Civil Rights Movement a Turbulent Time in American History

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“Civil Rights Movement a Turbulent Time in American History

The Civil Rights Movement was a very turbulent period in American history. Blacks and white sympathizers alike were the targets of death threats, vandalism, beatings, and increased discrimination. Activists, both black and white, were murdered by racists. The times were tough for many during this difficult fight against racism and inequality, and the struggle for their civil and human rights.

The legacy of the Civil Rights movement is long and brutal one, with roots that stem back to the boats that brought black slave to the New World. Activists, looking for change, were beaten and murdered on trains and buses, it was unsafe for them to walk the streets or go to church, and schools and homes were bombed and burned to the ground. They filled the jails, and forced to endure acts of violence, intimidation, and harassment (Litwack).

It has been nearly fifty years since the men and women; mostly young and black, challenged Jim Crow and the laws and administrators who enforced it. “The Jim Crow laws were racial segregation laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 in the United States at the state and local level (Wikipedia).” These laws were enacted to create segregation in public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks, in Southern states of the former Confederacy. In 1890, a "separate but equal" status for African Americans was one of the first attempts at civil rights and equality for all (Litwack).

Acts of violence were at times brutal and unwarranted, and often they were either approved by white supremacist groups or ...

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...http://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/215785571?accountid=3783 .

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Rosenberg, Jennifer. Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated. 2014. http://history1900s.about.com/bio/Jennifer-Rosenberg-7900.htm. 13 April 2014.

Wikipedia. Civil Rights Act of 1964. 11 April 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964. 12 April 2014.

—. Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 31 March 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentyfourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution. 13 April 2014.

—. Watts Riots. 4 April 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Riots. 13 April 2014.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jim Crow laws. 27 March 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_Laws. 10 April 2014.

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