|
ON FEBRUARY 2, 1948, Harry S. Truman delivered a "Special Message to Congress on Civil Rights."
In the 3,095-word address, President Truman called for anti-lynching legislation, fair housing oversight, greater protection of the right to vote, an end to discrimination in the federal workforce, and the abolition of Jim Crow practices in the U.S. Armed Forces.
It was the first message of its kind by a sitting U.S. president, and it was inspired nearly entirely by a landmark report, published three months earlier, by the President's Committee on Civil Rights.
Truman had created the first-of-its-kind advisory committee in response to rising mob violence against Black veterans in 1946. To the surprise of many, he endorsed the Committee’s landmark report, To Secure These Rights. He challenged Congress to enact its recommendations, adopted the findings for his civil rights platform in the 1948 presidential campaign, and did what Congress would not: he issued executive orders to desegregate the U.S. Armed Forces and federal workforce.
Read Truman's historic civil rights message, explore the report that guided civil rights reform for a generation, and stay with us as we follow civil rights history during Truman's "Year of Great Decisions."
| 
