The Situation of Blacks in the 1960's

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The Situation of Blacks in the 1960's

The situation for the blacks in the 1960’s was just as tough as ever

before and economic problems were rising. Many blacks lived in

Ghettoes such as “Watts” in LA, which had many drug problems. Riots

were also becoming more frequent due to police brutality. Blacks

increasingly believed that the white officers were using riots as an

excuse to terrorise and intimidate the local population. They also

believed that judges were very racist. One of the main problems though

was the fact that blacks couldn’t vote unless they took an IQ test,

which the whites made impossible to complete. Without the vote, blacks

couldn’t change the racist sheriffs, politicians, police officers

etc.

In 1960’s, blacks began to disagree among themselves about the best

ways to gain more civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King started to find

himself in a position where he no longer had the control that he used

to over the black’s civil rights movement and also found that his idea

of bringing the changes peacefully falling away beneath his feet. This

was due to new black activist groups called “Black Nationalists”.

These groups developed in the North from the ghettos and other working

class black groups. It was led by Malcolm X and also Elijah Mohammad

which, unlike Martin Luther King, believed that the Blacks had waited

too long to gain acceptance from the white “oppressors”. The main aims

for this group were to gain rights from white without “pleading and

begging” and if this meant fighting back against white violence then

they would fight back and “be proud to be black”. The S.C.L.C (Southern

Christian Leadership Confe...

... middle of paper ...

...ton was trying to improve life for blacks

since the insistent in Mississippi, 1964 when two white and one black

body was found in a dam after trying to register black voters. They

had been arrested by Police, later realised to the Ku Klux Clan and

then brutally murdered. There was a six-week federal investigation and

Johnston supported this all the way.

On April the 4th 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King was

shot dead on the balcony outside his hotel room. King later became the

symbol of protest in the struggle for racial justice. Many blacks

continued supporting the non-violent ascertainment of freedom and

equality, while some started to support the “Black Nationalist” group

after Kings death. Either way, these men were working toward the same

goal: freedom and choice for African people all over America.

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