Even though slavery was abolished in America in 1865 discrimination against black Americans was

widespread due to Jim Crow Laws. During the 20’s and 30’s many black Americans (especially those
from the south of America) lived in constant fear and had many of their rights violated and their
freedom taken away. The KKK was the most important reason for the lack of progress in the civil
rights movement in the years up to 1941. Other reasons why there was a lack of progress includes
Legal Impediment, lack of the vote and political influence, Popular Prejudice and divisions in the Civil
rights movement.

One reason why there was a lack of progress in the civil rights movement before 1941 was the KKK.
The Klu Klux Klan experienced a resurgence in 1915 when it was re-founded by William J Simmons.
President Roosevelt was so scared of the influence of the KKK that he chose not to make lynching
illegal because he was worried that he would loose popularity. This was important because the KKK
were able to influence those in power to the point that many of them wouldn’t dare even slightly
support the Civil Rights Movement for fear of being loosing popularity in the south and therefore
power or, even worse, being targeted by the KKK themselves. There were two important reasons
why the KKK was reformed and those were the book “The Clansmen” and the film “The death of a
nation”. Both of these relatively mainstream pieces of media portrayed the organisation as being
heroic. This made it even more dangerous for black people living in the south because the KKK could
be found in bookstores and their influence went far beyond the original members of the group.
Because people were so scared of being lynched by the KKK and their propaganda could be found
everywhere many people did not join the CRM leading to a decline in membership and influence
because of fear. Another way that the KKK impacted on the lack of progress in the CRM before 1941
was that by the 1920s the KKK had over three million members. The sheer number of members
meant that they were able to easily influence local governments in the south without much backlash
in some places. The influence and size of the KKK was terrifying for local Black people meaning that
many of them were far to scared to speak up for fear of being targeted and lynched. This led to a
lack of progress.

Another reason why there was a lack of progress in the civil rights movement before 1941 was the
influence of Jim Crow Laws. In many southern states there were laws in place that prevented black
and white Americans from mixing. These laws were first created in the 1870’s but became more
reinforced in 1896 with the Supreme Court’s separate but equal decision. These Jim Crow Laws kept
the country segregated and opened up space for even more racism by effectively legalising it.
However, the Jim Crow Laws successfully made a lot of black Americans angry and this anger was
what provided them with the motivation to go on and create civil rights groups in order to attempt
to change things. Even the president supported segregation. President Wilson introduced
segregation into federal offices. In 1915 he stated “Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit, and
ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen” [President Woodrow Wilson, The Crisis, January, 1915,
119–20]. This statement shows the lack of understanding that those higher up within the
government experienced towards the realities of segregation. This is important because the people
knew that if they wanted advance the civil rights cause then they would need support from the
government and due to a lack of understanding and an ingrained racism they could not get those
higher up to understand. In evaluation, the influence of the KKK on the lack of progress in the civil
rights movement before 1941 is more important than the influence of the Jim Crow Laws. Between
1882 and 1968 more than 3500 African Americans were murdered by lawless white mobs that had
been organised by white supremacy societies such as the KKK while the Jim Crow Laws did not lead
to deaths and led to the imprisonment of many back people who tried to mix with white people. The
fear of disobeying the KKK by fighting for civil rights was therefore much more terrifying than
disobeying the Jim Crow Laws.

Another reason why there was a lack of progress in the Civil Rights Movement before 1941 divisions
in the Civil Rights Movement. One Civil Rights group was the NAACP (National Association for the
Advancement of Coloured People which was founded in 1910 by W. E. B. De Bois. This group wanted
to end discrimination and white supremacy and used the legal system to achieve justice with the
goal of improving education because they believed that that was the best way to make a difference.
However, another group with over five million more members was the UNIA (Universal Negro
Improvement Association). The conflict between the two came from the fact that the NAACP was
committed to integration and the UNIA wanted ‘Black Separatism’. These two ideas come into
conflict with each other and meant that leaders had a very difficult job trying to unite everyone over
one common goal within the CRM so a lot of arguing happened within groups leading to a lack of
progress. The leader of the UNIA, Marcus Garvey, said “The powers opposed to Negro progress will
not be influenced in the slightest by mere verbal protests” [Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus
Garvey edited by Amy Jacques-Garvey, The Journal of Pan African Studies, 2009, eBook]. This is
important in showing why there was a lack of progress because the rival Civil Rights Group the
NAACP who often used verbal protests peacefully and other democratic methods. The conflict
between these two groups continued to grow due to these disagreements and this led to them both
attempting to pursue what they thought was right for people of colour through different methods
leading to a lack of cohesion within the CRM so less was achieved. However, this quote does
demonstrate the willingness to act and the motivation of many members of the CRM to make a
difference in the CRM and this motivation did make some changes.

Another reason why there was a lack of progress in the CRM before 1941 was lack of political
influence. Despite the fact that the 15th amendment stated that Black Americans could vote very few
were able to exercise this right because of the grandfather clause and literary tests. The grandfather
clause said that If your grandfather was able to vote then you could, by law, vote regardless of any
literary tests in place. This meant that the majority of white men were able to vote without going
through the literary tests. Poverty was a huge problem for Black people due to sharecropping and
slums. With this poverty came poor education meaning that very few Black men had the ability to
pass the tests and therefore vote. This is important because without the vote Black men had very
very little political power in America meaning that they were unable to vote for the parties that
would push for civil rights leading to a lack of political progress. In evaluation, the lack of political
influence was less important than the influence of the KKK. Many black Americans in the north could
exercise their right to vote and did have some small political influence. On the other hand, the KKK
was not only often involved in limiting Black Americans political voice but many members of the KKK
were also lawyers, members of Congress, judges and police. This shows that black Americans would
have had a far greater political voice without the influence of the KKK and therefore the lack of
political influence was somewhat due t the KKK.

Another reason why there was a lack of progress in the CRM before 1941 was popular prejudice. In
1917 over 40 blacks and nine whites were killed in a riot over employment in St Louis. This shows
that there was a great deal of tension between the races in the workplace and that this could lead to
disastrous events. The CRM was being beaten down when they tried to even slightly protest. This
shows that white people were not ready to accept the message of the CRM. However, this protest
also demonstrated that Blacks wanted workplace rights and were willing to protest for them which
was a huge step forward for the CRM as it showed a willingness to protest even if what happened
was devastating. The Blacks were so scared of the KKK and other highly racist groups in the south of
America that over 400,000 of them moved north to cities such as Chicago and St Louis. However
they were not always welcome and blacks were often segregated off into Ghettos. This was
important because it placed them in a similar situation to the one they had fled in the south and
shows that things did not improve for them leading to a lack of progress in the CRM because of
poverty and other problems that followed them up north.

In conclusion, the most important reason why there was a lack of progress in the CRM was the KKK
due to their political influence and the fear that was created around the organisation. Popular
prejudice was also a reason why there was a lack of progress in the CRM before 1941 because many
blacks were finding that the north of America was just as full of racism and poverty as the south.
However, many blacks were taking part in workplace riots and this was a huge step forward for the
CRM even if many of them did end in disaster. Another less important reason was lack of political
influence because although many were denied the right to vote this was partly due to the most
important factor, the influence of the KKK. Finally, another factor that was less important than the
influence of the KKK was the Jim Crow Laws and the separate but equal act because although the
laws limited black Americans rights they did provide the CRM with motivation to act. Therefore the
most important reason why there was a lack of progress in the CRM before 1941 was the influence
of the white extremist organisation the KKK.