Blog #3 The Civil Rights Movement

The civil rights movement was something that seemed to become a reality when African Americans realized that they could be something more than the white man’s servant. They also began to realize that they were needed for more than picking cotton. They, along with the other minorities, helped build America, did the work white men did not want to do, and were also viable consumers that whites depended on for business. They could see the hypocritical views that the government had when it came to making laws and policies dealing with race. It seemed that when it came to the finer things, Anglo Americans were people, not African Americans, but when it came to taxes and other negative things, all of a sudden, African Americans and the other minorities were citizens, and should be included. The Jim Crow laws came about, and even though the U.S. Constitution said differently, they were treated without any respect, and lived in a lot of fear, with lynching’s occurring all over when any African American dared to become something more than what the white man thought he should be. The attitude of the whites doing the lynching, especially in the south was really unnerving, you could tell they felt as if they were doing little more than putting down a wild dog.
When World War II started, African Americans along with many minorities saw this as a chance to prove that they could stand equal with their white fellow Americans and fight for their country. At first the African Americans were not taken as real troops, but as cooks, cleaners, and other jobs that only supported the real troops. Once they were accepted as fighting men however, they still could not be pilots, tank drivers, or other jobs that required an intelligence that whites did not perceive African Americans to have. They also saw that in Europe, they were instantly treated as equals, and wondered how this could be when in their home country, they were treated as much less. Time and time again, African Americans broke down these barriers, and with each one gained a little more pride for themselves, and also showed them that there were more rights they could have if they were willing to fight for them.
Once the war was over, they returned home expecting to have finally won the respect of their fellow Americans, but quickly realized that they were wrong. Having fought in the war for freedom, they were insulted that they were still heavily discriminated against at home. They realized that there was going to be another war fought; this one to secure their full rights as Americans, and also as people. Many things in everyday life that whites took for granted were not even available to African Americans and it wasn’t right. The decided to dig in and even though they knew it was going to be a long battle, they pushed ahead constantly through beatings, bombs, and hate for the things they had never had before.