Analysis of The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobediance to revolt against racial segregration and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states, but quickly rose to national prominence.

Freedom Rides/Eugene “Bull” Connor:

In 1947, the Supreme Court ruled that segregration on interstate bus rides was unconsitutional. As a response, the Congress of Racial Equality—also known as CORE—and the Fellowship of Reconciliation decided to arrange interracial and bus rides across state lines. The Journey of Reconciliation, as they were called, focused on the rampant bus segregration of the upper South, but avoided the more dangerous and risky areas of the deep south. Unfortunatly, there was a lack of media attention and, ultimatly, CORE's goals went unnoticed. In 1961, however, new—and sucessful—Freedom Rides were actualized. CORE partnered with student activists to continue previous efforts made to fight segregated bus rides and bus terminals. On May 4, 1961, two buses began the trip from Washington DC to New Orleans. They riders were met with little resistance and violence until they arrived in Rockhill, South Caroilina. There were many voilent beatings and arrests of the riders. The events in Rockhill, South Carolina initiated the national media coverage of the rides. On May 14, the Freedom Rides arrived in Anniston, Alabama. There, the riders were met with a violent mob of regular citizens and Ku Klux Klan members. Local authorites, lead by Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor—who was known as an ultra-seg...

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... Equality, to organize the Freedom Simmer of 1964. Over sixty thousand newly registered African American voters aligned with a new party, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). The MFDP sent their own delegates to the Democratic National Convention, but president Lyden Johnson prevented any televison coverage of the MFDP delegates. As a resutlt, no members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party were elected, but “...their presence and the moral strength of their argument impacted national politics” (“Freedom Summer”). Preventing African Americans from exercsising their right to vote was one of the many problemd faced during they encountered during the Civil Rights Movement. Even so, they knew it was imparitive to get the African Americans vote counted, because only then would true social and polical change occur.