Truman's Civil Rights Committee Report: 'To Secure These Rights'

On October 29, 1947, President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights releases 'To Secure These Rights,' a landmark report documenting lynching, police brutality, voter disenfranchisement, and racial discrimination in housing, employment, and the military. The report recommends federal anti-lynching law, abolition of poll taxes, establishment of a permanent Fair Employment Practice Committee, and desegregation of the armed forces. Truman acts on some recommendations but the report's broader legislative agenda is blocked by Congress for nearly two decades.