Smith v. Allwright and Forgotten History

The History Guy remembers the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Smith v. Allwright, which has been called the key to the Civil Rights movement. It is history that deserves to be remembered.
The History Guy uses images that are in the Public Domain. As photographs of actual events are often not available, I will sometimes use photographs of similar events or objects for illustration.
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The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered (formerly "Five Minutes of History") is the place to find short snippets of forgotten history from five to fifteen minutes long. If you like history too, this is the channel for you.
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The episode is intended for educational purposes. All events are presented in historical context.
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[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

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[@edschermer]

Your statement about change coming from the hearts of the people is so true! Well said!

[@Javaman92]

These are all excellent! I've been binge watching you for a few weeks now and realize shortly I will run out of things to watch and will have to wait for new episodes. What a wonderful problem to have. :-)

[@johngalt2506]

Javaman92 I love this channel.

[@wolfgangkulik6850]

Dear Javaman: I'm right behind you in running out of these wonderful episodes. I sure wish that he had been MY high school history teacher.

[@wolfgangkulik6850]

Dear History Guy: This video is proof for me that although you gear your videos for everyday people rather than for scholars, you do not think that everyday people are stupid. Your discussion here is very deep and complex. I applaud your confidence in the average YT viewer's capacity to appreciate your intellectual analysis.

[@AngloFrancoDane]

You are amazing at finding little known bits of history that turn out to be very important.

[@erynlasgalen1949]

I am going to stream your videos on our TV screen for my spouse, another history major. I'm learning things from you that neither of us knew before. I wish I'd had you for a history teacher in either high school or college. You make history even more interesting than my self-learning.

[@normanboyes4983]

Brilliant - the Supreme Court reflects society too, the people who sit in judgement ‘bleed too’, so it is inevitable that what seemed ‘just’ yesterday does not always pass the ‘reasonableness test’ today, or tomorrow. However it does make you question what justice actually is -one might think it is digital in the sense of justice or not justice - but changing attitudes like those illustrated show that it is a moveable feast.

[@MrGoat47]

i had to back up and look again to the yellow book on ur shelf the panzer operational manual dude u never cease to amaze me

[@DidivsIvlianvs]

The difference between Smith and Korematsu is that the Supreme Court has no problem telling states and local governments what to do with federal power behind it, but the Supreme Court in the 20th Century hardly ever limited the power of the federal government, especially after 1937, no matter what the Constitution says.

[@abrahamgoldsmith1684]

Great episode. Keep em comin

[@Pb-ij4ip]

The monsters are due on Maple Street. That is, I agree the Japanese interment was disgusting, but fear does terrible things to people. It is very nice indeed to be able to come to certain conclusions about very important moral/social issues while we are able to be rational about them. Even as regards slavery and racism in general, it is very easy to take the moral high ground without realizing we are largely products of society which came after attitudes were already changed. Very few of us can say with certainty what we would have done in those times...just as many who lived through those times could only look back with regret over the decisions they made. I don’t intend this to be confrontational. Rather I am just sharing some thoughts which have occurred to me as I have studied history. Honestly, I am glad I did not have to make many of the decisions which our forebears have. While I would like to think I have right and wrong figured out, sometimes I’m not so sure. All the best, History Guy. Keep on truckin’.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

I think that you offer a very fair position. Certainly we need to have historical perspective when judging acts of the past. But, on the other hand, there were millions of people who recognized that slavery was wrong at the time, and that perspective is also history. In general, I don't try to make history about right or wrong (although, as with any historian, my own biases do seep in) but I also try to strike a balance. Justices Murphy, Roberts and Jackson certainly saw the obvious flaws in the Korematsu decision. Yes, I can see the decision in context, but yes, I can see how, from both the perspective of people at the time and from those who have followed, it was a flawed decision. Those flaws should not be ignored in the name of history.

[@Pb-ij4ip]

The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered no, they certainly should not be ignored. That would be “revisionist” history. I would like to think the person I am today is the person I would have been in those situations, but...would I? Just thinking out loud so to speak. The stories you offer often present me with opportunity for both historical and personal reflection. And I think you do a stellar job with your presentation. No complaints here. All the best to you!

[@grizzlygrizzle]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel -- With regard to internment, there's a matter of comparative degree that is rarely mentioned. During the same years as the internment of Japanese-Americans in the U.S. there were internment camps in Germany and in Nazi-occupied countries in which the internees were deprived of all of their belongings, used as slave labor, starved and beaten, even before the "final solution" was begun. And then, the "final solution" itself. By contrast, the Japanese-Americans in the camps could set up their own schools, churches, social clubs, and gardens. Many who were investigated and found to be loyal to the U.S. could leave the camps. This is not to say that the internment wasn't a dark day in our history, but given the circumstances, the internment was conducted in a way that was relatively humane. I'm not trying to justify it, but I do think that there is value in reducing the severity of whatever moral errors one commits, as opposed to taking the attitude, "Well, a long as I'm going to do something bad, I might as well pull out all the stops." The latter approach seems a lot more common in human history than we might like to think, not only for institutional actors, but also for rebellious teenagers, gang members, and other individuals.

[@depleteduraniumcowboy3516]

Recently it appears that the Southern Strategy has become forgotten history, that deserves to be remembered. How surprising to see two comments from people on a channel devoted to and with a love for history that appear ignorant of such a monumental swing in American political party policies.

[@michaelwiebers9656]

Depleted Uranium Cowboy How about the fact that Donald Trump was elected president by a free and honest election. I was sick to my stomach when I viewed the returns. But it is coming to roost in the decision he made to gut CDC and science now that the Coronavrius has come to our shores and he is totally inept to deal with it. I hope this country’s voters wise up to this kind of bigotry.

