“We American Negros should know…until Africa is free, the descendants of Africa the world over cannot escape their chains… the NAACP should therefore put in the forefront of its program the freedom of Africa in work and wage, education and health, and the complete abolition of the colonial system” W.E.B Du Bois, a prominent Civil rights advocacy figure in the NAACP said this after returning to the United States after the fifth Pan-African Congress conference. The Great Migration which occurred from roughly 1900-1970’s was a very important time in American history. Although in principle African Americans had the “same” rights as everyone else, many of us know this wasn’t the case during this time. Throughout the great migration up …show more content…
In the case of Guinn v. United States the supreme courts ruled that the “Grandfather Clause” which made people pass a literacy test in order to vote, was unconstitutional. However, Civil rights took a back seat for about the next 25 years, as America was facing a bigger crisis at the time. Although America was just finishing up with world war one and morale was at an all-time high, many Americans did not know what the future was going to hold. On October 29th, 1929, the stock market collapsed and American was amidst the great depression. Which hit everyone really hard, the stagnant economy in the north and south left many people homeless, broke, and jobless. In the worst of the depression at least twenty-five percent of American workers were unemployed. But for African Americans about fifty-six percent of laborers had no jobs. Not only where fifty-six percent of African Americans unemployed, they were also the “Last hired and the first fired” . The great depression could not have come at a worse time for the south who were still recuperating from the civil war. With many southern farmers losing their crops, and farms, it lead many people to leave the south and peruse new jobs …show more content…
Fair Employment was one of the largest concepts civil rights advocates pulled for. In a report release by the governor’s commission on human rights in January 1952, only 28 cities secured a governing body that has took action against unfair employment practices. Many of these cities which were located in the north, especially Ohio, which had 13 of the 28 cities. The report also showed a breakdown of cases that were sent to them, “Of [the] 215 cases received by the commission in 1950 reveals that complaints alleging discrimination on account of race or color comprised 65% of the total charges… Nearly one-half of the cases charged refusal to hire” . In a report released in February 1960 about unfair employment laws jump from 28 cities to 20 states. Of the twenty states, “twelve of the 20 states also provide for the administering agency to make complaints. Six of these and three more also permit the attorney general to initiate complaints” . Civil Rights laws at the time prohibiting discrimination in places or public accommodations where the only laws in eighteen states “civil rights in public facilities is one of the most difficult problems to deal with despite the state law… sometimes this works; often it does not. When a