5 Chapter 5: The Civil Rights Movement and Social Welfare

Section 5.1: Mid-20th Century Civil Rights Movements and Social Welfare

Despite passage of the 1875 Civil Rights Act, equality remains elusive for African Americans into the 20th century. In the South, Jim Crow and other exclusionary laws restricting voting and interracial marriage, denying freedom and equity for Black Americans. Things were somewhat better in the North but due to the Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court decision, Black Americans across the country were restricted from access to the same supports and services that White Americans could use freely.

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Increased public support for civil rights in the 20th century was led by a growing awareness of long-standing racial injustice and violence. The lack of freedom for African Americans in the US was highlighted by the fight for freedom abroad during World War II.

While the concept of “separate but equal” was declared unconstitutional by the Brown v Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954, it would take more pivotal events to truly effect change. Publicity about the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi in August 1955 and the lack of any type of punishment for the perpetrators drew attention to overt and rampant violence against Black people in the South.

Actual implementation of integration was slow in the South. The NAACP, established in 1909 by a group of White allies including Jane Addams, and well-known African Americans including W.E.B. du Bois and Ida B. Wells, catalyzed federal intervention for integration from President Dwight Eisenhower with the help of U.S. troops in a Little Rock, AR, high school.

Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.’s year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-56 was the beginning of the use of peaceful protest and demonstrations demanding equality and civil rights. The Civil Rights of 1957, focusing on voting rights for African Americans, was the first civil rights legislation since the end of the Civil War.

Across the southern U.S., more Black activists were pushing back against oppression and inequality, with famous protests such as the Woolworth Lunch Counter sit-in by the Greensboro Four; the Freedom Rides; and Bloody Sunday in Selma, AL. Dr. King Jr. delivered one of the most famous speeches in US history on Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington. In the speech, he called for new civil right legislation that would actually lead to change.

The fight continued throughout the early 1960s, finally culminating in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The bills contributed to an expansion of access to social welfare for people of color. This access though was immediately challenged by revisions to the primary cash assistance program, Aid to Dependent Children. When federal oversight of the program, first established in the 1935 Social Security Act, was reduced, states implemented provisions limiting assistance to “suitable” families. This provision eliminated or inhibited coverage of “illegitimate” children or children of color. Starting in the mid-1960s, the National Welfare Rights Organization began organizing to defend welfare recipients’ rights, working with lawyers to file court cases that challenged the administration of AFDC. Although numerous court challenges failed, by the mid-1970s the Court had struck down some of the most draconian state provisions regulating AFDC.

Section 5.2: The War on Poverty and Expansion of Social Work

In his State of the Union Address on Jan. 8,1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Poverty. Johnson was convinced that the high levels of poverty at the time, particularly among the elderly and in rural America, were the result of societal failings, instead of strictly personal problems. His Great Society programs were designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. Key initiatives included Medicare and Medicaid, the Economic Opportunity Act, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Social workers, such as Dorothy Height and Whitney Young, played crucial roles in the development of the programs and in evaluating the effectiveness of Great Society initiatives, contributing to the understanding of their impact on poverty and social welfare. The Community Action Program (CAP) served as a mechanism for coordinating services, highlighting the importance of social work in policy implementation and community engagement. The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) was established to implement the War on Poverty, emphasizing community action to empower local populations. Programs like Head Start and VISTA were designed to provide educational and vocational support, directly involving social workers in their execution.

Drawing on the Settlement House Movement, the War on Poverty highlighted the importance of community-oriented social work (COSW), which involved social workers maintaining close contact with local communities to address poverty through prevention and empowerment strategies. This approach encouraged collaboration between social workers and community members, focusing on building local capacities and resources to combat poverty effectively. The expansion of public legal services under the Great Society allowed social workers to advocate for the rights of the poor, ensuring access to necessary resources and support.

While the Great Society Programs faced criticism regarding their effectiveness, the role of social work in these initiatives underscored the importance of community engagement and advocacy in addressing systemic social issues. Critics argue that despite the investment, many programs did not achieve their intended outcomes, suggesting a need for more effective strategies in social policy implementation.

Credit: Associated Press

Three of the six leaders of African American organizations who met with President Lyndon B. Johnson Nov. 19, 1964, talk with reporters at the White House after the meeting. They met to discuss various problems and see what lies ahead in the session that lasted about an hour. They are, left to right: James Farmer, national director of the Congress of Racial Equality; Whitney M. Young, Jr., executive director of the National Urban League; Dorothy Height of the National Council of Negro Women. (AP Photo).

References

Editors, History.com, (2024, May 14). Civil Rights Movement. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement

Sheppard, S. & Kijakazi, K. (2024, July 3) Honoring the Civil Rights Act legacy through equitable service. Social Security Matters. https://blog.ssa.gov/honoring-the-civil-rights-acts-legacy-through-equitable-service/

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration & Management (n.d.). Legal highlight: the Civil Rights Act of 1964. U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/statutes/civil-rights-act-of-1964#:~:text=The%20Act%20prohibited%20discrimination%20in,continues%20to%20resonate%20in%20America.

Schulz, A. (2015). Major welfare changes and public opinion, 1965-2010. Xavier Journal of Politics, VI(1). 97-111. https://www.xavier.edu/xjop/documents/vol6_2015/1XJOPVolVI2015MajorWelfareChangesandPublicOpinion.pdf

Gordon, L. & Batlan, F. (2011). The legal history of the Aid to Dependent Children Program. Social Welfare History Project. https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/public-welfare/aid-to-dependent-children-the-legal-history/

Marx, J.D. (2011). American social policy in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Social Welfare History Project. https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/war-on-poverty/american-social-policy-in-the-60s-and-70s/