Informative Speech: The Congress of Racial Equality Essay

rights and fighting ag^nst racial prejudice in the United States (Nimtz, p. 18). King led some of

Though the conclusion of the American Civil War in 1965 marked the end of slavery in the United States, African-Americans would not see anything resembling true freedom from the segregation and isolation imposed by slavery until very recently, and only after decades of difficult struggle. Some of the most important achievements occurred during the 1960s, when a generation of African-American leaders and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and the Freedom Riders, fought against some of the last vestiges of explicit, institutionalized segregation, discrimination, and isolation in order to attain equality and civil rights. Only by examining the treatment of African-Americans throughout America's history can one begin to understand how the the ending of slavery, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and the contemporary issues facing the African-American community are inextricably linked. In turn this allows one to see how rather than existing as a single, identifiable turning point in the history of civil rights, African American's struggle for equality and an end to isolation must be considered as an ongoing project.

Gandhi, King, and Mandela each fought for their causes with a method that was very rarely used but even less rarely successful. Their efforts at peaceful protest without retaliation to attacks were successful in overthrowing trans-continental rule and ending segregation of races. Gandhi transformed the idea of non-violence into a way to fight for freedom and justice which would ultimately end in success and

1896, gave the south permission to discriminate on the basis of color in public places

What did civil rights activists hope to gain by bringing this test case to the Supreme Court, and what really happened?

Political advocacy organizations have historically played a big part in securing political rights for minority groups in Western Liberal Democracies. Whether we look to the now infamous Boston Tea Party to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, we observe the importance of political organizations in their quest to ensure equitable rights for the people whom they represent. In context of the early twentieth century, the most prominent group to represent African-American’s in the United States was that of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP, as it is more commonly called, was founded on February 12, 1909 by a mixed group of individuals including but not limited to Ida B. Wells, W. E. B. DuBois and Archibald Grimké with the goal of creating a civil rights organization that would help assist in organizing for civil rights for blacks. One of its most prominent members, Charles Hamilton Houston, who became a part of the organization around the mid-twentieth century, changed the trajectory of the organization for years to come. Hence this essay

In 1891 a group of Creole professionals in New Orleans formed the Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law. They hired Albion Tourgée, a Reconstruction-era judge and social reformer, as their legal counsel. As plaintiff in the test case the committee chose a person of mixed race in order to support its contention that the law could not be consistently applied, because it failed to define the white and “colored” races.

It all started with slavery in the United States, which was especially popular in the early 1790s with enslaved African Americans working the new cotton gins. After the Civil War ending and slavery was illegal by the reconstruction amendments, whites did not interact with African Americans. Many states passed laws that enforced segregation. The whites could not interact in public places bylaw. These laws of segregation were called Jim Crow laws. It took until the 1890s before they were confronted in court. When the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation was illegal 50 years later, it took many court cases to show that it violated the Declaration of Independence.

With the late 1940s and early 1950s, came three powerful voices fighting for change race relations in America. Approximately 900,000 young black men had recently fought a war for freedom and democracy, refused to return to the Jim Crow south, and became very vocal about wanting equal rights. Additionally, increasing support from liberals like Harry Truman and Gunner Myrdal as well as the activism of Thurgood Marshall led the legal side of the campaign for equal rights. One young black American corporal said "I spent four years in the Army to free a bunch of Dutchmen and Frenchmen, and I'm hanged if I'm going to let the Alabama version of the Germans kick me around when I get home. No sirreee-bob! I went into the Army a nigger; I'm comin' out a man." The Membership in the NAACP, jumped from 50,000 in 1940 to 450,000 in 1946 with over 14,000 branches by 1948. Eleven states and twenty-eight cities enacted laws that established Fair Employment Practices Commissions and eighteen states approved laws calling for the end of racial discrimination in public places. While legislation all over the north was ending racial discrimination in most ways, the south was much slower to act.

Segregation was very common in the North and South Americas during the time of reconstruction. Reconstruction was the time that followed the Civil War. Through the Civil War, African Americans had earned the right to become citizens of the United States and could even vote. However, this was a huge change that the people in the south found it difficult to follow these laws. African Americans still faced racial discrimination. Eventually, segregation took place and African Americans and whites were separated. Many activists during this time attempted to help end segregation. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case is an example of a man trying to end and point out the unfairness of segregation. Plessy was one eighth African American and looked white. However,

The Negro community has waited over 300 years to achieve equal constitutional rights. Martin Luther King who was their voice and their leader, was invited in 1963 to Birmingham, Alabama, to help assist with a nonviolent direct action campaign. The unjust segregation taking place in the city of Birmingham needed immediate attention. In spite of, King’s efforts to negotiate with the local and national communities as

During the freedom rides, African Americans would refuse to ride in black designated seats on public transportation. The creation of the Freedom Rides was one of the main movements of the CORE civil rights groups. One of the leaders, James Farmer, developed the type protest. The bus would travel down from Washington D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana in an almost transcontinental nonviolent-protest. Farmers plan was imitated the Journey for Reconciliation. In May of 1961, an interracial collection of people boarded two buses from Washington to travel southward in protest of segregation. Known as the Greyhound and Trailways, the buses traveled peacefully throughout the country until they entered South Carolina. White racists outside of Rock Hill attacked the voyageurs. The ride became increasingly insecure the further south they traveled. A mob firebombed and attacked the members of the Greyhound bus in Anniston and another assaulted the Trailways’ riders in Birmingham. Although CORE discontinued the rides, many other riders assembled due to outrage over the violence displayed. A new wave of activists directed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), including John Lewis, flooded Alabama where once again they were attacked in Montgomery. The significance of this the second wave of riders was that it forced the executive branch to act in response to the violence. Kennedy directed the Nation Guard to escort the riders their next destination of Mississippi. Kennedy’s brother Robert has the voyagers arrested for violating legislation set by pro-segregation officials in Mississippi and to prevent any further violence. James Farmer continued to encourage this type of protest and by the end of the season over 300 advocates had chose jail over fines to “dramatize” the issue. JFK’s forced recognition of the issues

The Congress of Racial Equality, otherwise known as CORE, was a leading civil rights activist groups. In the early 1960s CORE started many initiatives like Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer, and the March on Washington. CORE is where

I’m not African American, but I am an ally; I have friends and loved ones who are African American, and I cannot stand by and watch people die.

For centuries a disease has plagued our nation just like AIDS has Africa, I bet you all are wondering what this disease is. You probably think that it can be treated with limited breakouts every few years. The virus I'm talking about is racism. Imagine living every day in fear knowing that where ever you go, everything you do is being observed and judged. Imagine walking into a store or a boutique and having someone watch every move of yours thinking that you’re going to steal something, or expose a bomb from under your clothes. Imagine being mocked and hated at school because you're "different". Imagine being left out because of your skin colour. No one enjoys being left out, but then, why do people judge? Why do people set a fire of