iscrimination in the fields of housing
and employment.

Thus the principles underlying the United Nations and the Declaration of
Human Rights had the effect of stirring democratic and humanitarian
ideals in many parts of white America. Sensitivity to world opinion had
made all branches of the Federal Government more willing to act on racial
matters. Although most Americans would have insisted that these
activities sprang from a genuine concern for racial justice,
Afro-Americans were convinced that it had been the pressure of world
opinion which had turned these humanitarian convictions into action.

CHAPTER 11

Civil Rights and Civil Disobedience

Schools and Courts

THE democratic idealism which had been fostered by the Second World War
and the Cold War made many American citizens increasingly uncomfortable
about the legal support given to racism in the Southern states. A wide
variety of organizations--labor unions, religious and fraternal societies
as well as groups specifically concerned with attacking racism--became
increasingly active in trying to put democratic ideals into practice.
America's competition with communism in gaining world leadership, made
many Americans feel that it was necessary to prove, once and for all, the
superiority of the American way of life. However, there was a growing
concerted effort to destroy legal segregation because it was a serious
blemish on this democratic image.

Believing strongly in the democratic process as these groups did, this
attack was mounted within the framework of the legal system. The
N.A.A.C.P. came to be the cutting edge of the campaign. In particular,
the Legal Defense Fund of the N.A.A.C.P. and the small group of
intelligent, dedicated Negro lawyers whom it financed, spearheaded the
attack. It was clear that the legal system itself supported the position
of Southern racists. Most Afro-Americans in the South could not vote, and
Southern senators were in a position to sabotage any attempt to change
the system through the legislative process. They were chosen through a
white electorate, and Afro-Americans in the South could do little about
that. Even if a favorable majority in Congress stemming from the North
and West could be established, the one-party system in the South meant
that Southern Senators were continually reelected and, therefore, had
Congressional seniority. Consequently, they controlled most of the
comittees and were thereby in virtua