The Race Issue: 1948-1960

Race had always been an issue in Louisiana. It was a major factor in determining a person's economic and political rights. Like other southern states, Louisiana had adopted a number of Jim Crow laws separating blacks and whites in access to public facilities. The U. S. Supreme Court in its Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1895 had said that it was not unconstitutional for Louisiana to do this. This federal policy of noninterference continued well into the twentieth century.

World War II provided for a change in some federal policies. The national government grew and became more intrusive in the affairs of the states. In 1943, the States' Rights movement was organized in Louisiana to fight against federal control of offshore oil lands. The movement grew and changed its primary focus in the future to fighting federal interference in race relations.

The Truman administration's Fair Employment Practices Commission, a small federal agency to secure equal employment opportunities for blacks, combined with President Truman's interest in civil rights legislation set fire to the States" Rights movement in the South. A third party called the Dixiecrats was organized , and in Louisiana the Dixiecrats took over the Democratic Party. Governor Early Long openly supported the Truman administration in the 1948 election against the Dixiecrats. Truman won re-election to the White House and the Louisiana Dixiecrats dissolved. Much of their support went to Republican Dwight Eisenhower in the next two presidential elections. To leave their traditional Democratic party (which openly supported programs to assist blacks to advance economically) showed the intense hatred of Southerners to potential federal interference in the status quo.

In 1954, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) provided legal assistance to the parents of Linda Brown, a black girl required by law to attend an all-black school in Topeka, Kansas. The Browns challenged the constitutionality of the Kansas law requiring separate school facilities for blacks and whites . In the case of Brown V. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional state laws requiring racial segregation of public schools. The decision included assertions that the doctrine "separate but equal," established inequality. The era of court ordered desegregation of public schools began.

The South was astonished. All of Louisiana's congressional delegation signed a "Southern Manifesto" questioning the wisdom of the Court's decision and calling for state's rights. Even reform minded Governor Kennon condemned the decision. The Louisiana legislature passed a resolution criticizing the Chief Justice Earl Warren and established a Joint Committee on Segregation. The committee devised many ways of avoiding compliance with the courts decision.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic