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How Did Mccarthyism Affect The Civil Rights Movement

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Recommended: Civil society protests from the 1950s to the 1970s:The.US Civil rights movement

Civil Rights and McCarthyism

In American history, the 1950s consisted of a decade of opposites. On the one hand, it was a period of wealth, consumerism. On the other side, it was a period of persecution, fear, and obedience. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union promoted an environment of fear and suspicion that affected all aspects of life. McCarthyism, a campaign of anti-communist witch-hunts directed by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his associates, was one of the most important examples of this. McCarthyism attacked liberals, intellectuals, artists, labor activists, and civil rights activists in addition to suspected communists. This paper will argue that McCarthyism harmed the civil rights movement by undermining its …show more content…

The anti-communist poorly affected the labor movement, which had been an essential ally of the black struggle in the 1930s and 1940s. Many unions that had supported civil rights campaigns were kicked out of the CIO for supposed Communist Party relationships. These unions had a strong track record of mobilizing black workers and combating discrimination in employment and housing. According to Lee Sustar, "union support for black struggles withered in the right-wing atmosphere" (Sustar). With the demise of these unions, the civil rights movement lost an essential source of finance, action, and …show more content…

Many civil rights activists were forced to control their demands and techniques in order to fit in and accept American ideals and avoid being regarded as rebellious. They focused on legal reforms and slow integration rather than solving the key causes of racial discrimination and inequality. Instead of forming alliances with other poor groups both at home and abroad, they sought to demonstrate their commitment to the nation and its foreign policy. According to Paul Heideman, "the anticommunist campaign...narrowed the movement's focus to legal equality, leaving its larger ambitions unfulfilled" (Heideman).

To summarize, McCarthyism was an important obstacle to the growth of civil rights in the 1950s. It weakened the movement's leadership by focusing on its most outspoken and extreme members. It weakened its ties by eliminating its most reliable ally, the labor movement. It also limited the scope by imposing a conservative and strict agenda on its objectives and techniques. To accomplish important successes in the next ten years, the civil rights movement had to overcome these

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