The New Deal and the Civil Rights Legislation of the 1960's

By 1963, when Martin Luther King planned a campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. During the demonstration he was arrested and lives in the jail for eight days. While he was in prison, he wrote his "letter from Birmingham Jail" to explain his actions and those who urged him to call off the demonstrations. Martin Luther King Jr. Birmingham Jail is important because, he explains the reasons for the non-violent demonstrations, he shows that black people are intelligent, and he criticizes the unjust laws of black people.

The goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to give African Americans the same rights as Whites. During this time period blacks and whites were segregated. Blacks had their own bathrooms, water fountains, schools etc. However, the all black facilities were much worse and lacked basic needs. Blacks wanted equal rights for all including schools, and job

The Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s aimed at the equal opportunities for blacks. The blacks not only wanted political freedom, but also hoped to gain social freedom as well. On top of that, blacks wanted to end segregation. The Civil Rights Movement involved many events that would later lead to equality and freedom, the goal for the blacks.

But reason behind why the campaign was held there was because King believed that if he could stop segregation in Birmingham he had the ability to stop it anywhere. But also it was at this one demonstration that was the turning point in the fight for black civil rights thanks to new technology at this time being the television people both white and black could see for themselves the innocent brutal treatment received by the blacks from whites, therefore it convinced many people to join the bid for civil rights. In 1964 saw civil rights movement for black Americans progress further through another organised march from Selma Alabama to Montgomery to draw attention about their right to vote. But their protest did not run like clock works as white officers tried to oppose the black demonstrators by using several methods to bring down moral including hosing and beating them down and gassing the determined crowd.

Fredrick Douglas once said, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” During the 1960’s in America, there were major movements the promoted change throughout the country. The Civil Rights movement, which got its start in the 1950’s, strived for racial equality for African Americans. Meanwhile, the Women’s Rights Movement, focused on battling for better pay and equal opportunities for women. While the Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement differed in their initial purposes, both groups worked to promote equality in the United States and made a profound impression for the decades to come.

The early 1960s brought the civil rights movement into its prime. The efforts of civil rights activists began paying off as Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson finally addressed the inequality that blacks faced. Television coverage of the violence civil rights activists endured during protests throughout the South shocked Americans as they watched the nightly news. However, on March 12th, 1964, Malcolm X leaves the Nation of Islam among his reasons for the break is Elijah Muhammad's ban of protesting for Nation of Islam adherents. The Civil rights act of June 2nd, 1964 bans discrimination in employment and public places thanks to the help of Malcolm

Racial unrest by the summer of 1963 was at its height since the Civil War. President Kennedy picked up the situation at the close of the

This was a good thing for the children because they got away from the police and rejoined the march. On the first day of the children's march, 959 children were arrested. The next day, twice as many children came ready to march. This time Eugene “Bull” Connor was prepared to stand against the children and protesters. Eugene “Bull” Connor was a police chief in Alabama during the protests in downtown Birmingham. Connor told Birmingham police officers to set loose the dogs and the firemen to sprayed the marchers with the firehoses. People were seeing what Connor was doing to the children and people were horrified. President Kennedy got involved and appeared on television with a new plan, if the law pass, segregation in public places would be illegal. Birmingham’s leader finally agreed to MLK’s demands, after a long and hard fought battle, segregation was ended in the

When he was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama he then fell under criticism by white clergy for coming to Birmingham as an “outsider” to cause trouble and increase tension through public sit-ins and marches. I feel that Martin Luther King was able to both set aside that criticism by establishing his credibility to have not only been invited to come to Birmingham to help end the injustice to the Negro people via peaceful means, but he was able to identify moral, legal and ethical cause to promote his quest to put a stop to what he identified as “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” (King, 2017, p, 3). I will provide a summary that will show what Martin Luther King believed were the cause of the injustice that he was striving to end to as well as his concern over the white community’s ability to make the Negro “wait for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights.”

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr was arrested in Birmingham for protesting the treatment of colored people.

According to Kensworthy (1963), The March leaders walked from the Lincoln Memorial to the White House who met and spoke with President Kennedy for over an hour. Afterwards, President Kennedy broadcasted a speech praising the marchers for the "deep fervor and the quiet dignity" that had depicted the protest (Kensworthy, 1963, p.1).

Martin Luther King Jr. knew of the constant racism and cruelty in Birmingham, Alabama and decided to lead a march in 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy, treasurer of the SCLC, led a group of fifty marchers toward city hall in Birmingham (Boerst, 12). Martin Luther King Jr. and the protestors wanted to stand up

The aims of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was to end racial discrimination and segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the leaders of this movement and an advocate for non-violent protests and peaceful resistance. Starting with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, MLK lead a series of non-violent protests, inspired by Thoreau’s essay. Blacks marched, boycotted, and protested for their rights and were arrested in the process. In 1963, the March on Birmingham occurred, to encourage integration and desegregation in Birmingham. Children as young as six years old marched and were arrested. It captured the attention of the nation and employed real social and legal change, as the city was required to integrate and hire African Americans downtown. MLK was a part of the Birmingham Campaign and was arrested and imprisoned, writing his famed “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. In this letter, MLK expresses his reasons for the protest and his desire for equality. MLK stated “in no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law … I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law” (King). In this passage, he states his willingness to accept his punishment for breaking the law, a small price to pay for the possible change he could make in

From the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the Civil Rights Movement and the Pro-Life Movement of the 1960s, to the Tea Party Movement and Occupy Wall Street Movement of current times, “those struggling against unjust laws have engaged in acts of deliberate, open disobedience to government power to uphold higher principles regarding human rights and social justice” (DeForrest, 1998, p. 653) through nonviolent protests. Perhaps the most well-known of the non-violent protests are those associated with the Civil Rights movement. The movement was felt across the south, yet Birmingham, Alabama was known for its unequal treatment of blacks and became the focus of the Civil Rights Movement. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., president of

In April and May of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was a focal point for the civil rights movement. Birmingham was home to one of the most violent cells of the KKK and violence against black people was so commonplace (especially in the form of explosives) that it was referred to as “Bombingham.” It was these conditions that lead Martin Luther King to arrive and organize a series of non-violent protests in the city. These protests were relatively low key and weren’t very well attended. This was due to the fact that political rivalries between King’s organization, the SCLC, and other civil right’s organizations like CORE and the NAACP. However, the Birmingham protests soon became headlines due to the response of the city’s police