Evolution Of The Civil Rights Movement In The 1960's

In 1960, there were tremendous of social ferment that was responsible for agitation and protest. Through direct protest, many African Americans, women, and homosexuals were able to gain recognition and break down the walls of discrimination and segregations. Out of the numerous elements that arose in the 1960s, there are three movements that truly affected the American society. Firstly, the rise of the civil rights movement was greatly influenced by racial discrimination of colored people in the South. Secondly, the women’s movement aimed to convince the society that women are capable of achieving and maintaining higher waged job like males. Lastly, the gay rights movement aimed to gain acceptance and stop discrimination of homosexuality. The most significant effect on the development of American society was the women’s movement and how they expanded their economic and political opportunities. The common goal among African Americans, women’s, and homosexuals was to obtain their equal rights as citizens of America and to desegregate all the boundaries between white and black population.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, one of the leaders of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, despite being reprimanded by the driver (Schulke 166). Montgomery, Alabama was known for its terrible treatment of blacks. The buses in particular had been a source of tension between the city and black citizens for many years (Schulke, 167). As a result of refusing to give up her seat, Rosa Parks was arrested. Rosa Parks' popularity among the black community, proved to be the spark that ignited the non-violent Civil Rights Movement (Norrell 2).

Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still lived in a unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence. This is when the Civil Rights Movement was introduced; an era dedicated to activism for equal rights and treatment of African Americans in the United States. During this period, people rallied for social, legal, political, and cultural changes to end discrimination and segregation. This era included endless amount of events involving discrimination to minorities. This movement occurred somewhere between 1955 and 1965 but the exact time span is debated.

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 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”).

Although the movie did not have any direct historical facts, it did show the reality of how Southerners viewed segregation. After the Civil War, Abraham, Lincoln, the United States 16th President, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared slaves free in America. The newly freed slaves were granted the right to citizenship and the right to vote (History). In spite of the fact that former citizens, who were not enslaved, did not feel as though they were equivalent to former slaves, it led to a period known as the Racial Segregation Era. Legally, racial segregation lasted from 1870 to 1954. Racial segregation in America was a time when blacks and whites used separate amenities, facilities, and services that were equally as great as the others. Most of the time, black amenities, facilities, and services were not as bountiful as the white facilities and services. Whites acquired more privileges than blacks did. Most Southerners carried it on illegally, which sparked the Civil Rights Movement (NationalHumanitiesCenter). The Civil Rights Movement lasted from 1955 to 1965. During that time, many black activists and advocates for

The Montgomery Bus Boycott began with the public arrest of an African American woman and civil rights activist named Rosa Parks. As stated in Document A,”Rosa Parks boarded a city bus and sat down in the closest seat. It was one of the first rows of the section where blacks were not supposed to sit… The bus driver told Rosa Parks that she would have to give up her seat to a white person. She refused and was arrested.” Rosa’s arrest sparked a number of radical events that fought against racial inequality and segregation over the span of thirteen months. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful because it led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation among public transportation (especially buses) was unconstitutional. The Montgomery

The civil rights movement is one the significant historical movements in America. African-American struggled in the mid twentieth century to achieve freedom. The dream of being free seemed impossible as to reaching the unreachable star. Even though nearly ten decades after President Abraham Lincoln issued Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery in America, African-American were still suffering from racial inequality in southern states. The segregation of schools, housing, jobs, public transportation, public spaces, military service and prisons was the biggest challenge of the African-Americans. The African-American still suffered from injustice access to the basic privileges and rights of the U.S. citizenship. Although the civil right

    The Civil Rights Movement was a zealous and essential period in American History. The civil rights movement began in 1954 and was led by African Americans to outlaw racial discrimination against Blacks. One century after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, African Americans still observing segregation and various forms of oppression and “Jim Crow” laws. The nonviolent and civil disobedience protests were used by the civil rights activists to bring about change. Some significant leaders within the Black community were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Malcolm X, and W.E.B. Du Bois.

The event that started the boycott was when Rosa Park refused to move from her seat to give it to a white passenger on a city bus. This was significant because African Americans were still required to sit in the back while the whites sat in the front of the bus. As a result, Rosa Park was arrested and fined. Although Parks was not the first, it was her arrest that lead to a protest against segregation since she was dignified and non violent. Rosa Parks’s arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, during which blacks refused to ride the buses in protest over the bus system’s policy of racial segregation.

African Americans resisted.They started protesting for equal rights in United States to secure the future for their upcoming Afro-generation. Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress, was arrested for denying to giver her seat to white male. She was the first African American to stand up against a white in public and when she was asked why , she said “ I would like be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people”(Into Rosa Parks). Enraged by Mrs. Parks arrest the black community of Montgomery united together and organized a boycott of the bus system until the city buses were integrated. The boycott showed the unity of African Americans against their

4. Evaluate the progress towards racial equality in the United States since the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s.

The civil rights movement in the United States was the start of a political and social conflict for African-Americans in the United States to gain their full rights in the country, and to have the same equality as white Americans. The civil rights movement was a challenge to segregation, the laws and ordinances that separated blacks and whites. This movement had the goal to end racial segregation against the black Americans of the United States.

The 1960s brought about changes economically and socially. The Civil Rights Movement was alive and moving. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s goal was to hopefully put an end to racial discrimination and to restore voting rights in the South. Clearly the 60s was not the beginning of the fight for civil rights in America. The 18th century in the United State was plagued by hatred, racism and slavery. Slavery affected the entire nation. Slavery destroyed families by taking members of one’s captive to work as slaves. Abolitionists of all races began protesting against slavery. As slaves grew tired of intense abuse, slaves planned escape routes, signals and even songs. By 1843, slaves were escaping

It is impossible to understand the Civil Rights movement without properly separating fact from popular belief. Many of the images that are part of our collective memory as Americans are of Dr. Martin Luther King have delivered his 'I have a dream' speech, or of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus. The civil rights movement was an intense war and a fierce revolution filled with violence and many deaths in which Blacks rose up and fight for their freedom. Consequently, many history students tend to fall into the trap of seeing the civil rights movement from the top down, mainly focused on the leadership of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, instead of the bottom up, while disregarding the millions of people who labored in the