The Civil Rights Movement

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.

Social movements are one of the primary means through which the public is able to collectively express their concerns about the rights and wellbeing of themselves and others. Under the proper conditions, social movements not only shed light on issues and open large scale public discourse, but they can also serve as a means of eliciting expedited societal change and progress. Due to their potential impact, studying the characteristics of both failed and successful social movements is important in order to ensure that issues between the public and the government are resolved to limit injustices and maintain societal progress.

The African American Civil right movement in the late 1950’s and throughout the 1960’s was a powerful fight for equal opportunities to the basic rights and privileges outlined by the US government. During this movement thousands of African American individuals and those who believed in the power of the movement, battled against the piercing white supremacy through various tactics including grass root movements. The grass root movements in the 60’s was characterized by organizations of individuals fighting for equality on the behalf of the African Americans, ultimately shaping American history. Such movements helped to raise awareness on a political level, of the injustice all African American’s endured. Grassroots activist during the 60’s were able to organize marches, rallies and protests in order to mobilize and strengthen the Civil Rights Movement. Grass rooting activism during the Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s shaped American History by aiding in the abolished laws restricting African American’s freedom to vote, the abolishment of segregation in school, and the passage of the Civil Rights act outlawing discrimination.

Since then, African and Asian Americans moved together in the pursuit for racial equality in similar pacing. Therefore, to fight for racial equality and combat bigotry, African Americans formed the NAACP as the Japanese Americans formed the JACL--similar organization both against racial discrimination and to assist its members in rising up in society. These councils significantly impacted the United States as they promoted the causes for social equality and influenced similar organizations all over the United States. Essentially as a catalyst for the civil rights movement, such organizations played a major role in gaining the voice of the people and created unification of citizens reluctant to voice their opinions in a white dominated country. For example, a similar council was created known as the Jackson Street Community Council, which promoted business, social groups, and public services. This created ethnic cooperation between blacks and Asians in the community because of the prior competition between the colored regions of Seattle for jobs. This council helped dissolve tension, not only between Japanese and African Americans, but also between Japanese and whites, which came from the resentment from the war and Japanese internment.

The 1950s and 1960s was a period of growth and prosperity in America. Features of the common life included innovations such as television, dishwasher, and home air-conditioning. However, not all Americans equally benefited from the economic growth of this period of time. In addition to Jim Crow laws and unequal economic opportunities, America’s society became further segregated as many whites moved to the suburbs while blacks remained in run-down city neighborhoods. These many inequalities sparked the civil rights movement, where African Americans stood up and fought for their rights using nonviolent methods. The movement influenced the emergence of many prominent figures including Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was successful in achieving equal rights for African Americans through nonviolent protests such as the Montgomery bus boycott, sit-ins, and marches.

Civil rights are the rights that every person should have no matter their sex, religion, or race. These were deprived to African Americans for hundreds of years, long before the civil rights movement of the 1960s. African Americans were slaves from the 1500s until the 1860s when the Civil War happened. After the slaves were freed, there was still a lot of segregation and racism throughout the U.S., especially in the South. The government put into place Jim Crow Laws, which were strict segregation laws that would punish people who associated with people of another race, if the law forbade them to do so. They also used poll taxes, literacy tests, and other things of the like to prevent African Americans from voting. White supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan, or rather known as the KKK, would perform violent acts to minorities. They would bomb, carry out beatings and shootings and set fires to blacks’ homes.

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 1920’s was a time for advancement, full of many influences that have effected times today including the development of the organization the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or, NAACP. In the August of 1908 in the city of Springfield, Illinois a two day riot of several thousand white citizens ensued due to the rising of racial equality (“Springfield Race Riot”). This riot resulted in the death of two elderly African Americans by lynching along with innocent people being shot, stores being looted and, homes being burned (“Springfield Race Riot”). The creators of the NAACP took this event along with our nation's history as a cry for help and need for racial justice. The beginning of the 20th century was full of new idea’s but the NAACP organizers knew that it was lacking racial justice.

