Download World War II and the US Civil Rights Movement

World War II and the US Civil
Rights Movement
Gabriel Tordjman
Darwin’s Tea Party
Last update: 25 April, 2012
Background:
Nazi Eugenics and World War II (1939-45)
• The Nazi Party came into power in Germany in
1932.
• A series of laws and measures shows the
influence of eugenics and racism in Nazi
Germany.
Nazi Germany 1933-45
Sterilization Laws
• Almost immediately, laws were passed which
launched forced sterilization and other
eugenic measures
• “The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily
Diseased Offspring” was passed in July 1933
Nazi Germany
1933-45
Sterilization Laws
The law established eugenic courts
throughout the country and obliged
doctors and nurses to report anyone
with a mental or illness or mental or
physical disability
Nazi Germany 1933-45
Sterilization Laws
• The eugenic courts could
decide to impose forced
sterilization on anyone
considered genetically
defective.
• By the end of the war
about 400,000 people had
been sterilized.
This poster from a Nazi publication drives home the message that
the mentally or physically disabled are a heavy burden on society.
Nazi Germany 1933-45
The Nuremberg Laws (1935)
– Classified who was/was not German/Jewish (one
Jewish grandparent=Jewish; 4 German
grandparents=German)
– Prohibited marriage and sexual intercourse
between Jews and Germans (“Aryans”)
– Prohibited the employment of German females in
Jewish households
– Stripped German Jews of citizenship rights (e.g.,
voting, legal rights, etc...)
Nazi Germany 1933-45
The Nuremberg Laws (1935)
This chart was produced by German authorities to explain the Nuremberg
classification of Jews/Germans and “Mischling” (mixed race).
Nazi Germany (1933-45)
Euthanasia Program
• Beginning before the war, this program aimed to rid Germany
of mental or physical “defectives” by killing them
• The program began with young children but soon was
extended to adults and non-Germans.
A victim of the Nazi
Euthanasia Program:
hospitalized in a
psychiatric ward for
her nonconformist
beliefs and writings,
she was murdered
on January 26, 1944.
Germany, date
uncertain.
-US Holocaust
Memorial Museum
-http://www.ushmm.
org/
Emmi G., a 16-yearold housemaid
diagnosed as
schizophrenic. She
was sterilized and
sent to the MeseritzObrawalde
euthanasia center
where she was killed
with an overdose of
tranquilizers on
December 7, 1942.
Place and date
uncertain.
-US Holocaust
Memorial Museum
-http://www.ushmm.
org/
Nazi Germany (1933-45)
Euthanasia Program
• The killing methods involved lethal injections
of toxic drugs but gas chambers were also
used.
• The “expertise” at mass killing, including use
of gas chambers, was later used to kill millions
in concentration and death camps during the
war.
Nazi Germany (1933-45)
Concentration and Death Camps
• The Nazis started building concentration
camps in Germany almost immediately.
• Those considered enemies of the Nazis were
sent there even before the war, including
Jews, “Gypsies” (Roma), and other ethnic
minorities as well as homosexuals
• Political opponents such as communists,
socialists and some religious opponents who
dared speak out were also sent there.
When was broke out and the Nazis conquered Europe they established concentration and death
camps throughout especially Eastern Europe. Millions of Jews, Russians, Roma, and others
deemed undesirable were sent their either to be killed immediately or to work to death.
Nazi Germany (1933-45)
Concentration and Death Camps
Auschwitz Concentration and Death Camp
Survivors of Auschwitz Concentration and Death
Camp, liberated by the Soviet Union, 1945
“A Time of Terror. World War II and the Holocaust”
http://dtsdapache.hershey.k12.pa.us/wpmu/hs_eng9/tag/concentration-camps/
War and Ideology
• A key aspect of the war involved ideology and
propaganda.
• Racial and eugenic ideology played a
prominent role on the Axis side.