[@maxsmodels]

Love the "Air Cadets" hat with the wings and prop.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

maxsmodels the cap has a manufacturer’s stamp dating it to May of 1941 and the initials “DLT” written inside and under the brim. Next to it is a Naval Aviation Cadet hat.

[@capnbobretired]

Thank you for sharing this information in your video. I had been unaware of the ruling. On first face it would appear that this ruling and its after effects rival the passage of of the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitutions--certainly in the sense of de jure vs de facto.

[@germanantonio3874]

Do you have all these books professor? Quite amazing they still them at hand to study. I'm a big fan of history. Thank you for your work professor!

[@guodade2239]

One potential reason why many southerners might have been expected to have a softer attire toward black suffrage than school desegregation is the often-overlooked fact that in the Border States (from west to east, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware) school segregation before ‘Brown’ was required (and in kentucky legally required of private schools as well), yet the poll taxes and literacy tests used to disfranchise blacks were essentially completely absent. These states’ black populations - very small in most areas - did vote, although racism was anything but absent.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

guodade I think that is a fair comment. I don't know exactly how the attitude of border states affected opinion in the deep south, but I suspect it did at least to some extent.

[@johnellington1932]

The forgiveness isn't the disolvement of the faults, its something that must repair.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Very well said!

[@willyeverlearn7052]

You deserve to be heard.

[@yarazooom]

''we have seen the enemy and it is us.''

[@michaelwiebers9656]

Rascal Pogo.

[@b991228]

Great video. The Japanese internment should receive video a video of its own.

[@Scorp7867]

Well done 👏

[@adampuccinosr8492]

I'd love for you to do a lesson on how and when The GOP went from liberal to conservative and The Democrats went from conservative to liberal.

[@tylerjerabek5204]

Somewhat off topic but have you heard of the WW2 POW camps in the US; my parents in Wisconsin didn’t realize that some of the “road workers” were German POW’s

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Thinking about this further, on one hand the party was in fact a private organization, however, it deals directly in political public governance once actually elected. Tricky. As uncomfortable as it may feel, I am curious if the Constitutional solution would’ve actually been to get rid of the public government legal discrimination policies, but not interfering with the private parties who admittedly should be able to admit or exclude whoever they wish for whatever reason or no reason. That way, the black Americans in Texas and elsewhere would at least have the opportunity to rally around their own party to compete in at least local towns given their share of the population. This case is one of those like many others that would increasingly follow during The Cold War that felt good, and maybe arguably helped change attitudes faster than they otherwise would have, but at the same time being the incorrect unconstitutional decision(s) by social legislative Activist Supreme Courts, which led to many bad long-term precedence.

[@davidtraugot1405]

Truth in your moralizing at the end!

[@Desertanon]

Amen!

[@stevecannon-english8683]

Who would have guessed that in 2020 our country would be more divided and that racists would be so open with their hatred ?

[@juanvaldes1837]

A1 Quality

[@writerconsidered]

I'm not sure I agree with the equivalence between this case and the Japanese internment camps. To make it crystal clear I disagree with Japanese internment camps. The Justices had two different people to decide on. One group were black Americans who had no connection with any other country except the entire continent of Africa. The other were a group of people who had very distinct connection with Japan who we were at war with. Still the wrong immoral decision but a decision nonetheless in context. Great history thank you history guy.

[@n3glv]

why didn't we intern Americans who came from Italy or their children? Who often spoke italian in the home, still to this day call themselves "Italian" (most often without the hyphen and American that the African-Americans at least have the courtesy to add) German-Americans? Oh, wait, they look just like "us"... That's called RACISM. IIRC the very few spies we did catch were germanic... just sayin.

[@debbybridge7064]

Very interesting. Two steps forward, one step back. I believe in Amererica's possibilities and hope my actions show that.

[@LePrince1890]

Koramatsu is a despicable decision (as the camps were a despicable action), but in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Bataan Death March, the surfacing of great amounts of anti-Japanese race hatred was understandable, even if totally wrong and misdirected to patriotic Japanese-Americans. The punishment is the condemnation of posterity towards these actions, not unlike the condemnation of slavery and Jim Crow relations in the U.S. by most Americans today.

[@onesmoothstone5680]

😲 Re: Korematsu v. US: My German ancestors were also subject to being ostracized, murdered and assaulted (WW1) ... so where's our money? As a matter of fact Germans didn't sneak-attack America, Japanese did ... I propose that's why they were segregated. ✌🏼

[@michaelmcgregor1202]

The ruling that supported the internment of Japanese Americans during world war 2 was not based on race, but on the premise that those people would prove a threat (though later proved unfounded) that IF the Japanese invaded Hawaii, or the West Coast - that he Japanese Americans might decide to joint them in invading the US!! So based on the threat of invasion, the internment was upheld!! But the idea that the government did it to confiscate their property is an outright lie - the property that was confiscated was by private civilians, and was made to give it all back after the internment ended!!! This single fact is completely overlooked in the argument against the Japanese American's internment!! The argument was raised about German Americans, and Italian Americans - but their populations were scattered through-out the country enough to not cause concern; while Japanese Americans were mostly situated along the west Coast!!

[@21jimmyo]

The southern democrats (aka Dixiecrats) all switched to the Republican party in the late 60s. I'm amazed that some commenters on a history video don't seem to know this common piece of U.S. history.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

They did not all switch.

[@albertchehade9916]

Well, if anyone can find a heart in trump, then please tell the world. The only way that a heart can be found in trump would be through a post-mortem examination.

[@codyallen9486]

Texas democrats again huh?