Public Agenda: Snapshots in Time -- The Public in the Civil Rights Era


One of the most sweeping changes of the past 50 years has been in race relations. But while the victories of the civil rights movement may seem inevitable now, they certainly didn't seem so at the time. To	commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling and the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Public Agenda looks back at what the public believed as history was being made.

1954: The Brown vs. Board of Education decision
1964: The Civil Rights Act
2004: The Way Things Are Now

In the America of the 1950s, surveys found the public did not rush to embrace Brown vs. Board of Education. The Gallup poll found a majority (55 percent) approved of the Supreme Court's decision to strike down segregation in public schools, but a substantial 40 percent did not. Over the next few years the number who approved increased a little, to about six in 10. Five years later, in 1959, half the public told Gallup that they didn't believe Southern states would integrate schools without the Brown ruling (only 35 percent said they would). But Gallup also found more than half (53 percent) who said the Brown decision "caused a lot more trouble than it was worth."

That view may have been partly based on the 1957 Little Rock crisis, where the federal government sent the Army to integrate schools over the resistance of Arkansas leaders. Some 58 percent approved of President Eisenhower's handling of the situation. But the public was divided on whether the federal government was putting too much pressure on school integration: 33 percent said too much, 34 percent said it was about right and 19 percent said the government wasn't doing enough.

1954: The Brown vs. Board of Education decision
1964: The Civil Rights Act
2004: The Way Things Are Now

By the early 1960s, public attitudes had shifted in surveys. In 1964, some 62 percent supported a law to guarantee blacks "the right to be served in any retail store, restaurant, hotel or public accommodation," according to the Harris survey. An ORC poll a year earlier found even stronger support of up to 80 percent for equal rights in education, employment and voting (but only half supported equal rights in housing). And public opinion had turned against overt resistance to civil rights. Seventy percent supported President Kennedy's decision to use federal marshals to enforce integration in Alabama. Only one in five said they sided with Alabama authorities when police broke up a protest march in Selma in 1965 (half said they sided with civil rights groups).

Yet most Americans told pollsters they still had doubts about the civil rights movement. In May 1961, most people (57 percent) told the Gallup poll that sit-ins at lunch counters and the "Freedom Riders" would hurt African Americans' chances for integration. In 1964, Harris found 57 percent who disapproved of the "Freedom Summer" effort by civil rights workers to organize black voters in Mississippi. And while majorities supported the Civil Rights Act, the public still seemed reluctant to push the issue. Only 23 percent told Gallup that the Civil Rights Act should be "strictly enforced from the beginning," while 62 percent preferred a "gradual, persuasive approach."

1954: The Brown vs. Board of Education decision
1964: The Civil Rights Act
2004: The Way Things Are Now

There's no question things have changed. The civil rights movement of the 1960s is far from controversial, with 81 percent saying it was "extremely" or "very important" in a Gallup survey. Majorities of the public say they live in mixed communities (68 percent in a January 2003 ABC/Washington Post poll). In some ways, the change in public attitudes has been dramatic: in 1958, an overwhelming 94 percent told Gallup they opposed interracial marriage. By 2003, 73 percent said they approved of it. Nine in 10 would now vote for a black presidential candidate. Some 70 percent told Gallup in November 2003 that the quality of life for blacks has improved over the past 10 years. Nine in 10 told Gallup this year that educational opportunities for black children have improved compared to 50 years ago, but only 59 percent say black and white children have equal opportunities (and 68 percent of blacks say they don't).

That's one of the key points about opinion surveys today - majorities of Americans say there is still racial discrimination, but blacks are much more likely to perceive discrimination in the workplace, education and health care. Blacks are also more skeptical about the police and the justice system. There's also more division about what to do next - only 29 percent tell Gallup the country needs new civil rights laws and Americans are ambivalent at best about affirmative action. When Public Agenda examined attitudes about school integration in our 1998 study Time to Move On, we found both white and black parents said raising standards should be a higher priority than integration. A full analysis of public attitudes about race is available in our issue guide on Race.