During World War II, around one million black men served in the army. They were in different units to the white men. Riots and fights occurred when black men from northern America had to face the discrimination in the south during training. This lessoned peoples opinion of them, in a prejudice way. They were never allowed to join the Marines or the Air Corps, but this changed for the first time during the war due to the military needs. After the war, blacks began to challenge their status as second-class citizens. After their country fighting Nazi Germany, who killed six million Jews, and a fascist Italy, the people of America began to question the racism and many white people felt their main priority as a country should be dealing with their racial problems .
More and more black people began moving from the south up to the more urban areas of the north after the war. It was easier to set up pressure groups against discrimination, some peaceful and some violent, thanks to the large numbers in the cities. When the blacks moved to the cities, a lot of whites moved out to suburbs, leaving the blacks in the inner city. Due to overcrowding black ghettoes emerged, houses were in poor conditions, which also helped to highlight the unfair racial injustice. More blacks started attending universities , improving their skills and raising the chance of jobs. When better roads and train lines were built or improved, the move from the south to cities became easier.
The economy in American affected blacks greatly. During the economic boom, more blacks were employed and earned better pay. Now that blacks could earn more money their living standards increased. This led to a demand for blacks and whites to be treated more equally. The media helped. They would highlight the disadvantages for the blacks. Television was expanding, exposing discrimination as it grew. It helped greatly to win over the