The position of African Americans in the early 20th century

Plessy v Ferguson

Near the end of the 19th century, the reached a judgement that had catastrophic effects on many African Americans. It especially affected those in the southern states, such as Alabama and Mississippi.

This ruling meant that states could legally separate white people and African American people in society, if there were facilities for both. Examples of facilities included schools, buses and water fountains.

These segregation laws became known as the

These laws were strictly enforced in the south of the country. This was because the South was where enslaved people had worked on plantations before the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation gave them citizenship.

In areas of society such as housing, education and employment, the Jim Crow laws meant that African Americans experienced significantly worse conditions than white people. For example, in Louisiana it was illegal to rent rooms to African Americans in houses that would also have white tenants.

African Americans and World War Two

A photograph of First Sergeant Walter Morris graduating. He is being handed a piece of paper — Figure caption,
First Sergeant Walter Morris graduating into the US Army in 1944. Over 1 million African Americans joined the military during World War Two to fight for their country, despite not being treated equally when they were at home

During World War Two, over a million African American men joined the US military. Many more worked in factories at home to support the war effort. The African American community hoped that the Jim Crow laws and the racism they experienced would end after the war.

The Double V campaign started in 1942. It focused on two things:

gaining victory in the war
gaining victory at home against the discrimination of African Americans

However, the impact of the campaign was limited to the desegregation of some areas of the military by 1948.

African Americans c.1945-1954 - OCR AThe position of African Americans in the early 20th century