Masaryk University
Part I: Introduction to the Topic
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- 1.2The Civil Rights Movement
- 1.3John Fitzgerald Kennedy
- 1.3.1Family Background
1Part I: Introduction to the Topic1.1African Americans in the USAThe first Africans arrived at the Continent of North America in 1619 as indentured servants. Trans-Atlantic trade brought millions of Africans to America and new social order based on skin color was gradually established in the colonies. Although according to the Declaration of Independence (1776), all men were equal, blacks were owned by white masters as slaves, primarily but not exclusively in the South of the United States where they worked on tobacco, rice and cotton fields. The Civil War (1861 – 1865) brought an end to slavery. Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1863 freed all slaves in the states of Confederacy. During the so called Reconstruction era1 three amendments2 were passed. These amendments aimed to modify the social position of black population. However, during the period of Reconstruction, new groups and organizations arouse and their main aim was to threaten African Americans and prevent them from trying to exercise their rights. Southern states started enacting the so called Black Codes, laws limiting civil liberties of former slaves which helped establish segregation. In 1896, the Supreme Court announced in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson that separate facilities for white and colored people were legal as long as they were of equal quality, which legitimized racial segregation and enabled it to become an inherent part of the American society. Segregation was present at all spheres of public life – schools, restaurants, accommodation and transport facilities were all segregated. As Morris claims: “Racial segregation was the linchpin of Jim Crow,3 for it was an arrangement that set Blacks off from the rest of humanity and labeled them as an inferior race” (517). Desegregation became one of the main goals of the civil rights advocates. During the First World War, African Americans were given the opportunity to “serve their country” (Rosenberg 17), however, despite this new achievement other changes regarding racial equalization did not occur between the First and the Second World Wars. With the beginning of the Second World War African Americans were provided new opportunities in the economical terms due to the increasing number of factories. Large numbers of African Americans moved from the Southern states to the North of the USA. In terms of economical conditions, the Second World War brought certain changes to black population in the USA. The Second World War was a war fought against fascism, racist regime, and the USA were one of the countries fighting against this regime, however, their military forces were still segregated. According to Dudziak, “World War II marked a transition point in American foreign relations, American politics, and American culture” (7). In the 1950s, a decade after the Second World War, decisions made by the Supreme Court in a series of successful cases brought more liberties to black Americans and they also helped to develop The Civil Rights Movement.1.2The Civil Rights MovementThe modern Civil Rights Movement, which started in 1954 by the Supreme Court decision in the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka outlawing segregation in public schools, “sought to force the U.S. social system to live up to its ideology of equality for all under it” (Bush 6). However, a lot of effort had been made by African Americans previously to this period in order to abolish racial discrimination and achieve legal equality. One of the first landmarks of the Civil Rights Movement was the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted almost one year,4 and which encouraged African Americans and inspired them to a series of other protests. Martin Luther King, who led the boycott, soon became a spiritual leader of the whole movement. The key element of the Civil Rights Movement was nonviolence, as King and other civil rights leaders – James Farmer (CORE), Bayard Rustin (principal organizer of 1963 March on Washington), James Lawson (significant theoretician of nonviolence) and Glenn Smiley (civil rights advocate) followed Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. The forms of protests against economic, educational and social disadvantages of the black people included boycotts, sit-in demonstrations, marches and also legal challenges. The civil rights demonstrations intensified and due to the expansion of modern media they also became more visible to the Americans, as well as other nations. The March on Washington, which took place on August 28, 1963, was the climax of the Movement. The March attended by more than 250,000 people “was the largest demonstration for human rights in United States history...” (Lloyed par. 1). The African American church played an important role in the Movement. It did not only provide the spiritual support to the people, but it was also a meeting place for them. It also played a key role in the organizing of nonviolent protests and in the spreading of the civil rights advocates’ leadership. As Lafayette describes, “...the church represented the freedom that the movement participants sought. It was a facility in the community beyond the control of the white power structure” (3). The music helped to unite the masses of people in their protests. The most famous song “We shall overcome” became a symbol of the Movement. 1.3John Fitzgerald KennedyKennedy was the thirty-fifth President of the United States, the first Roman Catholic President and the first American President born in the twentieth century. Unlike Eisenhower, who represented rather a passive leadership, Kennedy “believed that most of the progress in American history, in both foreign and domestic affairs, had been initiated by Presidents” (Heath 7). On one hand the fifties and sixties were the years of prosperity – the economic boom, which began during the Second World War, continued. People were earning more money, the average adult achieved a high school education, and television began to have a great impact on the society. On the other hand, these were also the years of social unrest and rebellion. Many Americans strongly disagreed with the war in Vietnam. Cultural values and social and economic systems of the country were questioned. Kennedy had to deal with the domestic issues but also with the situation at international political scene, which was rather unstable and complicated therefore the President was constantly preoccupied with foreign affairs. Some of the acts performed by Kennedy during his presidency and his political career have been questioned, however, Heath believes that Kennedy and Johnson “did more to end racial injustice that did any previous President” (12). 1.3.1Family BackgroundJohn F. Kennedy, often called Jack by his family members, was born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts into a family of Irish Catholics (“John F. Kennedy” par. 4). He grew up in very favorable conditions regarding education, as well as economic and social environment. “Jack and his eight siblings enjoyed a privileged childhood of elite private schools, sailboats, servants, and summers homes” (“John Fitzgerald” par. 3). During his childhood John F. Kennedy often suffered from different illnesses,5 and health problems continued also later throughout his life. In 1936, Kennedy enrolled at Harvard University following “the path of his father and brother...” (Kenney 12). During the time6 his father served as the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Jack visited Europe a few times and on one occasion he stayed there for seven months in order to travel and gather information for his final thesis. After he returned back to the USA, he worked on his Harvard senior thesis, which was later amended and published under the title Why England Slept. The thesis examines the response of British government to Hitler’s rise to power. Kennedy entered the American Navy in 1941, and two years later he became a hero when his motor torpedo boat PT 109 was sunk by a Japanese destroyer. According to Dallek, Jack “was a unifying example of American egalitarianism” (Unfinished Life 98). He was an example of a privileged child from a rich family who decided voluntarily to risk his life in the name of nation. Kennedy used this story of heroism well to his own benefit in his first political campaign to Congress in 1946, as well as later in his other campaigns. During the Second World War, the Kennedys lost their oldest son Joe, a navy pilot, who was killed in Europe on August 12, 1944. Joe was the one who had been supposed to follow the political career and become an influential politician one day. It was only after Joe died when the family political hope was passed to Jack. As John Kennedy explained: “I never thought at school or college that I would ever run for office myself. One politician was enough in the family, and my brother Joe was obviously going to be that politician” (Dallek, Unfinished Life 117). At the end of the war, Kennedy was not determined to pursue a political career. He was considering a career of a journalist or a diplomat. In 1945, John Kennedy was offered a job as a journalist at the United Nations Conference in San Francisco.7 He also later covered Potsdam Conference as a journalist; however, eventually he decided for the political career which was appealing to him more than journalism because in Congress one “is able to participate to some degree in determining which direction the nation will go...” (Dallek, Unfinished Life 120). According to Kennedy’s friend James MacGregor Burns, Kennedy “did have political views, and strong political views, but for his own psychological reason he wished to hide them from his family, friends, and perhaps even from himself” (Schwab 59). Joseph Kennedy, Sr., who made a lot of money in the stock market, saw a useful occupation as “the only acceptable goal” for his children (Dallek, Unfinished Life 112). In 1946 John F. Kennedy made a decision to candidate for the U.S. Congress. Download 236.92 Kb. Share with your friends:
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