G u i d e
t o
R e a d i n g
N o t e s
Following are possible answers for each section of the Reading Notes.
Section 2
The Workplace
Below are examples of how segregation affected
American life for each of the six topics in the spoke
diagram.
• Few blacks held white-collar jobs, except as
teachers or ministers.
• Few blacks were employed as skilled laborers.
Public Accommodations
• Incomes of black men were much lower than those
of white men.
• Many states had laws that legalized segregation in
public places, keeping blacks and whites separated
and often giving them different facilities.
• Discrimination in employment was often due to
racism as well as poor schooling for blacks.
• Facilities for blacks were often notably inferior. In
some cases, there were no accommodations for them
at all.
Politics
Schools
• Schools for black students had substandard facilities
and often lacked books and supplies.
• Poll taxes, literacy tests, and white primaries kept
many blacks from voting and therefore denied them
political representation.
• Gerrymandering redrew lines of voting districts to
dilute the strength of the black vote.
• Teachers in black schools were paid less and
worked under difficult conditions.
Possible comparisons between the classroom activity
and history:
• Black schools often had no bus system, so students
had to walk miles to attend school.
• The two classroom groups had different materials
available to them that allowed them to achieve
different levels of success; historically, inferior
school systems made it difficult for African
Americans to achieve the same levels of success in
education and the workplace as whites.
Housing
• De facto segregation, common in northern cities,
included restrictive covenants. These agreements
prevented people from selling or renting to African
Americans and often kept blacks in poorer neigh­borhoods.
• De jure segregation included racial zoning, local
laws that defined where races could live. This kept
blacks and whites in separate neighborhoods.
Marriage
• Miscegenation laws stated that blacks were inferior
to whites and that racial mixing would threaten the
“purity of the white race.”
• The two groups were segregated by means beyond
their control; historically, groups have been segre­
gated by race and ethnicity, both attributes beyond
their control.
• The teacher discriminated against one group
and reinforced the segregation in the classroom;
authorities such as federal, state, and local officials
contributed to and reinforced discriminatory
practices and laws.
• Many miscegenation laws also prohibited marriage
between whites and Asians or American Indians.
© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute
Segregation in the Post–World War II Period
1
G u i d e
t o
R e a d i n g
N o t e s
Sections 3 and 4
Following are dates and events for the Event Cards, along with facts that students might give.
Date: 1942
Event: Formation of CORE
Facts: Students in Chicago found the Congress of Racial Equality.
CORE commits to nonviolent direct action to affect change.
CORE protests segregation at a Chicago coffee shop.
Date: 1947 (1945 for minor leagues)
Event: First black baseball player in the major leagues
Facts: Jackie Robinson is hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
He faces prejudice from fans, teammates, and opposing players.
Other professional sports begin accepting black players at about the
same time.
Date: 1948
Event: Desegregation of the armed forces
Facts: President Truman signs Executive Order 9981.
Executive Order 9981 makes equality of “treatment and opportunity”
regardless of race official policy in the armed forces.
Date: 1954
Event: Brown v. Board of Education ruling
Facts: A class-action lawsuit against desegregated schools reaches the
Supreme Court.
The NAACP, led by Thurgood Marshall, argues that segregation harms
black children.
The Warren Court rules that segregation violates the equal protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
© Teachers’ Curriculum Institute
Segregation in the Post–World War II Period
2