African American Movements in the 20th Century

The civil rights movement changed the way people saw each other in the U.S. At first, most people saw African Americans as defenseless and helpless people, until they collaborated and impacted the Montgomery Bus System, the school system, and the judicial system. This movement also had an impact on the U.S. population, and helped confront the issue that most American Caucasians were treating people unlike themselves unequally.

Fredrick Douglas once said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” During the 1960’s in America, there were major movements the promoted change throughout the country. The Civil Rights movement, which got its start in the 1950’s, strived for racial equality for African Americans. Meanwhile, the Women’s Rights Movement, focused on battling for better pay and equal opportunities for women. While the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement differed in their initial purposes, both groups worked to promote equality in the United States and made a profound impression for the decades to come.

During the early 1930’s through the mid 1960’s there were many different approaches African American’s took for achieving social changes, and the Civil rights they deserved. Many great African American leader’s such as Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X, and James Baldwin contributed towards the betterment of blacks living in America. Aside from individual African American leaders there was also groups that fought for black civil rights such as The Black Power Movement, Black Panthers, and Civil Rights Activist. Other events that transpired during this time period had also effected the civil rights movement in America. For instance: The altercation with Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white male ultimately led to The Montgomery Bus boycott protest,

During the reconstruction era, civil rights were regarded as unconstitutional since it never covered all Americans and the Indians and the freed men were not given equal rights as true Americans. There was a lot of discrimination by the government towards the black Americans. The Civil Rights Movement put this into light and made amendments on social rights where all citizens were expected to be treated equally and policies were made to protect the rights of these black freed men (Johnson 1998: Clayborne 2003).

How did the civil rights movement change America? In many ways it did. It allowed schools to be segregated by many protests and demonstrations. For example, the greensboro boys sit ins ,and also Rosa Parks sitting on the bus refusing to move so a white person could sit down. By the stands they took they have revolutionized America.

The civil rights movement’s goal was to drastically alter the social and political handling of African Americans in America. To end Jim crow laws (preventing blacks from voting), to end segregation, end inequality to schooling, etc. They also aimed to change the American attitude towards blacks. This was no easy feat.

The African American Civil Rights Movement officially “began” in 1954, but the ideas of Civil Rights had been brewing since the end of the Civil War, and even earlier. The Civil Rights Movement was centered on the idea of the equal, fair, and constitutional treatment of African Americans in the United States. The movement features some of history’s most prominent figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Throughout the movement, activists utilized protests, marches, boycotts, and strikes in attempts to change public opinion and governmental action on African Americans. The movement succeeded in overturning

The civil rights movement made a rapid advance towards the civil rights with help of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X along with their famous speeches that rallied the people to support the end to segregation and the right for African Americans. The civil rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s helped lay the groundwork for this change. Americans face discrimination in every aspect of their lives until at at least 1950s.

Imagine a world in which all men weren 't created equal. A world where skin color, ethnic origin, gender, and sexuality was what defined a person rather than character. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood”(King). Through the decades of the 1940s-1960s, America built the foundation for civil rights, a movement in which minorities fought for equality. Groups that previously had been discriminated against began to defend themselves with greater strength and success. The civil rights movement inspired African Americans, Native Americans, women, queers, and Latinos to fight for equality. Although each social group faced their own unique challenges during the civil rights movement, each group shared a common connection through their struggles for equality.

The civil rights movement was a monumental part of history and still has a large impact on society today. Martin Luther King Jnr took charge in leading the movement and achieved many things while he was leading it. The civil rights movement may not have even taken place without King and everting he put into the movement to make it happen. Malcolm X was another very influential leader that was taking charge to be a part of the movement, but had a very different approach.

Pg.1 Carlos Lima 10/22/14 Section: 10385 Fannie Lou Hamer Essay 1 The goals of Fanny Lou Hamer were similar to those of the leaders of the SCLC and NAACP. They were both aimed towards civil right for black people, however they differ in the strategies and approaches to reach their common goal. Fannie Lou Hamer worked in the civil rights movement on a national scale as well as on the state level. The NAACP and SCLC also worked on a national scale as well as on a state level.

Numerous groups throughout history have wrestled for equal rights and engaged in combat against oppressors. Both the American women’s suffrage movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s and the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s were examples of an oppressed group grappling with those above them for equality. Each group had to press for legislation that would protect them against inequality. Although the time periods of the women’s suffragette struggle and the African American Civil Rights endeavor were separate in history, the goals and methods of each were immensely similar.

When the United State enter the WWII and men had to go to war their skin color didn’t matter and women had to leave their homemaker life to start working on jobs that were consider “men jobs” because there was a need of workers to supply the war and even minorities were allowed to find an industry job with a good pay. But when the war ended people wanted thing to go back to “normal”, women had to go back to be a homemaker and minorities were left with out a good job, but since they had proved themselves to be able to work on this type of jobs they didn’t want things to go back to normal so women and other minorities fought for their rights starting Civil Rights movement.

The Civil Rights Movement was a very important event in the African-American’s push for equality. Many major events happened throughout the movement that involved violence, criticism, and racism towards the blacks. African-American’s were being treated extremely unfairly and unequal to white people, almost like they were not human. Many individuals had a huge impact on this movement such as Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, and Emmit Till. The Civil Rights Movement was a very influential period in American history that impacted millions of lives.

The civil rights movement is very important when it comes to African American history. This era was from 1950-1963. The civil rights movement has a very big impact of a lot of things today like education, public places and even in the work field. During this time there was a lot of racial segregation and discrimination that help blacks back from a lot of things. There are also people that even stood out during the civil rights movement that had a very positive impact on the African American society.