the needs of these forces (Amadeo,2020). This affected the United States economy because so much money was wasted while supporting the needs of these defence forces. The economy experienced some downfalls due to the constant attacks by other nations. War was an enemy of developing the economy of the country because so much time was spent creating weapons for attacks. The government of the US should have spent its money developing resources to avoid depending on other nations. The US imported raw materials despite having the best technological advancement worldwide. The country could have used these technologies to avoid spending a lot of money on imports. Importations caused deterioration of the country’s economy.
Protectionism weakens the economy due to uncompetitive markets. The competition encourages the company to innovate and to compete with other companies in the market. Protectionism does not favor the country’s economy; it causes an increase in the price of commodities and the decline in quality (Guarino,2018). Protectionism was introduced in the early 1790s in the US to regulate the tariffs. Tariffs are taxes imposed for imports. These trade policies were; tariffs, quotas, and restrictions from foreign products. The increase of US protectionism caused a decline in economic growth. Protectionism affects infant industries from thriving because of government protection policies. Infant industries need space for growth and experience in the competitive market. If the government imposes restrictions on infant industries, they may end up borrowing money in other institutions to protect the industry. Protectionism causes a trade war among the nations. This occurs if the countries cannot sell their good services to each other due to the trade restriction imposed. For example, in the case of the US and Japan, who were allies during World War Two, imposed trade restrictions against each other. Trade wars cause the consumers to suffer due to an increase in imports as the producers pay more for transporting the products in the foreign markets. Protectionism will also affect the country Gross Domestic Product growth in the economy. The United States of America imposed the first trade tariff in 1931. The tariff was referred to as the Smoot -Hawley Act, and it was signed by President Herbert Hoover (Guarino,2018). The tariff raised taxes of the agricultural products causing reactions of other nations.
Cause 3
Another factor that led to the revolution of the civil rights movement was racial discrimination in the labor market. Racial inequality was worsening in the employment sector of the US and led to the unequal distribution of resources. During the time of the original civil rights act, racial discrimination was pervasive in all the areas of the united states. It missed out on a provision for equal employment. Failures of the previous actions led to the reconstruction of the civil rights movement. Despite the significant progress and policies to fight racism, racial discrimination was still one of the critical problems and challenges in the labor market of the US. It was not straightforward for black Americans to acquire employment opportunities; the lucky ones earned very little proportion of the average wage. The number of black American textile industry workers was below in 1920s and the number kept reducing as years passed to almost none. The percentage reduced from 8% in 1920 to 4% in 1960 for men and 3% in 1920 to zero in 1960 for women. In cases where both an American and African Americans applied for one job position, employers favored the American regardless of the experience and skills that the African Americans had. Resumes with white names were likely to receive more responses than those with African names. Racial discrimination may have resulted from education level differences between the whites and the blacks because, in cases of highly skilled black workers, the gap was small. Most of the African Americans attended low advantaged schools, which results in their weak skills (Hammond 1998). The civil rights movement was started to fight for better education and employment for black Americans
Another factor that contributed to racial inequality was the degree of employer’s racism, and it is the main contributing factor. In places where top management was formed of Americans, the gap between the white and black workers was visible, whereas in areas where African Americans were involved in managing the number of workers was almost equal. Unfortunately, rarely would Africans be found in management positions, and hence black Americans had limited opportunity to get a job. The southern parts of the united states portrayed significant racial job divisions and segregation in the line of progress. In the mid-1950s, racial division of labor in most plants in the southern region remained fixed. He continues to say that the segregation defined and protected racial wage differentials in that the black wages peaked from the white wage distribution started. The black American was not allowed to engage in any activities that involved machine operation so that they could not improve their professional skills. Labor market discrimination took the form of exclusion from a job (Bourne 2014), and that did not mean that black lacked the required skills. In the northern region, racial discrimination was minimal because some antidiscrimination laws were active. The black serve given jobs that were dangerous and cruel that could not be performed by the whites. According to (Bourne 2014) racial wage gap was large in with many plantation activities and with a considerable number of blacks. Wage gap differences were more evident in the southern regions where most textile industries were located. The black-white wage difference was about 70% as at 1950s
Economic Consequences
Improved Economic Status
The reduction of racial discrimination in the employment sectors and educational institutions led to the improvement of the black Americans’ financial status. Economic status is a combination of educational attainment, income levels, occupation, wealth, and resources. According to (Wright “N. d”), the economic status of black Americans began to improve at an increasing rate after the passage of the civil rights movement. The improvement resulted from higher education attainment and high-income levels. Most of the African American students attended wholly segregated schools that were lowly funded and were excluded from participating in higher education institutions (Hammond, 1998). The government also offered money to funded the school in minority areas and hence encouraged black Americans to enroll in high education institutions. The black enrolment rose from 84,000 students in 1960 to 426,000 in 1976. A higher level of education prompted promotion for many that led to increment in their salaries. Although there is still a visible gap in the level of income, African Americans are earning much more than they used to make before. A higher level of education prompted promotion for many that led to increment in their salaries. Although there is still a visible gap in the level of income, African Americans are earning much more than they used to make before. High levels of income have contributed to the improvement of living standards and hence changed their spending habit. With much income, African Americans investments that earn them more revenues and profits. They have acquired a lot of wealth with them, which is a sign of economic progress. Most of them are in prominent positions and occupations because of their education levels and much wealth. As a result of high-income levels and acquiring better education, the economic status of the blacks has improved.
