The Struggle For Change And Equality In The 1960's

Philip Rnadolph makes. He brings up the March on Washington and how it displayed the power African Americans have even without violent means, and how it caused President Roosevelt to extend the offer of defense jobs to people who were Black. He acknowledges that this improvement is only a small step forward when it comes to bridging the economic, social, and political gap between races in the United States, but also stressed the point that improvement, at least on some level, has been made. Randolph states that the March on Washington proved how strong and unwavering African Americans were in fighting for their rights. During this time of war, African American protests were finally being listened to, and if the United States were to win the war, it is likely that much more than racial advancements in labor could be made for betterment of African Americans living in the United

As opposed to righteous view that America was safeguarding its position in the war, the Japanese American internments were created out of resentment and racial prejudice fostered by other Americans. As the article “Personal Justice Denied” stated, the internments were led by “widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan” (Doc E, 1983). It may seem like a precautionary cause to make internments but there aren’t any other extreme measures for other fronts. Caused by a hatred stirred by media and society’s view, many people disdain the Japanese.

In this paper, I will discuss the signing of Executive Order 9066, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, regarding the Japanese relocation and connecting back to the Pearl Harbor attack, thus, resulting in further negative opinions of both the first generation Japanese and the second generation of Japanese Americans. Event Description: Internment was brought about by a justifiable fear for the security of the nation. Japan had figured out how to pull off the assault on Pearl Harbor, which nobody had thought was conceivable. The possibility that they may assault the West Coast while the US military was still in shock was on everyone’s mind. Secondly, it was caused by racism.

Founding the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, led to the first African American labor union being organized by 1937. He became involved in other civil rights organizations as well, including the famous March on Washington in 1963. In the 1940s, Philip had grown hugely as a organizer of different African American campaigns,

America, unfortunately, has a past stained with the cruel treatment of many different groups of people, from the relocation of American Indians and slavery of Africans in the 19th century. This pattern became evident when the United States issued the forced internment of Japanese-American citizens after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The common denominator of these unconstitutional ransoms of civil liberties lies with racial and ethnic dehumanization. In Mary Matsuda Gruenewald’s book, Looking Like the Enemy, she illustrates the dark injustices with her personal account of Japanese-American internment. Just three months after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.

In 1942, policy makers of the United States, faced with an increasingly daunting threat from the west made a fateful decision to confine 120 thousand Japanese American citizens in internment camps, displacing thousands of families and creating an anti-Japanese sentiment that would persist in America for years to come. Not only was this morally wrong, it was factually incorrect that the our fellow citizens the Japanese Americans were disloyal as demonstrated by their heroism as American soldiers in the European theater.

America has long been considered “the land of the free”, illustrated in many historic documents from around the time our country was born. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 immediately showed that freedom, as we declared ourselves independent of Britain’s rule. A little over a decade later, in 1787, the Constitution was created, after the failed attempt of the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution initiated the setup of America’s government during the Constitutional Convention, in which George Washington was selected as the first president of the United States. Another four years later, in 1791, the Bill of Rights was adopted as part of the Constitution, giving Americans their basic freedoms that are very much debated about today.

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was found in 1925 by Randolph and also became the first African American labor union to be united to the American Federation of Labor. Randolph’s goal for this organization was to improve the wages and working condition for the workers of the Pullman Company. The Pullman Company had many African American workers waiting on white passengers and were paid very little and worked long hours. Randolph believed that the existence of prejudice and discrimination in the world caused for many African Americans and other minorities to live in poverty. Several years later Pullman finally gave in and decided to negotiate with the workers and also unite with Randolph’s organization, so that they can protect the rights of their workers.

Due to the increasing fear of a Japanese attack on the West Coast, Lt. General John L. Dewitt recommended that all people of Japanese descent living in America be removed to the interior of the country. In the article “An American Tragedy: The Internment of Japanese-Americans During World War II” by Norman Y. Mineta, former US Secretary of Transportation, Dewitt backed up his suggestion with rumors that “ethnic Japanese on the West Coast were signaling Japanese ships out in the Pacific ocean” and they “had stockpiled numerous rounds of ammunition and weapons” (Mineta 161). In order to combat this threat in case of enemy invasion, the camps would detain the Japanese Americans so they cannot aid the enemy. The warped logic used to imprison 110,000 people purely based on ethnic background was convincing enough to the American people that they didn’t even question

He was an expert organizer for human rights protests by the 1950s. In 1958, his role was coordinating a march in Aldermaston, England that demonstrated against nuclear weapons (10,000 people attended this march). He was in many other organizations that spoke out or protested for civil rights, such as one he co-founded with A. Philip Randolph in 1965, the A. Philip Randolph Institute. This was a labor organization for African-American trade union members. After, Rustin still continued his work with civil rights and peace movements, being much in demand as a public speaker for such protests.

Throughout history many nonviolent social movements have taken place. These movements have helped to fix injustices and provide a better environment for many people. One of these highly important social movements being the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement consisted of a series of events that led to important advancements for people of color. These events took place during the 1950’s-1960’s and some of the campaigns that took place to further the movement were the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Lunch Counter Sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and Freedom Summer.

When I heard the word “racist” for the first time, I didn’t know what it meant. I heard the word in a lot of classes but I never paid attention to it. After reading Farewell to Manzanar, I learned about racism and it’s actual mean. In Farewell to Manzanar written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Jeanne and her family faced racism after Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was a place where the Japanese bombed.

December 7th of 1941 America would face a horrific scene in their own homeland, the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor with their Air Force not once but twice. That same day President John F. Kennedy would decide to place the Japanese Americans, living in the country at the time, in internment camps. The civilians would not have a clue what they would be put up against, now they would have to encounter various obstacles to make sure they would be able to survive. “The camps were prisons, with armed soldiers around the perimeters, barbed wire. and controls over every aspect of life”(Chang).

The main march that occurred during his lifetime, was called the march in Marion. The march in Marion was supposed to be peaceful and was a protest for James Orange who was a field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The march took place in Alabama on February 18, 1965. The main reason for the march was that black people wanted the right to vote. This march became the most famous civil rights march.

Japanese-Americans living on the west coast were savagely and unjustifiably uprooted from their daily lives. These Japanese-Americans were pulled from their jobs, schools, and home only to be pushed to