and political power and raised their educational
opportunities. And what was true for the war generation was even truer
for its children. Possessed of a new self-respect, young Negroes began
to demonstrate confidence in the future and a determination to reject
the humiliation of second-class citizenship. Out of this attitude grew
a widespread demand among the young for full equality, and when this
demand met with opposition, massive participation in civil rights
demonstrations became both practical and inevitable. Again historian
Woodward's observations are pertinent:

More than a black revolt against whites, it was in part a
generational rebellion, an uprising of youth against the older
generation, against the parental "uncle Toms" and their
inhibitions. It even took the N.A.A.C.P. and CORE (Congress of
Racial Equality) by surprise. Negroes were in charge of their (p. 475)
own movement, and youth was in the vanguard.[19-4]

[Footnote 19-4: Woodward, _Strange Career of Jim
Crow_, p. 170.]

[Illustration: CLARENCE MITCHELL.]

To a remarkable extent, this youthful vanguard was strongly religious
and nonviolent. The influence of the church on the militant phase of
the civil rights movement is one of the movement's salient
characteristics.

This black awakening paralleled a growing realization among an
increasing number of white Americans that the demands of the civil
rights leaders were just and that the government should act. World War
II had made many thoughtful Americans aware of the contradiction
inherent in fighting fascism with segregated troops. In the postwar
years, the cold war rivalry for the friendship and allegiance of the
world's colored peoples, who were creating a multitude of new states,
added a pragmatic reason for ensuring equal treatment and opportunity
for black Americans. A further inducement, and a particularly forceful
one, was the size of the northern black vote, which had become the key
to victory in several electorally important states and had made the
civil rights cause a practical political necessity for both major
parties.

The U.S. Supreme Court was the real pacesetter. Significantly
broadening its interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court
reversed a century-old trend and called for federal intervention to
protect the civil rights of the black minority in transportation,
housing, voting, and the administrat