Reconstruction of the civil rights movement favored the education system of African Americans because it granted equal opportunities for both black and whites. African Americans were allowed to attend the same schools with Americans and attain higher levels of learning. In 1940 the black Americans high school dropouts was 96% in the south and 90% in the north; in 1950 the number was 94% in south and 83% in north; in 1960 the number was 86% in south and 73% in north; and in 1970 the number had reduced to 72% in south and 60% in north. By 1970 the number of African Americans graduates accounted for 18% in the southern states and 27% in the northern states (Bourne 2014). Due to attainment of high education levels, black Americans are progressing in attaining higher positions on income distribution. Their income percentage increased from 25% to 35% from 1968 to 2016. In the early days, the gap between income levels of black and while it was huge. It resulted from unemployment and minimum wages. According to (Bourne 2014), In 1940, black men in south earned 79% less than the white men with same education background and those in north the wage was 55%; In 1960 the difference reduced to 66% for those in south and 33% in north; and in 1970 the wage gap had reduced to 44%in south and 24 % in north. This fight led to the employment of many, and that’s how their income began to increase. According to statistics, the number of African Americans without jobs is less than 10%.
The decline in Industrial Performance
The revolution of the civil rights movement contributed to the decrease in the performance of textile industries in the southern region. Despite the intensive fight for racial equality in labor markets, the south textile mills were resistant to that action. Managers and employers were unwilling to employ and accommodate black American workers in their mills, and the American employees did not want to associate with blacks. Southern textile industries played a role in shaping and plastering racial discrimination because mill owners only hired American workers for their mills. The lucky black Americans got outside jobs, and hence they didn’t interact or work with the Americans. Mills owners ignored the government action of black employment. In 1968 the black protested to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the ignorance of the mill owners, which led the lawsuit to all textile industries (Wright 2006). The lawsuit forced the industries to hire black Americans. However, the employment resulted in labor scarcity in the southern sectors. In early 1960s many Americans resigned their jobs and gave up on the system because of the employment of African American workers. They were not willing to work with blacks, but they couldn’t go against the lawsuit, so they resigned and blamed the government for favoring the blacks. However, there was a significant expansion in the southern economy that caused changes in the labor and employment sectors. There were many employment opportunities, and most Americans who had resigned and the African Americans elites grabbed those opportunities (Simon 1999).
The movement for integration between the Americans black Americans did not favor the textile mills. The textile mill owners complied with the civil rights movement and began to hire the black Americans thought they blamed everything on the government. Hiring did not help because the black Americans were assigned the dirtiest and low paying works. The American employers claimed that the blacks were not qualified for the jobs, and they served well in the outside roles. Only a few African Americans were lucky to get a well-paying job, and mostly they the well-known and respected elites. The employers denied qualified and skilled African Americans opportunities and preserved them for the white applicants even if they had the required qualification (Simon 1999). The mill owners did not want to hire African Americans to carry out the machine involving operations. They hoped that their former American workers would return and continue working for them, but they were in a dilemma after the expansion of the labor sectors. The textile mill owners did not have other options than to accept black Americans. They started hiring the black, both men and women in late 1960s to ensure the continuity of their industries. Within the period of denial and resistance of 1964 and 1965 to the civil rights movement, textile industries lacked the labor force, which led to a decline in operations and low performance.
