The Civil Rights and the LGBT Movements

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Although the conclusion of the Civil War during the mid-1860s demolished the official practice of slavery, the oppression and exploitation of African Americans has continued. Although the rights and opportunities of African Americans were greatly improved during Reconstruction, cases such a 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson, which served as the legal basis for segregation, continue to diminish the recognized humanity of African Americans as equal people. Furthermore, the practice of the sharecropping system impoverished unemployed African Americans, recreating slavery. As economic and social conditions worsened, the civil rights movement began to emerge as the oppressed responded to their conditions, searching for equality and protected citizenship.With such goals in mind, associations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which came to the legal defense of African Americans and aided the march for civil rights reforms, emerged. By working against the laws restricting African Americans, the NAACP saw progress with the winning of cases like Brown v. Board of Education, which allowed the integration of public schools after its passing in 1954 and 1955. In the years following the reform instituted by the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the fervor of the civil rights movement increased; mass nonviolent protests against the unfair treatment of blacks became more frequent. New leaders, such as Martin Luther King, manifested themselves. The civil rights activists thus found themselves searching for the “noble dream” unconsciously conceived by the democratic ideals of the Founding Fathers to be instilled.
However, such goals came too slowly for some, who further disagreed that the nonviolent ...

... middle of paper ...

...he American, 1:411.

. Ibid., 412

.Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. "Black Power
Movement." In UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History, 172-74. Vol. 1. Detroit:
UXL, 2009. Accessed January 16, 2014. Gale Virtual Reference Library
(GALE|CX3048900077).

. Ibid.,174

. Carson, "Civil Rights Movement," in Encyclopedia of the American, 1:412.

. Gianoulis, Tina. "Gay Liberation Movement." In St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture., edited by Thomas Riggs, 438-43. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James, 2013. Gale Virtual Reference Library (GALE|CX2735801056).

. Carson, "Civil Rights Movement," in Encyclopedia of the American, 1:411.

. Gianoulis, "Gay Liberation Movement," in St. James Encyclopedia of Popular, 2:439.

. Ibid.,439

. Ibid.,440

. Ibid.

. Ibid.,441

. Ibid.

Ibid.

. Ibid., 442

. Ibid.

. Ibid.

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