African American Participation In The Civil Rights Movement

The Fifteenth Amendment gave black males over the age of 21 the right to vote. However, southern states set up poll taxes and literacy test in order to keep most blacks from voting. In order to keep the white votes they set up the grandfather clause, which allowed the seventy-five percent of the poor illiterate white people to still vote if they were the son or grandson of someone who was eligible to vote before 1867.

For example it influenced one of the most prominent cases “Montgomery Bus Boycott”. On May 17, 1954, the Court unanimously ruled that "separate but equal" public schools for blacks and whites were unconstitutional. The Brown case served as a major movement for the modern civil rights movement, inspiring education reformation in all of America and forming lawful means of challenging discrimination in all areas of civilization. This showed that if segregation was incorrect in schools, then all segregation is

The Civil Rights Movement was a pivotal time in American history, leading us toward the acceptance and advancement of African Americans in society, and eventually the same for other minority groups. The movement as a whole spanned from around the beginning of the 1950’s to around the beginning of the 1970’s. All across the nation, African American people fought for their rights through numerous protests and boycotts. Some notable events are the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins. Many forms of legislation and many judiciary decisions were made during this era, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Brown v. Board of Education (“A Timeline of the Civil Rights Movement FOOTSTEPS OF COURAGE”).

The Fifteenth Amendment granted black men to vote. Put emphasis on men because at this time women still couldn't vote.This amendment would not be fully followed until almost a century. What the government did was that they made a literacy test so difficult that no slave could pass because they had no education. So no blacks could vote really for a long time. So to loop their loophole that made a rule called the Grandfather Clause. This made if your grandfather could vote you did not have to take the literacy test. So every white person's grandfather could vote since they lived in england. So this rule did not apply to blacks since their grandfathers were black and could not vote. One of the main reasons that they made this rule is because

The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed saying that every man would have the right to vote regardless of their race. It was meant to give the right to vote to the African American citizens. Even after this was passed however, states in the South were still able to find ways to keep African Americans from voting. It was easy to still deny their right to vote because the amendment only says that laws cannot be made making race a requirement for voting. The most effective barriers created by the South to prevent African Americans from voting were grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and white-only primaries because they were legal and therefore did not directly keep a certain race from voting.

The African American civil rights movement was a long journey for African American nationwide. The success involved many people, hardships and time in order to advance the African American community in America. The purpose of the movement was to achieve their rights, cease discrimination, and racial segregation.

The civil rights movements were to help African American gain access to equal opportunities as White Americans. African Americans wanted to be treated as human beings and they fought for their desiring rights. Even though the struggle was only happening to African Americans, it did not stop many White Americans who decided to help fight. During the civil rights era, many African Americans were discriminated against and racism was not a crime. The White Americans, who supported white supremacy and white superiority, hated any Whites that would boycott, protest, or march with African Americans. To them, they were considered traders or “Nigger lovers” and they would treat them like African Americans. There were a lot of White Americans that helped

soldier uniform in the daily life for a long time. One time, when he was in the church, priest said him “why did you wear this clown costume”. He described this period as extremely disappointing for him. Another significant circumstance was the African-American civil rights movement in US in those years. Until the age of eighteen, he had never thought about ethnicity or cultural differences. After 1968, African-American movement turned to be seen in Milwaukee. He met with Father Grouppi*, but he did not support him and his followers. For a long time, he had not appreciated the African American civil rights movement. Moreover, he would think that this movement aggravates the racial segregation in society. In contrast, today he thinks differently concerning ethnic discrimination in US. He reported that African-Americans are right in the most cases, and discrimination still exists towards them. However, he still finds over emphasis of cultural or ethnic differences could be harmful to the society in some way. He said that if it is constantly pointed out, people are not able to feel the unity. Life-changing evidence regarding the racial discrimination occurred in Japan in 1987. When he was in Japan for a business trip, one night he went to the karaoke bar for entertainment. In the bar, somehow people understood his ethnicity and many people started yelling at him. For the first time, he recognized what the discrimination means. He felt awful and had an insight about how bad

Marshall was the country’s first Supreme Court Justice. Marshall aided in the demise of legal segregation in America. Broking the color lines, which changed housing, transportation and voting. Marshall ruled the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education, which ended the separation of black and white children in schools. The NAACP continues to pursue the elimination of racial hatred and racial discrimination by providing services such as legal aid and educational services. The organization has expanded one’s efforts with local chapters in almost every one of the 50 states in America. African-Americans continued to encounter unfair and unjust treatment. In 1955, Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up one’s bus seat to a white person led to the birth of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. One’s courageous stand led to many others worldwide fight against racial injustice. The controversial actions of the 60s Civil Rights Movement led groups to make stand for one’s personal causes and sufferings.

