Changes in US society c.1880 – c.1980

The legacy of slavery in the United States of America (USA)

Slavery existed in America from the 17th century until 1865. Many enslaved people were forced to work on plantations, particularly in the southern states. Enslaved people had very few rights, and their working and living conditions were often harsh.

Slavery was a key cause of the Civil War in the USA from 1861-1865. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as president and he opposed slavery. Some people in the southern states feared that Lincoln's election would threaten the future of slavery and their way of life. Therefore, these states tried to leave the USA and set up the Confederacy. This led to the start of a civil war between the northern states (called the Union) and the Confederacy.

On 1 January 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared that enslaved people in the Confederate states were to be freed. However, it did not immediately end slavery everywhere in the USA. After the Union won the American Civil War in 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified, abolishing slavery throughout the USA.

The Jim Crow laws

After slavery was abolished in 1865, many white people in the southern states of the USA opposed equal rights for Black people. State governments introduced racial segregation laws in many areas of everyday life.

Schools, parks, hospitals, restaurants and public transport were often segregated. Many southern states also introduced literacy tests and other restrictions that made it difficult for many Black people to vote.

These laws became known as the Jim Crow laws. The name came from a racist stage character that was used in 19th-century entertainment to mock Black people.

The northern states

Between 1916 and 1930, around 1.5 million Black Americans moved from the southern states to cities in the North, such as Chicago and New York. This movement is known as The Great Migration. Many left the South to escape segregation and discrimination under the Jim Crow laws and to look for better job opportunities.

Many hoped for a better life in the North. However, racism and discrimination still existed. Black Americans were often limited to lower-paid jobs, and many lived in crowded neighbourhoods, such as Harlem in New York City. In 1919, racial tensions led to riots and violence in more than 20 cities across the USA. These events were caused by growing racial divisions fuelled by discrimination and competition for jobs and housing.

Key fact

1919 is sometimes referred to as the 'Red Summer' because of the widespread racial violence that took place across the USA. During this period, many Black Americans were attacked and killed in riots and other violent incidents.

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

The KKK was a white supremacist group that believed white people were superior to people of other races. It was founded in 1865 after the American Civil War. The group promoted racist ideas and used violence and intimidation against Black people and those who supported equal rights.

The KKK was responsible for acts of terror and violence aimed at maintaining racial segregation and denying Black people their rights. These included:

• lynching
• murder and physical attacks on Black people
• tarring and feathering
• arson
• threats and intimidation
• spreading racist ideas through pamphlets, newspapers and public events

The KKK was often able to avoid punishment because some local politicians, police officers and judges either supported the group or failed to take action against its members.

Treatment of Native Americans

Native Americans had lived in North America for thousands of years before the United States was created. During the 19th century, the USA expanded westwards from its original states in the East. New farms, towns and cities were established on land that had long been home to Native Americans.

Many American politicians and settlers viewed Native Americans as an obstacle to westward expansion. As a result, there were conflicts, forced removals and violence against many Native Americans. By the end of the 19th century, most Native Americans in the USA had been forced to live on reservations, where their lives were controlled by the federal government.

The US government also introduced policies aimed at assimilation, encouraging Native Americans to abandon their languages, cultures and traditions. Many of their children were sent to boarding schools far from their families. Conditions in these schools were often harsh. Children were often given English names, had their hair cut, and were discouraged or prevented from speaking their own languages or practising their cultures.

In 1928, a US government report known as the Meriam Report examined the impact of these policies. It found that many Native Americans experienced poverty and had limited access to healthcare and education.

The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted US citizenship to Native Americans. However, in some states, they continued to face barriers that prevented them from voting.

New immigration

The USA is sometimes described as a ‘nation of immigrants’ because many people who settled there came from other parts of the world. The people who founded the first American colonies in the 16th and 17th centuries were immigrants from Britian, including England and Wales, as well as Dutch and French immigrants. In the 19th century, there were large waves of immigration from Ireland and Germany. For much of the 19th century, the USA encouraged immigration and placed relatively few restrictions on European migrants.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigration to the USA increased further. Many new arrivals came from southern and eastern European countries, including Italy, Poland, Russia and Greece.

As immigration increased, some Americans began to support tighter controls on who could enter the country. Reasons for this included:

• a growing number of people arriving in the USA
• concerns about competition for jobs and housing
• differences in language, culture and religion between some new arrivals and earlier migrant groups
• fears that immigration might increase social problems, including crime
• concerns about political ideas such as communism following events like the Russian Revolution of 1917

The government decided to change their policies and brought in a series of laws to restrict immigration into the USA, including:

• National Origins Formula 1921 – A law which restricted the number of immigrants to a certain number each year.
• Immigration Act 1924 – This law cut the quota of immigrants even further. It was aimed at restricting southern and eastern European immigrants, and also put restrictions on immigration to the USA from Asia.

