The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's

The Civil Rights Movement’s mission was to end segregation and advance equality for African Americans (Hanks, Herzog, and Goetzman). Almost one hundred years after the civil war, African Americans were still struggling to gain the same rights as white Americans. The movement was led by leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks. Gaining momentum in the 1950’s with the Supreme court’s ruling of Brown vs. Board of Education where public schools were desegregated, the Civil Rights movement flourished in the 1960’s. One of the group’s main goals was to take on the Jim Crow South. Segregation prevented African Americans from drinking out of the same water fountain, using the same restroom, and even sitting at the same lunch table as white people. By promoting peaceful protest, they were able to educate others on their issues.

Civil rights, a significant issue of the ‘60s, reached a climax in 1968 and hatched a novel approach racial strive. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. had waged a successful campaign of peaceful protests in US southern states, a growing number of younger activists began to feel that nonviolent tactics could not

Many people turned to violence during this time, but Martin Luther King, Jr., a legendary front-runner of this movement, advocated for peace. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, one that is still quoted by American citizens today, he voiced his wish that “one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will he able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (King). Rather than using his position of power to communicate rage to the masses of people gathered before him, King relayed messages of optimism. As a result, the Civil Rights movement was one built on the notion that peaceful resistance was the key to equality. The Montgomery bus boycott, marches in Selma, Birmingham, and Washington, D.C. were all intentionally nonviolent. Protesters, calm in the face of brutal police retaliation in order to defend their rights, eventually achieved equality under the law (Simkins). Footage from the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, displaying passive African-American protesters being beaten down by police, was rapidly spread through the media, eventually reaching President Lyndon B. Johnson and motivating him to take action against racism, passing measures such as the 1965 Voting Rights Act (History.com) Though radical protesters did resort to violence during the movement, we remember it and teach it for its emphasis on

Prior to the civil rights movement, was hard for social injustice that mainly occurred during the 1950s and the 1960s for blacks to achieve equal rights under the law of the U.S. Civil War had regularly repealed slavery, but it didn’t end the discrimination, harassing, and the threatening. Jim Crow laws were settled in the South beginning in the late 19th century. Blacks couldn’t use the same public efficiency as whites, live in frequent of the same towns or unable to go to the same schools. Activists used, during the civil rights movement, multiple strategies that resulted in both successes and failures.

They believed they could accomplish their goals without physically fighting back. Which meant them learning to accept that they will be punched and kicked, but they had to learn not to fight back or get angry otherwise that would defeat their purpose. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. states in his letter “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” that nonviolent direct action seeked “to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.”(Document A) They wanted to dramatize the issue to the point where it could no longer be ignored. There would be no choice but to negotiate. King knew that their cause would not get sympathy if it used violence against the government, businesses, and the police. That is why he enforced nonviolence so strongly. A big benefactor in the civil rights movement was the media. For every sit-in, or march, or anything that might provoke violence from the police, or anti blacks there was media present. So that people at home could see the damage that was being done to African Americans. People involved in the movement wanted the people to see them being beat up, and other terrible things that happened to them. So that the people watching at home would have sympathy and start to realize there is a

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.

The civil rights movement occurred in America from the 1940s to 1960s. During this time protestors stuck up for and behind African American people being granted basic civil liberties and combat racial injustice. Although, there were many supporters of the civil rights movement there were many opposed to African Americans being granted equality. Those opposed stood firmly behind the Jim Crow laws. These laws kept everyone “equal but separate” as in the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. This case basically stated, “as long as racially separate facilities were equal they did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantees of equal protection of the law” ("Separate but Equal: The Plessy v. Ferguson Case"). Those who opposed the civil rights movement went to great lengths to ensure the failure of the movement. According to John Franklin, white supremacist groups, “used intimidation, force, ostracism in business and society, bribery at the polls, arson and even murder to accomplish their deeds” (qtd. in Morris). The nation was segregated from all walks of life;

They also discriminated in public life by segregating water foundations, buses, and even schools. To fight against the policies of the government, the Civil Rights Movement formed in 1954. Their sole purpose was to achieve justice and equality for all American citizens. The movement was led by famous figures that we still greatly celebrate and recognize. One role model was Martin Luther King Junior. He took part in the protest using a technique called nonviolent civil disobedience. In other words, instead of

The majority of participants in the civil rights movement chose the non-violent way. Within this path, individuals and groups took different approaches to the method. There were individual protests here and there. The prominent of the black civil rights movement began after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision where the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be constitutional. The court case brought notice to the world about the state of African Americans. Organized Civil Rights Movements went on the rise after that. People began to apply civil disobedience to achieve their goals. Rosa Parks, a prominent figure in the Movement, was famous for her action on one of her bus rides. The law back then required African Americans to sit in the back of the bus but she refused to do

A voice has more power than a fist. During the civil rights movement of the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties, African Americans were discriminated against for having a darker completion. This segregation took place predominantly in the South, and strict laws prevented most African Americans from living a normal life. Though discriminated against, black Americans started a movement that mostly involved a non violence approach for the situation. Education and respect from white Americans were the basis of the movement. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society, which is demonstrated through Martin Luther King Jr. and other fellow leaders during the civil rights movement.

Those in the African-American civil-rights movement used non-violent methods to persuade the people in power, mostly whites of course, and to empower and rally up those who wanted to see and make a change, and to give hope to those in the black community. Some of the methods used were speeches, protests, marches, and boycotts, the most popular of course being protests with lots of powerful and motivating speeches. The goals of these actions were to get blacks the right to vote, fair and integrated education and employment, and livable housing. These goals were achieved, mostly in thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. leading a series of non-violent protests. Finally the “separate but equal” doctrine was dropped as whites realized that the separation in and of itself was a breach of the constitution because it could never actually be equal, and thus the African-American civil-rights movement made its mark.

The success of the fight for racial equality, also known as the Civil Rights Movement, in the United States was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between the 1950s and the 1960s, civil rights activists practiced non violence in hopes to end racial segregation and discrimination across the country and worldwide. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Jim Lawson, and John Lewis believed strongly in this philosophy of nonviolence as the key of success for the Civil Rights Movement.

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.

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

The Civil Rights Movement played a very important role for African Americans in the Unites States. In the early 1960s The Civil Rights Movement was unified to end racial segregation and discrimination. African Americans still lived in an unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and injustice, like race inspired violence. many Americans united together across color lines to protest the racism and discrimination that existed in the United States. During the 1950s and the early 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. became an important leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He advocated non-violent protest. He believed that people of all races would look favorably on a movement that encouraged peace and equality and did not meet injustice with violence. King's peaceful message attracted thousands of supporters of all races who agreed that segregation and the lack of rights for African Americans could not continue. But some of the African Americans became frustrated and began to reject the calls for non-violent protests. They wanted changes to occur much more