Civil Rights Movement Research Paper

Abstract
The Civil Rights Movement in the US achieved major political successes with the implementation of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. These milestones are directly related to the political opportunities for activism created by the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v Board of Education and the Rosa Parks incident in Montgomery. The Supreme Court ruling found the system of racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional and created new legal precedence on the matter. This outcome formed the basis of legal challenge and civil disobedience by the Civil Rights Movement. The Rosa Park incidence marked the start of civil disobedience against the system of racial segregation in the US. Rosa represented the status of the victims

of the system of racial segregation in the society. Her courageous move became popular and formed the basis of the first mass civil disobedience when the blacks began a boycott against public transport in Montgomery. The movement was strengthened by coalition with religious organizations and other social movements.

Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement refers to a political movement in the US that sought racial equality.

The movement emerged from the system of racial segregation that was advanced in the US, especially the Southern States after the Civil War. The movement was instrumental in the implementation of various reforms that changed the racial relations in the US in the 1960s. These include the introduction of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. The success of the movement at this period can be associated with political opportunities from the 1950s. These events created the legal basis for the implementation of reforms against the system of racial segregation and thus racial discrimination (Marsh, 2004). The US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v Board of Education and the Rosa Parks incident in Montgomery created the political opportunity for the Civil Rights Movement in the

1960s.
Political Opportunities
Political opportunities are events that create chances for political and social resurgence on particular issues. Racial discrimination was the political factor for civil rights activism. The Civil Rights Movement took advantage of opportunities created to challenge the system of racial discrimination.
The system of racial segregation had existed for a long time in the US, and efforts to end it did not gather momentum. The laws on racial segregation started being implemented in the 1870s, where the southern states sought to control former slaves and their families by denying them some civil rights (Marsh, 2004). To achieve this, they created a principle of racial segregation and extended to public service and facilities including parks and restaurants. The system was codified in the local and state laws, thus making it legal to discriminate the Blacks.
The principle of racial segregation was viewed as important for proper racial relations.

The status of blacks as former slaves made them inferior to the whites, and there was the need for them to recognize and appreciate their subordinate position (Marsh, 2004). The Jim Crow Laws were meant to preserve the racial balance by ensuring that the whites were given some privileges in public service. Since the doctrine of racial segregation was recognized by the local and state laws, the blacks did not have the basis for open defiance. The Supreme Court Ruling changed the political environment by implying that the Blacks were being denied their rights. The purpose of the Civil rights movement was to reclaim all the rights that the blacks were denied under the Jim Crow laws. It is after the Supreme Court ruling that the Civil Rights movement gained momentum to influence political changes against the system of racial

discrimination.
Political Opportunities
Brown V Board of Education
In 1974, The US Supreme Court in Brown v Board of Education ruled that the system of racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This was a landmark decision with wide-ranging implications on racial relations in the US. The system of racial segregation was allowed by the Jim Crow Laws, which recognized the whites as superior to other racial groups, particularly the blacks. As such, the blacks were not allowed to share public resources with whites. The system created schools for whites and different education facilities for Blacks.
The Jim Crow Laws had earlier been supported by another Supreme Court decision in Plessy V Ferguson in 1896. In this case, the court interpreted the meaning of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (McAdam, 2010). The clause obligates states to provide equal protection of the laws to all persons in their jurisdiction. The court ruled that the doctrine of equal but separate facilities was within the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling effectively legitimized all laws designed to create separate public facilities for blacks and whites.