Equality In The 1960s

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In the early 1960s, the civil right’s movement was in full swing. Although the fight for racial equality launched in the 1950s, the non-violent approaches began to unfold in the following decade. Civil rights activists challenged segregation and often faced harsh consequences as a result. Indeed, the “hard part”, the 1950s, was over, however, the fight for equality was no where near complete. Some forms of peaceful protest include marches, gatherings, freedom riders, and sit-ins as pictured in the photo from the textbook on page 773. This photo depicts two African American female students, Joan Trumpauer and Anne Moody with their professor, John Salter Jr., sitting at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Mississippi. Their clothes are …show more content…

This photo demonstrates the hardships that were every day life for African Americans working to gain equality in the early 1960s. A person had to be courageous to perform a sit-in, knowing the extent a consequence could go. However, these consequences, clearly, were not stopping civil rights activists and students from working to achieve their goals. Sit-ins were proven a highly effective and invaluable technique to changing policies and norms in the 1960s. In fact, by August 1961, approximately 70,000 people had participated in sit-ins. One remarkable aspect of the photo is that who appears to be a middle age white male is sitting with the two African American girls, in protest alongside with them, as demonstrated by the food and beverage spilled all over his jacket and head. This demonstrates the growing amount of whites that also wanted to see change and desegregation in their communities. Having their flourishing support was priceless. This photo also testifies to the significance of well known civil right’s activists of the early 1960s such as Martin Luther King Jr. who arguably was the most influential advocate for equality of his day. He pressed for peaceful yet effective protests across the Nation including sit-ins. This photo shows that his message was indeed …show more content…

Certainly, John F. Kennedy gave expanding support to the civil rights movement throughout his term as president. This was influential because his view point did not go unnoticed, and of course, some United States citizens followed his beliefs, bettering relations between whites and African Americans. For example, the Freedom Riders was a group composed of seven African Americans and six white activists that on May 4th, 1961 would leave Washington D.C. for the deeply segregated south. Having an activist group that was nearly half white demonstrates the, although in small scale, beginning of coming together of blacks and whites in this decade. What genuinely shows the progress being made is depicted when although the Freedom Riders were shot down several times whether it be by bombing or arrest, they did not give up their goal because equality amongst African Americans and whites was their

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