The Economic Boom of the 1920s

During the 1920s, the USA went through a boom in the economy. A boom is when a country is getting wealthier, there are more jobs, businesses are doing well and people have more money to spend.

The 1920s boom happened for many reasons:

• The USA had come out of the First World War with one of the world’s strongest economies. It became the financial centre of the world, and during the war they had loaned money to other countries, which were paid back with interest, making the USA richer.
• The USA had lots of natural resources such as coal, wood and oil.
• US factories used mass production techniques, which ensured goods were produced quickly and cheaply. Henry Ford pioneered this, encouraging a boom in the car industry.
• Republican presidents had policies called ‘laissez-faire’, and rugged individualism, which ensured the government did not restrict business from making profits.
• The USA introduced the Fordney McCumber Tariff in 1922 which made selling goods from other countries in the USA more expensive - this encouraged people to buy American goods.

However, not all Americans benefited from this period of economic growth.

• Farmers lost out due to overproduction.
• Many immigrants continued to work in low-paid jobs.
• Some older industries struggled because they failed to modernise.
• Many Black Americans continued to face segregation and discrimination at work.

Popular entertainment in the 1920s

The 1920s were also a golden age of entertainment in the USA for many reasons.

• Over 12 million radio sets had been sold by the end of the 1920s and many households across the USA had a radio.
• Cinema was one of the biggest forms of popular entertainment. Famous actors such as Charlie Chaplin and Clara Bow became household names. Films were silent in the early 1920s but in 1927 the first talkie called The Jazz Singer was released.
• The manufacture, transport and sale of alcoholic drinks was banned in the USA in the 1920s. This was called prohibition. However, secret bars, called speakeasies were opened. These were hugely popular places for drinking and dancing.
• Jazz music was very popular. Musicians like Duke Ellington gained huge fame.

The Harlem Renaissance

Many Black Americans moved to the northern states of the USA in the early 20th century, often to escape the Jim Crow laws in the southern states.

Harlem was a part of New York City that became home to many Black Americans. In the 1920s it was the centre of a cultural revival. Musicians such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong performed in the famous ‘Cotton Club’ in Harlem, although the club largely excluded Black people. In Harlem, Black art, music and culture flourished.

Economic crash

The economic boom in the USA in the 1920s did not last. In 1929, there was a huge economic crash. There were several reasons why this happened including:

Long-term causes:

• Overproduction: Businesses made more goods than people wanted or could afford to buy. As a result, companies struggled to sell their products and lost money.
• Falling consumer demand: Wealth was unevenly shared in the USA, so many people could not afford to buy consumer goods. Others had bought goods on credit and were already in debt.
• Republican policies: High tariffs made it harder for foreign countries to sell goods in the USA and harder for American businesses to sell goods abroad.
• Lack of government regulation: There was little government control over banks and the stock market. This allowed businesses and investors to take greater risks.
• Overspeculation: Share prices rose to unrealistically high levels because investors expected prices to keep increasing.

Short-term causes:

• Many people bought shares 'on the margin', meaning they borrowed money to buy them. This pushed share prices even higher.
• In autumn 1929, some investors began selling their shares. This caused panic, and many others started selling too.
• As more people sold shares, prices fell rapidly.
• 24 October 1929 ('Black Thursday'): 13 million shares were traded as investors rushed to sell.
• 29 October 1929 ('Black Tuesday’): 16.5 million shares were traded. Share prices collapsed and many people lost large amounts of money.
• The collapse of share prices became known as the Wall Street Crash.

The impact of the Great Depression

The aftermath of the Wall Street Crash, is called the Great Depression.

• Unemployment and homelessness increased dramatically.
• Banks failed as people could no longer repay their loans, and customers rushed to withdraw all their savings. People lost their life savings as banks could not afford to give everyone the money that they had saved.
• Many people living in poverty ended up living in shelters and shantytowns nicknamed ‘Hoovervilles’ on the outskirts of towns and cities. Named after President Hoover who many blamed for the poor economic situation, they had no basic amenities like water or electricity and were places of extreme hardship.
• President Hoover became very unpopular and many blamed him for the depression. He lost the next election in 1932 to Franklin D Roosevelt.

The New Deal

When Roosevelt became President, he promised to help the economy recover. Between 1933 and 1939 he launched a series of programmes to try to help people. These are called the New Deal which included:

• Setting up the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to provide more food, clothing and housing for people living in poverty
• Public work programmes such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) created jobs building roads, schools and dams.
• Social Security was set up to provide benefits for the elderly, disabled people and people living in unemployment.
• Rules for banks to make things safer for people.

