Fight for Equality African Americans everywhere were fighting for equality throughout the 1900’s. Any infraction committed by an African American, whether it be a major offense or minor transgression, would be punished harshly and immediately. They were considered members of a second class and by some, treated more like animals than people. Laws were passed for segregation, and whites began using violence to control the blacks. African Americans were terrified of the whites. No one wanted to take a stand until, Rosa Parks did by refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white person. She stood up for what she believed in. Martin Luther King later gave a speech which provided hope that all African Americans would once and for all have equal rights. They were getting frustrated with all the inequality that they had to deal with so they started riots and marches, which led to big events that eventually helped pass the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Movement helped African Americans achieve their goals of gaining equal rights by protesting and speaking up for themselves. …show more content…
The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s was a hassle for African Americans.
African Americans were trying to get equal rights, have an education, and have as many opportunities as the whites. In the South, African Americans were terrified of the whites and hardly anyone stood up against them for fear of getting beaten. Whites were especially violent in Alabama and Mississippi. As a result, acts of protest started. The most striking act of protest was the march in Birmingham that happened on May 2, 1963, when a group of 6,000 young kids from age six to sixteen walked through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama. Of those kids, 959 were arrested while praying on the streets. They gently sang melodies and waved to spectators as they walked around the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to the city's isolated downtown area. As African Americans began protesting more, the whites started become more
angry. An African American women named Rosa Parks, made a statement which started the Civil Rights Movement and caused many sit-ins, freedom rides, and voting rights to form. In Montgomery during 1955, boycotts were implemented then sit-ins became a huge part of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Many African Americans were not able to have the same education as the whites or any education at all. In communities where sit-ins were successful, African Americans were able to attend school. Before long, the dividers of isolation started to disintegrate in different urban communities. In under twenty months, from January 1960, to August 1961, the sit-ins led to desegregation of restaurants and many more public facilities, in more than one hundred urban communities and towns in southern and outskirt states. In that memorable decade blacks made their general walks in securing their common freedoms. Include the unchallenged pioneer of the quiet Civil Rights Movement in 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in the meantime, a standout amongst the most daring and the most hated men of his time. The Civil Rights Act disallowed race segregation in broad daylight facilities. This was difficult for many to accept, especially since it was set to help those that are not getting equal pay, proper education, and use of public facilities. It also prohibited racial discrimination in public places, but later the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional. After this decision, further civil rights legislation was almost impossible. The Civil Rights Act has just four significant segments: Title II, Title IV, Title VI, and Title VII. Title II, states that there shall not be judgement occurring in public locations. Title IV states that there shall be public education in young kid's lives. Title VI declares that you leave people/places alone and not criticize them if they are getting help from the government. Later on, they turned around the arrangements of the act to require or allow racial separation. There was a decline in peace at the beginning of 1965. Thus, with the outcome of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, African Americans were ready to live wherever they wished and could afford. Later then, the development gained many working class African Americans employment opportunities assistance from others to put an end to segregation. Schools were also becoming less strict on what race could attend their school, whether it was private or not. The Civil Rights Movement was important, but many thought it wasn’t successful enough. Things were really looking up for the African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most well known African-Americans that played a vital part in the movement and gave African Americans the dream that they would once be treated equally. King began protests in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Later on, he lead a program, to help African Americans obtain equal rights. On April 13, 1963, when King was arrested for the first time when he joined the protests. Later, in 1965, King led a march in Selma, Alabama, with the purpose of increasing the number of African-American votes in Alabama. He was arrested once again. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” was one of his well-known letters that was written as he served time, and becoming known around the world. The letter inspired people, and aided the half of segregation in all aspects of life. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “There are times when we must see segregation as a temporary way-station to a truly integrated society.” The African Americans were extremely excited to live in the newly integrated America that King had spoken of in his speech. They fled the inner cities such as Chicago’s south side and the D.C. U Street Corridor neighborhoods, and moved to the suburbs. Center picked thirteen volunteers, which included seven African Americans and six whites, for the principal Flexibility Ride. Their first ride was in May of 1961, from Washington D.C. to New Orleans. Before those first transports left Washington, D.C., on May 4, destined for New Orleans, Louisiana, the riders were prepared on how to deal with troublesome circumstances and whites who might respond fiercely to their incorporation exertion. Lewis recalls that the night prior to the transport’s departure the group ate together. “To me,” Lewis said, “This dinner resembled the very Last Supper since you didn’t realize what’s in store going on the Freedom Ride.” On May 4, the riders split into two gatherings to leave Washington on Greyhound and Trailways transports and left to New Orleans. The self-broadcasted “Flexibility Riders” tested the racially isolated society by performing a disarmingly