The Importance Of Segregation And The Civil Rights Movement In America

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.

In Spite of the devastating history of segregation in the United States. A lot has changed in the past fifty years since segregation ended. The United States shifted from arresting African Americans for using “white only” facilities to integrated schools all over the country. Influential individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr helped pave the way for African Americans to live as equals to along with their white counterparts in the United States of America.

Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation in the United States was commonly practiced in many of the Southern and Border States. This segregation while supposed to be separate but equal, was hardly that. Blacks in the South were discriminated against repeatedly while laws did nothing to protect their individual rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ridded the nation of this legal segregation and cleared a path towards equality and integration. The passage of this Act, while forever altering the relationship between blacks and whites, remains as one of history's greatest political battles.

Just fifty years ago, America was a society of segregation and racism. The dictionary defines racism as “the belief that a particular race is superior to another.” Although it is clear times have changed, racism is still seen in modern american society. It’s also clear that relationships between African Americans and whites are generally better than they were in the forties and fifties. Today, it is rare to witness a black man walk down the street and step off the sidewalk to let a white man walk by, or to see a black man sitting on a different section of the bus or train because a white man told him he has too. But superiority of races is still happening. A lot of this has the do with the ignorance of others. Passed down generation to

Often times, people of the twenty-first century forget that segregation was real, people do not realize the impact of segregation nor how powerful it was. Segregation was real, segregation was powerful, and segregation affected the lives of many, whites would harass anyone who was not of their color. People associate civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., and although he sparked the Civil Rights movement, he should not be completely accredited for getting rid of segregation. Supreme Court cases have diminished segregation. The elimination of segregation was not immediate, but took decades to completely part with. Most people would agree that these three cases have stood out and made the most impact: Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board

Segregation, an word that has haunted countless AfricanAmericans for years upon years. Segregation is the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart. It has cut AfricanAmericans short from many opportunities, leaving us dumb founded.

Society, as we know it today, consists of people who have evolved and developed mentally, culturally, geographically, and physiologically. Because people come from different walks of life, segregation has played a significant role in America. It is seemingly inescapable. The term segregation is known for its infamous history and the negative impact it has had on society. Due to its reputation, it is very uncommon that one studies the word in a positive way contrary to its negative connotation, to find that it has two sides, both pros and cons. Due to this fact, in this paper I will discuss the pros and cons that can be associated with segregation.

Race is invisible to white, because they don’t have to think about it. When white people are in poverty, they never think to consider their skin color as a factor to why they are. Whites are mostly oblivious to this happening in general, because it does not happen to them.

Segregation and racism are deeply rooted in American history, but racism has been a constant problem. Remnants of slavery were still in America, but in the form of segregation. Segregation is still wrong though, as it restricted the rights that every man, woman, and child should have.

The Union was in a state of exceedingly high tension as it split into two on the issue of slavery. It was a question of moral integrity and whether it should be allowed to continue. Racism permeated the institution of slavery. The color of a man’s skin did not keep him from fighting for freedom in the wars that took place in America, although it was a way white people sought to justify their mistreatment of them. Slaves were viewed as inferior beings by southern whites and as the abolition movement gained momentum in the north, the slave owners began to see northerners as inferior as well for sympathizing with such barbarians. The Dred Scott case only serves to further this point; slaves were by law not seen as citizens. Consequently,

Body 1: During the Civil rights era the oppression of African American citizens was a very common thing. So, much so that seeing coloured citizens being abused, treated badly or being in a segregated area was just a normal part of everyday life. Most of this segregation came from the “Jim Crow” laws. These laws were ironically named after a group called the “Virginia Minstrels” which was a group of white men who smeared black cork on their face and played songs and danced. These laws effectively created two separate societies the African Americans and the Caucasians. This meant that blacks and whites could not ride together in the same rail car, sit in the same waiting room, sit in the same theatre, attend the same school or eat in the same

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

A man once stood in front of a crowd of thousands of people both black and white. He delivered a speech that fought for the possibility of an America where both black and white citizens were truly equal; this man was“Martin Luther King Jr”(Martin Luther King Jr.). One might fight back and argue that the laws during this time did make the African Americans equal but this was not true, as one of the laws stated the two as being Equal but separate. This law was one of the Jim crow laws, in which African americans were in theory separate and equal, but in reality were given second hand treatment after the prioritized white citizens (Richard). The Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional and took away many African Americans chances at being considered

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.

Forty-seven years ago the Civil Rights Act was passed to end racial discrimination in America. And later on the 24th Amendment to poll taxes, then the Voting Rights Act to allow every man to vote and not be discriminated against. Black Power, the Nation of Islam, and the Southern Christian Leadership conference were just some of the groups that tried to end segregation and promote the African American race. Although these groups did help end it, it still exists in today’s world and many studies have been done to prove it in the past couple of years.