Synopses & Reviews
Following a hard-fought war to preserve freedom and combat racial tyranny, Harry S Truman faced a nation of racial turmoil at home where many Americans did not enjoy the basic rights they had fought to secure. Lynchings, violent racial attacks, and widespread discrimination undermined the countrys democratic ideals and prompted Truman to appoint a committee on civil rights. The committees report, To Secure These Rights, is one of the most important documents in the history of the modern civil rights movement; its findings showed a nation torn by racial injustice and its recommendations set the agenda for the ongoing struggle for racial equality. This volume contains the full text of the 1947 report, plus an insightful introduction by Steven F. Lawson that chronicles early civil rights efforts and details the political and social climate of the postwar era. Also included are nine original images from the report, questions for consideration, an annotated chronology, and suggestions for further reading.
About the Author
STEVEN F. LAWSON has taught at the University of South Florida and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is now professor of American history and vice-chair for undergraduate education at Rutgers University. He is the author of Black Ballots: Voting Rights in the South, 1944-1969; In Pursuit of Power: Southern Blacks and Electoral Politics, 1965-1982; Running for Freedom: Civil Rights and Black Politics in America Since 1941; and, with Charles Payne, Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968. He served as an academic adviser to the public television documentary series Eyes on the Prize, I and II. He is currently completing a volume of his essays on the civil rights movement.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
PART ONE
Introduction: Setting the Agenda of the Civil Rights Movement
PART TWO
To Secure These Rights: The Report of the Presidents Committee on Civil Rights
Assignment from the President
I. The American Heritage: The Promise of Freedom and Equality
The Ideal of Freedom and Equality
Government and Freedom
The Essential Rights
The Heritage and the Reality
II. The Record: Short of the Goal
Our Diverse Population
Signs of Recent Progress
The Condition of Our Rights
Segregation Reconsidered
Civil Rights in the Nation's Capital
III. Government's Responsibility: Securing the Rights
Constitutional Traditions as to Governmental Protection of Civil Rights
The Role of the Supreme Court as a Guardian of Civil Rights
The Civil Rights Section Experiment
The Problem of Sanctions
The Climate of Opinion
IV. A Program of Action: The Committee's Recommendations
The Time is Now
The Committee's Recommendations
Appendixes
A Chronology of Events concerning To Secure These Rights (1938-1968)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index