The Positive Impact Of President Johnson And The Black Liberation Movement

This source can support the view of the historian Joseph.R Conlin, that ‘Johnson rendered a greater service to African Americans, than any other president except Abraham Lincoln. Enacted April 11, 1968, the photograph shows legislation within the United States which set out to prohibit discrimination regarding the financing and sale of housing based on gender, sex and race. The Act made it a federal crime to “By force or by threat of force, injure, intimidate, or interfere with anyone … by reason of their race, colour, religion, or national origin.” This highlights the positive impacts of President Johnson as a president within the progress of the black liberation movement between 1861 and 1969. Almost 50 years later, the Act still pervades
Victims of discrimination now have a platform which enables them to stand up for their views with no punishable consequence; this shows Johnsons actions proved to have a successful long term impact, and makes the source valuable for studying Johnsons impact within the black liberation movement. Despite this, the source still supports Joseph.R Conlin’s view that , Johnson’s impact within the liberation movement may be limited; the content of the source may limit the value of Johnson’s impact in the black liberation movement. The source does not show anyone of coloured skin in the cabinet. This shows how Johnson’s intention may have been to promote equality within the black community, yet the power to exercise this was brushed off. There is a significant difference between word and action, and it seems Johnson had failed to promote such change within his own cabinet. Social change cannot occur if it isn’t implemented within the foundations of the justice system. Moreover, in the senate there was contentious debate over the bill, but it was soon passed by the House of Representatives straight after the assassination of Martin Luther King
The widely circulated wood engraving in 1863, portrays the initiation of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, stating his intention to free all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” The image shows Lincoln beneath the black slaves- whom are central within the carving. This shows the plight of black people, being above a white man almost. The central image juxtaposes the series of images in the background; the pictures on the left and right of the carving almost suggest the past hardships the coloured faced and the central image being the democratic future. This source is effective in exploring how valuable Lincoln’s role was in the black liberation movement between 1861 and 1969. The nature of the source is political; Thomas Nast, a German – American, is an American political cartoonist, thus the overall tone of this source is quite sympathetic towards black slaves. Harpers Weekly was a New York based magazine, and by 1860 the circulation of the’ Weekly’ had reached 200,000. The magazine took a moderate editorial stance within the issue of slavery, during the outbreak of the civil war. The Weekly had initially supported the ‘Stephan A Douglas’ presidential campaign- opposing Lincoln, but as civil war broke out, it diverted its support to Lincoln and the Union. This therefore could be a limitation of the source as it would inevitably be