Blacks were segregated and discriminated against, Williams says that there was much prejudice in America against black people that was legitimized by the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Supreme Court ruling that forced them to use separate and usually inferior facilities. This spired the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or (NAACP) movement. Also, the article OLDEST AND BOLDEST explains that the NAACP fought for black civil right, against injustices, racial violence, and discrimination and by 1918 there were 44,000 members. Unwilling to settle for the old ways any longer the members of NAACP and Harlem Renaissance ran next to each other both working together to the united-goal. Over the years this movement gained momentum which that led to the Supreme Court decision of 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared the doctrine of “separate but equal” to be unconstitutional. The article NAACP from History.com says how that today there approximately 425,000

The African American Civil Rights movement was a defining moment in world history. It was a movement aimed at gaining equality and freedom for African American people. While many different types of people contributed to the achieving of this goal it could be argued that the youth were the driving force of this movement. Evidence suggests that they were an effective protest group who greatly contributed to the outcome of the civil rights movement. In order to determine the reality of this statement this essay will analyse:

The American Civil Rights Movement is personified through several prominent personalities. These figures exhibited strong character throughout their careers in activism that revolutionized the ideals and opportunities of the 20th century, standing as precedents for courage and perseverance in the face of widespread systemic oppression. However, not all of these figures received the acknowledgment and acceptance that their legacy deserved. One such figure was Bayard Rustin, a lifelong Civil Rights activist in the African American and LGBTQ communities whose experiences exemplified the hardships faced by American minorities. His career was defined by perpetual conflict and confrontation as both sides of the Civil Rights Movement attempted to demonize and discredit him. Despite this obstacle, Bayard Rustin’s controversial decision-making and sheer tenacity made him an influential force in the ongoing fight for equality in the United States of America.

discrimination happens all the time in the world today, however there have been many solution or tactics to help resolve discrimination but have failed,or some have work such as the black rights movement. The black rights movement was started by Martin Luther King Jr. and it was a movement to help give black people rights to do certain tasks or priorities.

The Civil Rights movement is one of the most important acts to change the way not only African Americans were able to live their lives but all races and colors. It would slowly break down the social, economic, political, and racial barriers that were created by the The Age of Discovery and Transatlantic Slave trade. I believe without the Civil Rights acts our country would result to be no better than what it was when the Emancipation Proclamation just took effect. In the 1950s and long before, Southern folk, who were white had created a system that would interpret them as a superior race over blacks. The system would defend whites rights and privileges from being taken away from them while establishing terrible inhumane suffering for African Americans. In the South blacks were controlled in all aspects economic, political, and personal, this was called a “tripartite system of domination” - (Aldon D. Morris) (6) Though it isn’t as prevalent racism and discrimination towards other races that aren’t white is still found in America and can be in schools, the workplace, even when you are in the general public but you no longer see discriminating signs saying “Whites” or “Blacks” or Colored” along the front of bathroom, restaurants, and shopping malls doors. Nor do you see people being declined the right to buy a home based on their color or access to school and an equal education being declined because one didn’t meet racial requirements. The acts of violence towards

There is a boy, an African American boy named Thomas, who has been told his entire life to watch the paths he crossed on this walk called “life” and keep his head down to avoid being lynched. Being that he was a fifteen years old in the early 1950s, it wasn’t anything new to hear this type of advice. There is an Islamic boy named Mohammed who wakes up early every day, goes to school, and then gets bullied. “You’re a terrorist”. These are the words they stamped to his forehead and backside. The other direction he turns, on goes the hood and then out the door he walks. Both young men have been raised with the feeling of solitude for their fifteen years of life, being the outcasts because of their exterior, their skin color. Looking inward,

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was when African Americans began to protest for their rights to be equal. They wanted to stop segregation and inequality throughout the country.