Segregation: The African American Civil Rights Movement

In the 1960’s, black and white individuals were not recognized as being equal. The two races were treated differently, and the African Americans did not enjoy the same freedoms as the whites. The African Americans never had a chance to speak their mind, voice their opinions, or enjoy the same luxuries that the white people attained. Through various actions/efforts like the lunch counter sit-ins, freedom rides, and bus boycotts, the black people confronted segregation face on and worked to achieve equality and freedom.

Apartheid was a set of racial laws that segregated the various race groups of South Africa. It came into power along with the National Party came into power in 1948. The government was ruled by all white members and they enforced racial segregation policies that served to benefit whites and put down other races. Some laws included not allowing certain races to live or even enter certain areas, known as pass laws. Another law prohibited whites and blacks from being together romantically. Even when Blacks got to work in some of the same field of jobs as whites, they were forced into black specific groups. Apartheid split the population into four groups. White being the most privileged and getting the most benefits; whites held the most control.

Despite nearly one hundred years passing since the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern States were still faced with the most distinct forms of racism. The so-called “Jim Crow” laws that were present in United States at the time, served to segregate blacks and whites from all aspects of public life, including schools, public transport and juries. Often faced with extreme right-wing terrorist groups such as the white supremacist Klu Klux Klan, many among the African American community chose to live in a society of oppression that to actively campaign for equal rights for all humans regardless of the colour of their skin. It wasn’t until the 1950’s and 60’s that the people attempted to challenge the established order by engaging in influential protest movements with the help of key activist groups and their leaders. In particular, one key example of a powerful protest campaign was that which occurred in 1965 in Selma, a small town in Alabama. Here, the African American community united in an effort to ensure that all citizens were equal before the law in regards to their ability to register to vote. Their work in banding together and marching from Selma to the state capital Montgomery, was vastly important to both the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, as well as the assurance of the Black vote within the United States. Consequently, this essay seeks to emphasize just how influential this act of protest was to the movement as a whole, whilst analysing the

In this time period, life was extremely hard for African Americans simply because they were slaves and even though they were emaciated in 1863 by the Emancipation Proclamation. They were still treated with such disrespect...to the point where they were considered not to be humans. They were instilled with so much fear that the thought

Then background and race in the United States was a big deal, it still is relevant today but not as much. Black’s got treated much worse than whites, they had their own schools, drinking fountains, bathrooms,etc. Meanwhile black public schools got the tiniest bit of money, white schools had much more of it and there schools were in very good condition unlike black schools. If you were black you could of gone to jail for touching a white and you possibly could get sent away your entire life. Supposing that you were not white, not many people would want you around them nor their family. You had more privileges being white than any other race at the time. Activists used, during the Civil Rights movement, multiple strategies that resulted in both successes and failures.

I feel for the most part the characteristics in this united or consistent with my experience in the African American culture. Slavery did set us back some years, but I have to say it has made us stronger. Most of us had to face great obstacles to get in a good place, but no matter what we keep making it through the adversity. After slavery, we as a culture had to make it through the jim crow laws. This sparked the civil right movement that gave blacks a voice to speak out against the injustice that had been quietly dealt with for years. In most of these different processes blacks had to face a criminal justice system that never seemed to be on their side. Blacks had to literally practice before the went up to testify in court in the justice system because of the very rigid injustice presented in courts. Blacks did earn their right to vote in the justice system, and they did earn their freedom in the justice system, but the justice system was geared for whites and not blacks, but through actual quoting the actual law, blacks was able to fight for their freedom. The actual law did protect its people. but it is what people inject into laws the are discriminating. Later, came the muslim movement that made blacks realise that they control their own destiny. African Americans has even came up as for in the middle class, but the problem is that it is a big gap between the low class and the middle. Most Blacks feel they cannot trust the police, and I believe it is from the past.

