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Educational
Activity
President
Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt & Civil Rights
Grade
Level: 9-12
Time:
60 minutes
Goals:
- Students
will read and analyze a variety of primary sources related
to civil rights
-
Students will acquire knowledge of the civil rights efforts
in the years following World War II
National
History Standards
- Historical
Comprehension (Standard In Historical Thinking - Standard
2)
-
Historical Analysis and Interpretation (Standard in Historical
Thinking - Standard 3)
-
The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945) - The
causes and course of World War II, the character of the
war at home and abroad, and its reshaping of the U.S. role
in world affairs. (Standard 3)
-
Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s) - Domestic policies
after World War II (Standard 3)
- Postwar
United States (1945 to early 1970s) - The struggle for racial
and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties
(Standard 4)
Teacher Preparation
Teachers should have a basic knowledge of the early years
of the civil rights movement both during World War II (i.e.
President Roosevelt's executive order to desegregate the defense
plants and the contribution of African American soldiers and
their demands for better treatment upon returning home) and
in the post war years during the Truman presidency. A good
1945- 1953 civil rights related timeline may be accessed online.
Teachers should also introduce students to the activist role
played by Eleanor Roosevelt in the area of human rights both
in the U.S. and in the world and the history, philosophy,
and actions of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People.
Background:
On
June 29th 1947 both President Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt
spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to delegates
attending the annual conference of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP, founded
in 1909, was the leading civil right organization for African
Americans. It legally challenged through the courts acts of
discrimination in housing, transportation, voting and education
and was a key player in the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of
Education of Topeka Supreme Court case.
 Both
Harry and Eleanor favored increased civil rights for African
Americans. President Truman created the President's Committee
on Civil Rights which would issue its report a few months
after his NAACP speech. Many of its recommendations were endorsed
by the NAACP but were blocked in Congress by conservatives.
Truman's civil rights stand would become a hot issue among
Democrats in the 1948 presidential election and would ultimately
lead to some Southern states defecting from their Democratic
Party roots and forming a third party, commonly referred to
as the Dixiecrats.
Their
platform opposed the liberal civil rights stands of Harry
and Eleanor. It wasn't until the 1960s under Democratic President
Lyndon Johnson that many of the civil rights proposals became
law in the U.S. Harry Truman supported the civil rights proposals
of the 1960s but voiced his disapproval over Martin Luther
King's civil disobedience actions. Truman in particular disapproved
of the lunch counter sit-ins by college students in Southern
segregated restaurants which he judged to be counterproductive.
Mrs. Roosevelt however supported such actions in the push
for equality.
Student
directions:
You will need to use the internet to read and/or listen to
President Truman's NAACP speech.
1.
In your own words, summarize the major points expressed by
President Truman in this speech.
2.
Would the concepts of this speech still apply today? How far
have we come since 1947 to limit discrimination in our country?
What newly identified groups would you include (if any) beyond
ancestry, religion, race, and color that Truman mentioned?
Would you include gender, income level, disability, or sexual
orientation? State your opinions in a paragraph of 6-8 sentences.
3.
Harry Truman also talked in this same speech about the need
to ensure that basic civil rights and democracy exist for
the people of other nations, especially those nations of Europe
ravaged by WW II, Guam and American Somoa. President Bush
made a similar call in regards to Iraq, Iran, and other nations.
Do you agree that we should export our core democratic beliefs
to other nations or do you see this as cultural imperialism?
State your opinions in a paragraph of 6-8 sentences.
4.
Should the U.S. in any time period send in its soldiers to
protect basic human rights? If no, then why not? If yes, then
at what sacrifice? Respond with your opinions in 6-8 sentences.
5. Student directions: What a public person like the president
states in a speech may not totally reflect his/her true inner
thoughts. Ernie Roberts, a personal friend of Truman's, sent
him a letter in l948 that criticized Truman for his actions
on behalf of civil rights for African Americans. In this letter,
Roberts stated that Truman 's actions could cost him the Southern
vote in the upcoming presidential election. He went on to
write:
You, Bess and Margaret, and shall I say, myself, are
all Southerners and we have been raised with the Negros(sic)
and we know the term "Equal Rights". Harry, let
us let the South take care of the N------, which they have
done, and if the N------ do not like the Southern treatment,
let them come to Mrs. Roosevelt. Harry, you are a Southerner
and a D--- good one so listen to me. I can see, you do not
talk domestic(sic) problems over with Bess. You put equal
rights in Independence and Bess will not live with you,
will you Bess.
What
is Mr. Roberts implying when he writes that he and the Truman
family are all Southerners who know what equal rights means?
Is he further making an assumption that Harry's wife does
not favor equality? What is he indirectly saying about Eleanor
Roosevelt?
7.
Student Directions - You are to read Harry
Truman's reply letter back to Mr. Roberts.
8.
Explain why President Truman is concerned. What violent racial
acts are occurring around the nation that bother him?
9.
What does Truman mean when he states that he wants "equality
of opportunity" but not "social equality" for
all human beings? What is the difference?
10.
Do you think he is seriously willing to risk losing the 1948
election with his civil rights stand? Why (not)?
Background:
In
1939, in the final years of the Great Depression and before
the entry of the United States into WWII, a famous incident
took place in Washington that clearly showed Eleanor's stand
on racial equality. The world famous African American female
singer, Marian Anderson, was denied the use of the public
Constitution Hall by its owners, the Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR). The DAR stated that the use of their hall
was restricted to white performers only. Eleanor, a DAR member,
quickly sent in her resignation letter and this action made
national news.
Marian
Anderson, with the help of other Roosevelt administration
officials, went on to sing her concert on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday 1939 to an integrated crowd
of 75,000. In January 1943 Marian Anderson finally sang in
Constitution Hall and she performed again at the Lincoln Memorial
in 1963 and in 1965. She had once stated that racism was like
"…a hair that blows across your face. Nobody sees
it, but it's there and you can feel it." When asked about
her opinion on Eleanor's DAR resignation she told a reporter
"I am not surprised at Mrs. Roosevelt's action, because
she seems to me to be one who really comprehends the true
meaning of democracy."
11.
Student directions: You are to read Eleanor Roosevelt's resignation
letter and respond to it. Summarize the key points she made
in showing her disapproval of the DAR's whites only policy?
Do you agree with her action?
12.
Eleanor regularly wrote an editorial column for newspapers.
The day after she sent in her resignation she reflected on
her act. Although she did not mention the DAR by name, she
wrote:
The
question is, if you belong to an organization and disapprove
of an action which is typical of a policy, should you resign
or is it better to work for a changed point of view within
the organization? In the past, when I was able to work actively
in any organization to which I belonged, I have usually
stayed in until I had at least made a fight and had been
defeated. But, in this case, I belong to an organization
in which I can do no active work. They have taken an action
which has been widely talked of in the press. To remain
as a member implies approval of that action, and therefore
I am resigning.
13.
How would you handle such a situation if it happened to you
today? Suppose you too belonged to a group that supported
a cause you totally disagreed with, even though you approved
of its other policies and activities. What action would you
take? Why?
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