Social, Political, Economic, and Demographic Forces led to the Civil Rights Movement

According to Bloom, the agrarian oligarchy reasserted itself against the northern capitalists after the civil war. He notes that the people behind the collapse of the Reconstruction and the establishment of the state-supported segregation were the oligarchy class interests and not the white prejudice. He further argues that it was the blacks in the southern planters who were responsible for the establishment of the structure of southern racism in the early and mid-twentieth century. It was not the lower class whites as people had always alleged who were responsible for racism in the south. The rise of the southern industrialists after the World War II led to the diminishing importance of the agrarian elites. The new business class rose amid resistance to the back protesters. The black civil rights movement led to the split of the southern elites as the federal government was then willing to back the blacks in their push for the voting rights (Bloom, 1987). Mentioning the Supreme Court ruling on the one man one vote decision, Bloom states that the enfranchisement of the black pushed the federal government to come in support of the movement. 

The rapid rise of the white urban business class in the south that took place after the World War II led to an effective challenge to the domination of the planter which as a result provided for the social space and the ultimate emergence of the black protests. The blacks, including both the middle and the lower class levels, established and energized the civil rights movement. However, the whites played a minimal role in supporting the rights movement compared to the blacks. As the rights movement surge into the cities in the northern, there was an emphasis on the economic elements such as jobs, education, and housing. This led to the split of the coalition of the blacks and the white liberals that occurred behind the southern success. The freedom that existed from the segregation and racial discrimination became acceptable to the coalition, but the freedom from the economic misery did not become acceptable.

Reference

Bloom, J. M. (1987).  Class, race, and the civil rights movement  (No. 407). Indiana University Press.