Racial segregation was extremely common in the first half of the 20th century. In the 1940s, segregation was enforced by law. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution states that everyone should have equal rights, but the meaning could have been taken in many ways. Until relatively recently in United States history, it was assumed that equal rights could be established through equal, but separate, facilities for both races. In fact, “colored” establishments clearly did not have the same quality as those intended for whites, and they were not considered “intrinsically unequal until 1954” (“How Were Racial…”). Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayThe civil rights movement is said to have started around 1954 and lasted until 1968, but I would argue that it started in the 1940s, and it continues today. It began with the Second World War. The country needed more workers and soldiers, and needed to draw on African Americans and other minorities to meet the nation's needs. As African Americans took on a much larger role in society, their music had a tremendous impact on the civil rights movement. Billie Holiday was one of the most important figures in the jazz world. In 1949, she incorporated a haunting song into her routine performance called Strange Fruit. The song was originally a poem written by a high school teacher named Abel Meeropol, who was the adoptive father of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's two sons. From the first verse of the song, the metaphor becomes apparent: Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swaying in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees ("Billie Holiday - … ") Meeropol was known as a poet and social activist outside of his teaching career (Blair). In 1930, he saw a photograph in the local newspaper of two young black men being lynched. Their names were Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, and their story inspired the writing of this strange poem. He then contacted Billie Holiday, who agreed to interpret it. She debuted the song at Cafe Society, New York's first integrated nightclub. Because Holiday's audience was so large, the song became immediately known. This sparked an intense argument between blacks and whites. "The '60s hadn't happened yet... Things like that weren't talked about. They certainly weren't sung about" (Blair). The song sparked a lot of controversy, especially among white people with their conflicting opinions on the song. Articles were published shaming Holiday and those affected by her song. Benny Goodman was the first white jazz musician to hire artists of color as band members. In 1935 he hired pianist Teddy Wilson for his trio, and later he added Lionel Hampton. the vibraphone and Gene Krupa as drummer. “These measures helped promote racial integration in jazz, which had previously been not only taboo, but even illegal in some states” (Teichroew later created the Let's Dance radio show). he purchased and distributed pieces composed by black composers, such as Fletcher Henderson, and performed by black musicians, which made African-American-influenced jazz accessible to a wide Caucasian audience. Another jazz musician who contributed to the civil rights movement was Louis Armstrong. For most of his career, Armstrong remained silent.