straightforward act. At the Greyhound station in Anniston, Alabama, riders were welcomed by an antagonistic horde that included individuals from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), an aggressive bigot assembly. They sliced the tires on one transport and set it ablaze. Hank Thomas, an African American understudy, remembers how startling it was that whites would not give them a chance to leave the transport: They shut the destinations and wouldn’t give us a chance to get off the bus. Yet, then I’m almost certain they understood that (the bus may explode) and so they began dissipating, and I figure that is the way we got off the bus. When the riders got off the bus, some were struck by the whites and the riders in the alternate bus were brutally assaulted. They were then taken to a doctor’s facility and treated for smoke inward breath and different wounds. A dozen riders and onlookers, of both races, were beaten seriously enough to require medical care. The riders needed to finish their excursion by plane. The transport terminal in Anniston turned into a scene of blood and bubbling disdain. The Freedom Riders proceeded with their voyage regardless of a few other minor occurrences and the Justice Department cautioning that there may be violence in Birmingham, Alabama, but it struck before they reached their destination. The brutality stunned the country and incensed President Kennedy, who requested six hundred government marshals to ensure the riders and future riders peace. A few members were captured in bus stations, and even though a few riders served sentences the length of six months, most were cut to forty days. At last, their penances brought about triumph. The bold Freedom Riders showed by guaranteeing racial contempt, physical attack, and horrid correctional facility sentences made them heroes. The 1961 Freedom Riders kept going for a few months. Yet, the courageous Freedom Riders appeared by testing bigotry would cut out a radiant part in the battle for social liberties. Requiring unlimited access to terminal eateries and holding up rooms, they were met with bitter prejudice, horde groups and detainment en route. In any case, their strength shown by the riders and going for more than eight months in 1961 changed America for eternity. Americans were threatened by the African Americans, because they outnumbered them. Whites were outnumbered by the southern states. Whites got away with many discretions. Once a white male placed a bomb at a church under the stairs and killed four black girls that Sunday while attending church. Also, twenty-three people were injured in the incident, and the white man was seen there, but no one said anything. They had segregated restrooms and colored people had to share a filthy bathroom together because the janitor never cleaned it up. Public facilities had signs that determined “Whites” and “Colored” so they wouldn’t use the wrong one and some signs would say, “Dogs not allowed.” In public, colored people could not talk to or have any connection with the whites. Colored people could only attend a certain college that was meant for blacks only. Blacks had a high percentage of dropouts, pregnancy, drug usage, and family problems. This was a greater problem in the inner cities. African Americans who tried to get education out of state weren’t able to because later laws prohibited them. African Americans went through a lot of tough situations and still managed to keep going and pursue their dreams of passing the Civil Rights Movement. There has been many economic changes that has occurred in the United States. The most striking movement in the 1960’s was known as the Civil Rights Movement. This Movement helped the African Americans gain equality throughout the world. An event that led up to the passing of the movement was the Birmingham Campaign, which led a march full of African Americans to stop segregation. Another was the Civil Rights Act that helped African Americans gain equality and stop segregation in public facilities. Also, if it wasn’t for Martin Luther King Jr. who spoke out and gave his speech about his opinion on all the unfairness African Americans had to go through, which gave Blacks the encouragement to stand up for what they believed in, they would have won equal rights. Or if it wasn’t for the thirteen brave African Americans souls that traveled through some of the most hated cities and still didn’t step down from what they believed in. If African Americans were scared of standing up for what they believed in, then maybe equality would not exist. Therefore, without all these major events, brave souls, and the Civil Rights Movement, today’s society wouldn;t have been the same.
Blacks were treated unjustly due to the Jim Crow laws and the racial stigmas embedded into American society. Under these laws, whites and colored people were “separate but equal,” however this could not be further from the truth. Due to the extreme racism in the United States during this time period, especially in the South, many blacks were dehumanized by whites to ensure that they remained inferior to them. As a result of their suffering from the prejudice society of America, there was a national outcry to better the lives of colored people.
Before World War II, although Abraham Lincoln had spoken the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the U.S. had gone through the Civil War around 1861, not much had significantly changed for African-Americans. Really nothing changed for African-Americans until much later, around the 1960s, when schools legally had to integrate African-Americans and whites. In relation to other events, World War II began in 1939, Jackie Robinson started on first base in 1947, and Rosa Parks was arrested in 1961. Therefore, at the time leading up to and shortly before World War II, there was not much effective action in terms of equal rights for all races. However, as seen here, after World War II, equality between races became a very prominent, pressing issue. This can partially be traced back to the effect of African-Americans in World War II.
The 1950s was a great success for the civil rights movement; there were a number of developments which greatly improved the lives of black people in America and really started the civil rights movement, as black people became more confident and willing to fight for their cause.
The punishment of the African American race was harsh; when those punishments were mixed with how they protested for civil rights, it only got worse. Not all the time does one stop and realize that some whites felt the need to help out in some way. Whether they could relate or they just truly had sympathy, these whites helped protest. When someone protests, they express their objection to something. Whether it was more a silent protest or an aggressive protest, punishments to both races were given.