African Americans were always thought to be inferior to the white supremacy in the United States. Although the Civil War had abolished slavery, blacks were still very ill-treated. Blacks were to not associate with the white society. They were banned from restaurants, bathrooms, parks, schools, hospitals, and much more. Whites constantly abused the blacks to the point that African American life expectancy was 7 years less compared to the whites (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/). Society believed that a black could cause something to lose value for example “property values would drop a great deal if an African American family moved into a neighborhood that was not considered a ghetto”. African Americans began to stand up against the racial

Blacks didn't have titles (such as mr.mrs.sir,ma’am) for themselves.They had to be called by their first name. Not a lot of whites cared for blacks so most said him or her or that person. When it came to whites driving blacks had to sit in the back of any transportations. White motorist always had the right of way at all intersections at all times .Blacks were to never show their knowledge out in public because the whites could get offended and possibly jealous .Blacks couldn't curse or laugh at whites,and with white females blacks couldn't comment upon their appearances. Basically the Blacks were mannequins and one false move and they would be in trouble. This had major effects in the civil rights movement because the civil rights were trying to fight for blacks and gain rights and the Jim crow laws were trying to oppose the rights for blacks and limited their rights. There was a time where Jim crow and a group called KKK (Klu Klux Klan- a group that killed and tortured blacks) were at the same time fighting together against the Blacks and the civil rights movement but A brave leader name Martin Luther King Jr stepped in and set things in

There were African Americans thought they should go about living in society and dealing with segregation and inequality in the twentieth century. Two African American men both voiced their very different ideas about how the former slaves needed to react to gain equality and how they might go about abolishing the segregation laws in the early twentieth century. W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were those two men with different views on how to deal with those issues. African Americans, at the time, either felt like segregation and inequality needed to be waited out and sooner or later it would go away or that it was unacceptable and that everyone should have the same rights as the whites, immediately. Both views had very good points and both aided in the abolishment of segregation. However, reacting to segregation and inequality seemed to have a larger impact in less time than no reaction and just trying to let it fade did. This is also related to the issue of which way would be best to help improve the lives of all African Americans, educationally and in other aspects.

During the 1950s there were major conflicts that involved blacks and whites. These conflicts consist on how blacks and whites were separated and how black were being discriminated because the color of their skin. African American’s were not allowed to attend schools with whites, use the same bathrooms, eat at the same places and so much more. There were major moments that happened during them times; that made big differences that help the African American culture today.

Although the government was mostly white, they did a lot to protect minorities, like black people, against the majority, like white people. They created laws and reversed laws. The help of the government allowed the United States to be the integrated country it is today.

African American still faced an equal world of segregation in various forms. As far as Jim crow laws which at a local and state level barred African American from classrooms black and whites had separate classrooms they didn’t share bathrooms nothing it was an invisible line in between the two like in the poem “Big Boy Lives Home” if they cross that line they will be punished .They were separate because of their skin color. All these African American people wanted was to be equal and freedom to use the same facilities as whites. “On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman issued two executive orders. One instituted fair employment practices in the civilian agencies of the federal government;” (African American Odyssey, President Harry Truman

The American Civil Rights Movement was a movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the Southern United States. It came to national prominence during the mid 1950s. The purpose of this movement was for blacks to gain equal rights and integrate into schools and other public places. But most importantly, they wanted to be treated the same as whites and not to be treated differently.

Protest against injustice is deeply rooted in the African American experience. The origins of the civil rights movement date much further back than the 1954 Supreme Court ruling on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which said, "separate but equal" schools violated the Constitution. From the earliest slave revolts in this country over 400 years ago, African Americans strove to gain full participation in every aspect of political, economic and social life in the United States.

A primary technique used to overcome racial segregation during the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement in the United States was direct action. One of the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Junior who is known for his use of nonviolent direct action, which often entailed the violation of laws as an act of civil disobedience. On April 16, 1963, King composed his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” where he accepted the consequences for his disobedience against the Birmingham law which forbids one to parade without a permit. In the letter, King explains the intent of nonviolent direct action, and that although his actions broke the law, this particular act of civil disobedience may be morally justified because the law itself was unjust. In fact, King held a high respect for the supreme law of the United States—the Constitution—as it grants equal protection of all under the law. It was the specific laws throughout the nation which promoted racial segregation that King found to be unjust and required direct action to be overturned. With reference to his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” I will explain King’s concept of the nature and purpose of nonviolent direct action and its relation to civil disobedience, as well as why in order for nonviolent direct action to fulfill its purpose, humans must have the capacity to embrace their natural senses of justice and sympathy in order to suppress their self-interests in favor of justice.