America's economy was changed, and strengthened, by the war. Women, blacks, and otherswho were not always treated according to America's creed of fairnessworked as hard as anyone else . But there is a major problem: the army, navy, and air force are all segregated. Blacks and whites serve in separate units. Blacks get the worst jobs. That isn't fair.
In Mississippi, when some black soldiers return home after the war, they are dumped from trucks and then beaten. In Georgia, a black man is shot and killed because he has voted . When President Truman hears of these outrages, he is horrified. He decides it is time to do something about giving civil rights to all citizens. Truman sends proposals to Congress to stop lynchings, to outlaw the poll tax that keeps some people (mostly blacks) from voting, and to end segregation in the armed forces . And he creates a commission on civil rights, calling their report "an American charter of human freedom." He says: "We can't be leaders of the free world and draw a color line on opportunity.... We can't go before the world and try to maintain peace in the world when we, ourselves, at home discriminate against people on account of color or religion."