American history was characterized by the ugly reality of racial discrimination and different individuals and groups took part in fighting the vice (Library of Congress). African-Americans responded in different ways. For instance Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), advocated for industrial schooling for African-Americans and gradual social adjustment but opposed political and civil rights. The reformer Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) called for complete racial separatism and even started the popular project of "Back-to-Africa” where Africans would return to their origin. A different however was adopted which emphasized that African-Americans were in America to stay and would fight for their freedom and political equality. This is what led to the modern civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was one of these movements. It was campaign of the African-Americans that was dedicated to fight for the equal treatment of all races. This is because the African-Americans did not have the same rights as the whites due to their skin color. For example the African-Americans were not allowed to vote, they were not permitted to attend the same schoo...
How would you feel if you were told you can’t sit in the front of the bus or you can’t dine in a certain restaurants because of the color of your skin? The civil rights movement was a movement that held massive numbers of nonviolent protest against racial segregation and discrimination in America especially the southern states during the 1950’s and 60’s. The struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights in America during this time was a major problem. The civil rights movement was not only about stopping racial segregation amongst African Americans but also to challenge the terrible economic, political, and cultural consequences of that time. But with the help of great leaders and organizations in the civil rights movement, help brake the pattern of African Americans being discriminated against and being segregated. Martin Luther King Jr. And Maya Angelou were great leaders who had a huge impact on the civil rights movement; even though Dr. King was in the field marching and protesting to fight against segregation and Angelou wrote poetry to inspire the movement and people aware of segregation, they both helped put an end to segregation here in America (American civil rights movement).
Over 200,000 demonstrators participated in the March on Washington in the nation’s capital on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to gain civil rights for African Americans. There was a wide diversity in those who participated, with a quarter of all the demonstrators being white (Ross). Even southern people came to contribute, which caused them to be harassed and threatened for coming to the march. The March on Washington became a very successful event for the rights of African Americans, and amended several peoples’ view-points towards the topic, even President John Kennedy’s.
One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation was written, African Americans were still fighting for equal rights in every day life. The first real success of this movement did not come until the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954 which was followed by many boycotts and protests. The largest of these protests, the March on Washington, was held on August 28, 1963 “for jobs and freedom” (March on Washington 11). An incredible amount of preparation went into the event to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people attending from around the nation and to deal with any potential incidents.
When Afro-American’s came to America in hopes of having a better and easier way of life, and after they arrived it was a totally opposite of what they expected. The following are a couple events that took place in different locations for the fight for freedom and right. The first is Bloody Sunday; which took place in Selma, Alabama. This particular event was the march of black activists from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Thomas-Samuel (1996) stated that “In 1965, Alabama state troopers and local deputies stopped and clubbed black activists as they marched peacefully….” (para. 1). These people just wanted to make a point by marching from one city to another and they got beating just for it. Next is the fight for...
Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you are a man you take it.” (Malcom X, n.d) This quote perfectly explains the uprising for equality of African Americans. The black civil rights movement of the 20th century took place, between the years of 1954 and 1968. These movements did not just change the way African Americans were treated but also marked the start of many black leaders. The civil rights and arts movements created social activists that have been remembered, as the people who laid the stepping stones towards African Americans being treated equally. Martin Luther King JR, Malcom X, Nelson Mandela, Rosa parks, and Marva Collins are all examples of African American leaders. The movements never officially ended, because yet legally African Americans have equality but there are still numerous incidents involving racism. There were three major eras in the movements. The black arts movements started with the post Malcom X era which lasted between the years of 1965 and 1967. Next came the “I have a dream era” which occurred in 1968 and then the post Martin Luther King JR. Era which lasted between 1969 and
African Americans were not considered equal to their white counterparts even after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed almost 100 year prior. There was a set of laws in place known as Jim Crow that made it legal for this segregation to take place. There were a few key individuals that made a large impact in creating an equal society for African Americans to live in. Some of those individuals include: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall. These individuals helped to create a society where African Americans and all other ethnic backgrounds in American would be considered equal to the Caucasian population.
It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s. During the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place, it was the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools....
When the Separate but equal law was adopted in 1868 to the decision of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 a lot of the black population lived in the South. Down in the South was the home of the most racist laws in the United States. African Americans living in the South wanted to be the generation of change, but in their own way and that was through non-violent protests, and demonstrations. The biggest and most well known leader was Martin Luther King Jr.. MLK knew that if any of there protests became or seen as violent in any way, it would make the entire civil rights
That, however, is an issue that may never end. African Americans fought until the Jim Crow laws were taken out of effect, and they received equality for all people regardless of race. Along the way, there were many controversial court cases and important leaders who helped to take a stand against racial segregation. What is the American Civil Rights Movement? Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s.
The African American Civil Rights Movement was a series of protests in the United States South from approximately 1955 through 1968. The overall goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to achieve racial equality before the law. Protest tactics were, overall, acts of civil disobedience. Rarely were they ever intended to be violent. From sit-ins to boycotts to marches, the activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement were vigilant and dedicated to the cause without being aggressive. While African-American men seemed to be the leaders in this epic movement, African-American women played a huge role behind the scenes and in the protests.