• The USA and the Allies fought against this
ideology and for freedom and liberty against a
totalitarian tyranny.
The 1936 Olympics in Berlin
The Nazis thought the 1936 Olympics in Germany
would show the world the superiority of the “Aryan”
race. Instead , it is most remembered for Jesse Owen’s
(an African-American) record breaking performances.
World War II (1939-45)
• WW II broke out with the attack of Nazi
Germany against Poland in 1939.
• The Allies: Britain and the British Empire
(including Canada), France, Canada, the USSR
and USA
• The Axis: Germany, Italy and Japan.
Impact of the War in the USA:
African-Americans (1941-45)
• During the war African Americans and poor
whites joined the army or found jobs that
helped raise their living standards
• During the war and upon returning, the
African American soldiers were more insistent
on gaining respect and equality at home.
Impact of the War in the USA (1941-45):
The Double V Campaign
Launched by an African-American
newspaper in Pittsburgh, The
“Double V” campaign, made the
point that a victory against Fascism
abroad was a victory against racism
and discrimination in America.
Impact of the War in the USA (1941-45):
The Double V Campaign
Marchers in Pittsburgh
calling for an end to
discrimination in hiring
and connecting it to the
struggle against Nazi and
fascist ideology.
Impact of the War in the USA (1945-47):
American Sports
• Desegregation occurred earlier in Major League sport.
• Jackie Robinson broke the “the colour barrier” in Major
League baseball in 1947 playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• He started out with the Montreal Royals in 1946.
Impact of the War in the USA:
The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights
Movement marks a
renewed struggle of
African-Americans to
achieve equality and end
racial discrimination in
the USA. The
Montgomery Bus
Boycott is often taken as
the beginning of this
struggle.
Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of the bus and
helped launch the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)
Impact of the War in the USA:
The Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the March on
Washington where he gave his famous “I Have a
Dream” Speech. On the right is Jackie Robinson
and his son, David, at the same March.
Impact of the War in the USA:
The Civil Rights Movement
White protesters jeer at a black girl entering a
previously all white Little Rock High School in 1957.
After the landmark
Supreme Court decision
Brown vs. Board of
Education, segregated
schools were declared
Unconstitutional and
black students were
now allowed to go to
previously white
schools.
Impact of the War in the USA:
Development of the Welfare State
• The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s
and 1960s was echoed by the struggle for
economic equality
• Beginning even before the war with Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, the US saw
increased government spending on social
programs like health care, education, housing,
and unemployment insurance.
Impact of the War in the USA:
Development of the Welfare State
• In the 1960s, during
a time of social
upheaval, the
trend continued
• President Lyndon
Johnson launched
the “War Against
Poverty” and “The
Great Society”
programs
Impact of the War:
The Struggle for Equality in the World
• The struggle for equality expanded globally
• The struggle for racial equality was
accompanied by a global Decolonization
movement in the 1950s and 1960s
• During this period many countries achieved
independence from Britain, France and other
previous imperial powers.
Decolonization (mostly post-WWII)
India and Pakistan achieved independence from Britain by 1949. Much of Africa achieved
independence from Britain, France, Belgium and other European countries between 1950-74
Impact of the War:
The Struggle for Equality in the World
The Charter of the
United Nations,
formed after the war
pledged to rebuild a
new world based on
the principles of
democracy and
equality.
Impact of the War:
The Struggle for Equality in the World
PREAMBLE
WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
• to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which
twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
• to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women
and of nations large and small, and
• to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the
obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international
law can be maintained, and
• to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger
freedom,
...
Charter of the United Nations, http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml
Impact of the War:
The Struggle for Equality in the World
UN Building, New York
Impact of the War in the USA:
The Continuing Struggle for Equality in the
World
• The Struggle for
equality spread
to Canada and
Quebec as well.
• In Quebec, the
upheaval of the
1960s was
carried into the
“Quiet
Revolution” (La
revolution
tranquil)
The End