A People's History of the United States

Following World War II, issues of race began to take prominence thanks, in part, to the decline of other issues mentioned in the previous chapter. Race became especially important as the old European empires in Asia and Africa collapsed (448). In comparison to the egalitarian rhetoric of the Soviet Union, racially divided America seemed to be less hospitable to the decolonizing peoples. To reverse this perception, politicians like Presidents Harry Truman pushed to rapidly change the appearance of racial inequality (450). This top-down, government-led approach worked for the NAACP, which was dedicated to pursuing legal equality and elite recognition of Black rights. By 1954, this strategy had succeeded in producing a major win for the growing civil rights movement, the Supreme Court decision in favor of school desegregation. The language in that decision, however, undermined the accomplishment. School desegregation, the Supreme Court said, should proceed with “all deliberate speed.” What that meant was up for the courts to decide, and by 1965 only 25% of American schools were desegregated.

As early as the 1930s, the Communist Party welcomed Black activists into their ranks. These radicals worked together to sharpen the policy of direct action that the Communist Party had inherited.