*With World War 2 at an end in the decade before the ’50s, America and NATO allies were firmly set for Cold War.

During this time, the ‘colored’ people who fought for the US and some of those who stayed behind started speaking up, refusing to tolerate their denials of citizenship.

They did so with the help of voter suppression and they never stopped complying with the legal structures that had been entrenched by their racist superiors.

The Black community in the ’50s was quite confident about their right as full citizens, and this is why they stood firms against racist policies and practices. They challenged all of the laws that hindered them from their rights.

Declaring Segregation Unconstitutional

People in the ’50s saw how the Supreme Court was coming out to declare segregation as illegal and unconstitutional. In 1951, DC restaurants had abolished segregation, followed by public education institutions and public housing facilities in 1954 and of course, public transportation in 1956.

Shortly after this first breeze of fresh air for the Black community, they saw the Congress come up with the Civil Rights Act in 1957. This was the first legislation of its kind after Reconstruction and it had created the Federal Civil Rights Commission, DOJ and the Civil Rights Division. These agencies were put in place for criminal pursuit and federal investigation into individuals or institutions that were prohibiting African Americans for exercising their rights as citizens.

Other Significant Events

Other notable events in this decade include Ralph Bunche – the US diplomat winning a Noble Peace Prize when his mediation peace talks between the Israeli and Arab leaders were successful. The color barrier inside the National Basketball Association (NBA) was broken.

The Black community faced a lot of retaliation from supremacists during this time. An example of this was when 14 year-old-Emmet Till had been kidnapped and murdered in Mississippi by white thugs. Most of us already know how Rosa Parks was arrested for not offering her seat to a white man on the bus. This event is, in fact, what kicked off the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Naturally, there will always be good where there is evil. So the Black community also saw Nat King Cole become the first ‘colored’ person to become a national TV show host for prime time. Along with him, Lorraine Hansberry managed to become the first woman from the Black community to get featured in a stage play called ‘A Raisin in the Sun’.

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