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Essay On The Civil Rights Movement

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The Civil Rights Movement was a “mass protest movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern United States that came to national prominence during the mid-1950s” (Carson). The Civil Rights Movement, through non-violent protest, eventually got the US government to ratify 2 new amendments to the constitution (Amendments 14 and 15) and it also gave them all the other rights on the Bill of Rights, most importantly 1 and 6. And lastly, US codes 42 U.S. Code § 2000a and 2 U.S. Code § 1311. The effects of the Civil Rights Movement would leave lasting effects on the future Negro generations to come.

The 1st and 6th amendments to the Constitution were originally restricted from the Negro population. The 1st amendment relates to the freedom of speech, press, religion, etc. The 6th amendment is the right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury. In the early 20th century, the black population, especially in the south, were denied the rights of the Constitution. They often were not able to have an impartial jury, since most people looked down upon blacks, and sometimes they didn’t even have trials. However, once the Civil Rights Movement gained prominence, people began to respect the blacks more, and today, they have the same rights as …show more content…

These rights allowed citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the US, and allowed all African American men to vote. While these happened long before what is considered the Civil Rights Movement, both of these amendments had huge impacts on not only the African American community, but people of all nationalities. As long as you were born in the US, you were given the rights written in the Constitution. This caused an outrage when most of these rights were not enforced, which was obvious in 20th century America. Segregated neighborhoods, bathrooms, drinking fountains, etc. showed that even though they were citizens, they were not

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