The New Deal helped many Americans by creating jobs, providing relief for people living in poverty and restoring confidence in the banking system. However, unemployment remained high throughout much of the 1930s and the economy did not fully recover until the Second World War.

The Second World War and Civil Rights

The USA joined the Second World War after Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1941. During the war, about 1.2 million Black Americans served in the Armed Forces.

At the time, the US military was segregated, which meant that Black soldiers served in separate units from white soldiers. These units were usually led by white officers. At first, many Black Americans worked in support roles rather than combat positions. As the war continued and more troops were needed, they were increasingly allowed to serve in combat units.

Black servicemen and women made an important contribution to the war effort. Despite facing segregation and discrimination, they served in a wide range of roles across the Armed Forces.

The Double V Campaign

The Double V Campaign began in 1942. It was led by Black Americans and called for two victories:

• victory againstfascismoverseas during the Second World War
• victory against racism in the USA

Supporters argued that it was unfair for Black Americans to fight for freedom abroad while still facing segregation and discrimination at home.

Many Black Americans hoped that their service during the war would help bring about greater equality after the conflict ended. However, when many soldiers returned home, segregation and racial discrimination continued.

There was some progress after the war. In 1948, President Harry Truman ordered the desegregation of the US Armed Forces. This decision followed years of pressure from civil rights groups, Black veterans and campaigners for racial equality.

Civil Rights 1953-1968

Although some progress had been made after the Second World War, segregation and discrimination continued in many parts of the USA. As a result, the Civil Rights Movement grew stronger during the 1950s and 1960s.

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Oliver Brown, supported by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), challenged school segregation in Topeka, Kansas. The Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This was an important victory for the Civil Rights Movement, although many states were slow to follow the ruling.

• Little Rock Nine (1957)

Nine Black students enrolled at Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. They faced strong opposition from some local residents. President Eisenhower sent federal troops to ensure the students could attend the school safely.

• March on Washington (1963)

More than 250,000 people took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. During the march, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)

The boycott began after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. Many Black Americans stopped using the city's buses in protest. The boycott helped bring an end to segregation on Montgomery's buses.

• Freedom Riders (1961)

Freedom Riders travelled on interstate buses to challenge segregation in bus stations and other public facilities.

• Sit-ins

Civil rights activists organised sit-ins at segregated restaurants and lunch counters. They would peacefully occupy seats and refuse to leave until they were served.

These protests and legal challenges helped bring greater attention to racial inequality in the USA and increased pressure for change.

Civil Rights leaders and activists

There were many different Civil Rights groups and leaders. Two of the most famous were:

Achievements and limitations of the Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement achieved several important changes in the USA:

• The Brown v. Board of Education ruling (1954) led to the desegregation of public schools.
• The Civil Rights Act (1964) made discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex or national origin illegal.
• The Voting Rights Act (1965) aimed to protect Black Americans' right to vote by banning discriminatory voting practices.
• The Fair Housing Act (1968) made discrimination in the sale or rental of housing illegal.

These laws helped to improve equality and protect civil rights. However, racism and discrimination did not disappear. Many Black people continued to face racism, prejudice and unequal treatment in areas such as housing, employment and education. As a result, the struggle for civil rights continued beyond the 1960s.

Feminism

Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.

In the early 20th century, many American feminists campaigned for greater equality, including the right to vote. Their efforts led to the 19th Amendment in 1920, which gave women the right to vote in national elections.

During the Second World War, many women took jobs in factories, government offices and military support services. As women took on roles that had traditionally been done by men, many gained greater independence and new opportunities outside the home.

The role of women in the 1950s and 60s

However, after the war, women were expected to return to their traditional roles working in the home and looking after children. Film and television often portrayed women’s role as only in the home. Shows like Father Knows Best portrayed women in domestic roles, for example.

Many women were frustrated with their rights, the expectations of them in society, and their lack of equality with men.

Second-wave feminism

A new feminist protest movement started in the 1960s, known as second-wave feminism. The movement focused on a number of issues including reproductive rights (women’s ability to make decisions about pregnancy, contraception and having children), political equality and ending discrimination and sexism.

Feminist writers and activists

National Organisation for Women (NOW)

• Founded in Washington in 1966 by 29 feminist activists.
• Betty Friedan was its first president.
• Focused on gender equality in all walks of life.
• Led many protests for women’s rights, including marches, rallies, demonstrations and parades.

What did the Feminist movement achieve?