Racial Inequalities In Civil Rights

During the civil rights era the amount of racial inequalities that were present within society were immense. They ranged from the inability of African Americans to attend school with whites, use the same water fountains or even ride in the same section on buses just to name a few. Many influential figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X fought to eliminate those inequalities. These influential figures had their own story line that stood out in our history and made them who they are in the Civil Rights Era. Even though, they were very influential they still couldn’t take on the task by themselves. They were the leaders of their individual movement.

Under the system of bus segregation, white people were entitled to the seats in the front rows of the bus while black people would fill the back of the bus. When buses were filled to their maximum capacity seating, any black passenger who came aboard the bus were then required to stand. In the case of a white man coming onboard when the bus was fully occupied the black passenger closest to the front of the bus was required to vacate that seat for them. It was not until December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man that an outburst against this racial inequality came to being. This resulted in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Many African American followed this boycott, while other couldn’t because they needed it very badly and because many couldn’t afford to buy their own vehicle. The bus business lost a lot of money in Montgomery since most African Americans use buses to go to work, office, school, and etc.

On the educational front, one of the biggest racial segregations was that of schools. White and black students attended dif...

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...ange the way America is in present one was the Rosa Park and the Montgomery Bus Boycott and another was “Brown vs. Board.” Even though these influential figures help tremendously, they couldn’t do everything without the support of other citizens. Generally, we made America a better place for everybody to live.

Works Citied:

Chafe, William . Racial Inequality Throughout American History. 7th. 1. New York : yahoo, 2010. Web. .

Kirk, John A. "Racial Inequality In The Post-Civil Rights Era South." Social Policy 42.2 (2012): 14-21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Dec. 2012.

Prewitt, Kenneth. "When Social Inequality Maps To Demographic Diversity, What Then For Liberal Democracies?." Social Research 77.1 (2010): 1-20. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Dec. 2012