Creation of Employment
Creation of employment is one of the positive economic impacts of the civil rights movement. Since the reconstruction of the right public act, unemployment cases reduced up to less than 10% by 2008, with most of the newly employed being African Americans (Lang and Lehmann 2011). This movement contributed majorly to the labor market of the US by creating job opportunities for African Americans in the southern textile industries, where only the whites worked. Since then, there was equal treatment for blacks and whites in the employment sector.Southern textile industries had a lot of stable segregation in the job sector. In the 1950s, most of the textile industries had fixed racial discrimination of employment opportunities, which sought to define and protect racial wage differences. Many African Americans The did not have a chance to acquire a job opportunity in the southern industries. In the 1950s, the number of unemployed African Americans was twice that of Americans, and those that we’re lucky to get an opportunity earned 25% of the average wage. In the early days of 1940s, most of the blacks were segregated and lived in weak areas where they attended low advantaged schools. The segregation denied them an opportunity to acquire better skills, and reconstruction of civil rights favored them. According to (Wright 2006), improvement in textiles in the 1970s as a result of rising educational attainment by the blacks and the quality of schools they attended. The civil rights movement played a significant role in saving the southern economy because of the growth of textile industries that resulted from the use of modern technologies and the massive employment of blacks.
Most American employers favored the American applicants in cases where both African American and the American applied for a job regardless of the skills and qualification of the black. The approval for black employment by the government allowed them to prove their skills to the cruel Americans, and they performed well compared to the whites. Their excellent performance gave them a breakthrough in the labor market . The gap between the blacks and white who are employed has dropped to less than 10%. According to statistics, in 2008 the number of employed black American men was 83.7% and that of Americans was 91.5%. The number of unemployed black Americans was 9.1% compared to 4.5% of Americans (Lang and Lehmann 2011). Most of the industries did not offer employment to black females and the few who were employed worked as cleaners in the family of white employees. Black men worked outside the textile production areas such as cleaning compound and washrooms and were excluded from operations that involved the use of tending machines. According to (Wright 2006), the number of female black American employees in the textile industries between 1971 and 1972 increased from 10% to 30%. He says that the proportion black doffers rose from 3.8% to 28.6%, black spinners from9.6% to 24.5% and machine tenders from none to 16.7%. The increase resulted from the case filed by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against all nations major mills documenting discrimination in the mills (Simon 1999). In South Carolina between 1960 and 1980 the number of employed black Americans increased from 20000 to 65000 for men and 5000 to 50000 for women.
Impact on Economy and GDP
The push by government for civil right movement led to fluctuation in GDP. Inflation, and undistributed regional growth and resources are the adverse effects of the civil right revolution that affected the growth of GDP in the united states. The civil rights movement contributed massive employment in the unites countries. A high employment rate since 1960s led to an increase in income level and improved living standards. Inflation is the rate in which prices of products rise in a certain period. It results from the rise in demand for products and services and consumers’ desire to spend increases with a decrease in unemployment and increase in the wage rate. With much income, consumers demand much of a product, which leads to scarcity in supply. In times of scarce supply, consumers are willing to pay much to acquire the product, which leads to an increase in prices of commodities. The increase in the cost of the product is what results to demand to pull inflation. Civil rights act revolution based on maximum employment, and that has contributed to the rate of unemployment reducing at high speed. Maximum employment in 1970s and 1980s led to an increase in the levels of income of many people, and their purchasing power is increasing as well. The level of average demand was shooting sharply as result of high employment, which results in inflation The sharp falling of unemployment prompted the fear that inflation was around the corner. Inflation is a negative implication to growth of economy and GDP.
The push by government 1950s and 1960s by the government forced the Americans in the south to adjust to integration in textile industries. After the success of civil right movement in the south in 1960 outmigration of African Americans reduced and the black Americans who lived in northern regions moved to the southern regions to improve their economic lives. The 2000 census indicted that there was great trend in 1990 with 579000 black Americans moving to south compared to other years when there was outmigration (Wright 2006). Due to wide availability of job opportunities and decent education systems for black Americans were in a better position to develop themselves. They accumulated much wealth to themselves and they invested by generating their own businesses. As years went by most of the African American owned business were located in the southern region compared to other parts of the country. As the black American population increased in the southern region the number of black-owned firms rose from 92838 in 1972 to 330791 and later to 435290 in 1997 (Wright 2006). Increase in rise of businesses led to development of technology. Growth of African Americans businesses imposed great challenge for American businesses. It led to rise of competition in the south American domestic market and wiped out the monopolies that had dominated the market. As the businesses worked hard to cope with competition the southern revenue was increasing at high speed. The increase in revenue was a sign of growth of GDP that region but in the regions like the north black Americans were still stack in poverty.
Conclusion
The civil rights movement started to fight against racial discrimination and the oppression of black Americans in the southern regions of the united states. The civil rights act began in the 1940s and later reconstructed the civil rights movement. It was more of political action because it contributed to many black Americans acquiring leadership roles, but it also turned out to be a prudent move. It began to protect the American economy from collapsing by reducing protectionism, racial inequality in the labor market, and overcome the economic decline in the industrialized regions. The movement did not ultimately end racial discrimination, but instead, it led to improvement of blacks’ economic status and creation employment. It also led to growth of many black industries, technology development and growth of GDP.
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