Education was one of things that every parent wanted for their children regardless of whatever situation they were in. Public schools were segregated. In 1954 there was a lawsuit that ended legal segregation in public schools known as Brown V. Board of Education. In the fall of 1950, the NAACP sued on behalf of third-grader Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas (Gates, 2013, p.323). Brown’s parents lived near a white school and wanted their daughter to attend that school because it was closer to their home than any other school that was around them. Thurgood Marshall was one of the lawyers for the NAACP during the time and argued that segregation condemns children, thinking that they lower than the whites that the Court had supposedly threw out in the Plessy case. The Court also heard from other families that were going through the same situation as Brown. May 17th, 1954, the Court ruled in favor of the black students. This decision allowed blacks to attend any public school that they

The Birmingham campaign was a movement organized by King Martin Luther in the spring of 1963 to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. In the early 1960s, Birmingham was a very segregated city. This meant that black and white people were kept separated. They had different schools, restaurants, water fountains and even different place to stay. There were laws that allowed and enforced segregation called Jim Crow Laws. The movement which began in April, utilized massive direct action to attack Birmingham’s strongly engrained system of segregation. The protests were co-named “Project C”. The “C” stood for “confrontation”. The protests were non violent and included boycotting downtown stores, sit-ins, marches. The organizers thought that if enough people protested, then the local government would be forced to confront them and this would make national news gaining them support the federal government and the rest of the country. This project C brought national attention to the inequality of America’s economic, legal and social system- attention that led to the civil rights act of 1964.

This ethnographic study examines the reasons most crucial to protesters that encourages them to participate in protests. Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I was always aware of a divide, in my own neighborhood and throughout the country. People are prone to disagree, whether it be my neighbors arguing about who should be president or the divide in narratives from Fox and CNN. When learning about America’s history it’s difficult to dismiss our pattern of division, this country has always been at odds with one or another. I remember learning about the civil rights movements as a kid and understanding the impact protesting had in encouraging reformation. When in High School, I was surrounded by a unique political climate, as Black Lives Matter took off and Trump’s campaign ended, and presidency began, organizing protests became a necessity when vocalizing the opinions of my peers.

Black people are our slaves. Black people are unintelligent. Black people are unworthy of our association, let alone equality between our races. These were the thoughts of the white citizens of America, specifically Southern America, prior to the Civil Rights Movement. For centuries, coloured people have been fighting for freedom. Fighting for respect. Fighting for equality. Fighting for something every human deserves and needs. Then why is it that those of colour were unable to obtain these basic human rights? It’s because of the immense racism which lived in those times.

The story of the Civil Rights Movement of 1964 exemplifies this concept. Fed up with the treatment they received on a daily basis, African-Americans in Montgomery, Alabama decided to boycott the public bus system. This act of defiance quickly spread throughout the black community, inspiring young and old alike to take up the fight. In the movie Boycott we see this struggle played out, depicting the story through the side of Dr. Marten Luther King Jr., the well-known leader of the movement. To achieve his goals MLK spread the word of his non-violent protest throughout the country, challenging every man, woman, and child to join in the struggle to gain racial equality. Some of King’s most successful demonstrations included the gathering of large amounts of people with the will to persevere through the hate and violence to gain what they believed was right. Another key event in the Civil Rights Movement was the Supreme Court Case; Brown vs. Board of Education. In this case, the court responded to a claim that addressed segregation education in four states – Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Linda Brown, a 9 year-old African-American girl, was denied admission to an all-white elementary school four blocks from her house and instead was forced to attend an all-black elementary school 21 blocks away. The court ruled in favor of Brown, stating that;

The African American Civil Rights Movement was a series of protests in the United States South from approximately 1955 through 1968. The overall goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to achieve racial equality before the law. Protest tactics were, overall, acts of civil disobedience. Rarely were they ever intended to be violent. From sit-ins to boycotts to marches, the activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement were vigilant and dedicated to the cause without being aggressive. While African-American men seemed to be the leaders in this epic movement, African-American women played a huge role behind the scenes and in the protests.