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Key events and significance of the civil rights movement
The civil rights movement in the USA
The civil rights movement in the USA
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Fred Shuttlesworth played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Out of his many accomplishments, his most significant ones include the establishment of the organizations of the ACMHR and the SCLC. He founded the ACMHR (Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights) in May of 1965. This organization helped to raise funds and organize campaigns to fight for human rights. In Alabama, they attacked segregated buses by organizing boycotts. In 1957, he helped found the SCLS and served as its secretary for roughly 12 years. He participated in campaigns including sit-ins and Freedom Rides. In the 1960's, he moved to Cincinnati where he established the Greater New Light Baptist Church and served as their first pastor.
The book, “My Soul Is Rested” by Howell Raines is a remarkable history of the civil rights movement. It details the story of sacrifice and audacity that led to the changes needed. The book described many immeasurable moments of the leaders that drove the civil rights movement. This book is a wonderful compilation of first-hand accounts of the struggles to desegregate the American South from 1955 through 1968. In the civil rights movement, there are the leaders and followers who became astonishing in the face of chaos and violence. The people who struggled for the movement are as follows: Hosea Williams, Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, and others; both black and white people, who contributed in demonstrations for freedom rides, voter drives, and
...tunity Commission that prevented discrimination in the workplace. Anne Moody was very optimistic about the desegregation cases. She always tested the Supreme Court decision of Brown versus the Board of Education numerous times by doing sit-ins and freedom marches. She was determined to fight for her rights, despite numerous threats against her life. When Kennedy was assassinated, she was devastated. Anne really thought that Kennedy was the answer that she and other members of SNCC were waiting for. She walked around in a daze wondering what would happen next. Governmental leaders were essential during the civil rights movement. Without the help of government officials, black people would not have had the same rights they have today.
In the book, Colaiaco presents the successes that Dr. King achieves throughout his work for Civil Rights. The beginning of Dr. King’s nonviolent civil rights movements started in Montgomery, Alabama when Rosa Parks refused to move for a white person, violating city’s transportation rules. After Parks was convicted Dr. King, who was 26 at the time, was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA). “For 381 days, thousands of blacks walked to work, some as many as 12 miles a day, rather than continue to submit to segregated public transportation” (18). This boycott ended up costing the bus company more than $250,000 in revenue. The bus boycott in Montgomery made King a symbol of racial justice overnight. This boycott helped organize others in Birmingham, Mobile, and Tallahassee. During the 1940s and 1950s the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) won a series of cases that helped put it ahead in the civil rights movement. One of these advancements was achieved in 1944, when the United States Supreme Court banned all-white primaries. Other achievements made were the banning of interstate bus seating segregating, the outlawing of racially restraining covenants in housing, and publicly supporting the advancement of black’s education Even though these advancements meant quite a lot to the African Americans of this time, the NAACP’s greatest accomplishment came in 1954 with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Brown vs. Board of Education case, which overturned the Plessy vs.
One of the most significant societal movements during the 1960s was the Civil Rights movement, a coalition lead by many that voiced strong opposition to the war in Vietnam. Martin Luther King Jr was a huge voice for civil liberties, and according critic Mark Barringer, “Martin Luther King Jr openly expressed support for the antiwar movement on moral grounds…asserting that the war was draining much-needed resources from domestic programs”(Barringer 3). Martin Luther King Jr had a profound effect on the 1960s civil rights movement. He was eventually assassinated for his invo...
In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. During his campaign he had promised to lead the country down the right path with the civil rights movement. This campaign promise had brought hope to many African-Americans throughout the nation. Ever since Lincoln, African-Americans have tended to side with the democrats and this election was no different. The Kennedy administration had noticed that the key to the presidency was partially the civil rights issue. While many citizens were on Kennedy’s side, he had his share of opposition. Malcolm X differed on the view of the President and observed that the civil rights movement wasn’t happening at the speed Kennedy had pledged. Malcolm X possessed other reasons for his dislike of John F. Kennedy and his brothers, especially Robert. The Kennedy government stood for racial liberalism and Malcolm X argued their true intentions for the civil rights movement weren’t in the best interest of the black population. This tension streamed both ways. John Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation felt that Malcolm X had become a threat to national security. James Baldwin has written essays that have included the repeated attacks on the white liberal and supports Malcolm in many of his theories and actions.
John Lewis was an influential SNCC leader and is recognized by most as one of the important leaders of the civil rights movement as a whole. In 1961, Lewis joined SNCC in the Freedom Rides. Riders traveled the South challenging segregation at interstate bus terminals. In 1963, when Chuck McDew stepped down as SNCC chairman, Lewis was quickly elected to take over. Lewis' experience at that point was already widely respected--he had been arrested 24 times as a result of his activism. In 1963, Lewis helped plan and took part in the March on Washington. At the age of 23, he was a keynote speaker at the historic event. He stepped down from his position in 1966. Stokeley Carmichael, a fellow Freedom Rider, was elected chairman of SNCC and soon after raised the cry of "black power." Some were alarmed by the concept of black power and many were critical of Carmichael's new approach.
Robert F. Williams was one of the most influential active radical minds of a generation that toppled Jim Crow and forever affected American and African American history. During his time as the president of the Monroe branch of the NAACP in the 1950’s, Williams and his most dedicated followers (women and men) used machine guns, Molotov cocktails, and explosives to defend against Klan terrorists. These are the true terrorists to American society. Williams promoted and enforced this idea of "armed self-reliance" by blacks, and he challenged not just white supremacists and leftists, but also Martin Luther King Jr., the NAACP, and the civil rights establishment itself. During the 1960s, Williams was exiled to Cuba, and there he had a radical radio station titled "Radio Free Dixie." This broadcast of his informed of black politics and music The Civil Rights movement is usually described as an nonviolent / peaceful call on America 's guilty conscience, and the retaliation of Black Power as a violent response of these injustices against African Americans. Radio Free Dixie shows how both of these racial and equality movements spawned from the same seed and were essentially the same in the fight for African American equality and an end to racism. Robert F. Williams 's story demonstrates how independent political action, strong cultural pride and identity, and armed self-reliance performed in the South in a semi-partnership with legal efforts and nonviolent protest nationwide.
Martin Luther King was an inspirational figure in his time because he helped begin the civil rights movement through his courage and bravery. Martin was an African American born in a time where race was the major factor for weather you were treated with respect or treated very poorly and treated as if you were slaves His story begins when he was an executive member in the NAACP but his fight for equality in the American South happened out of sheer luck. Martin was picked to host a meeting to support an African American woman named Rosa Parks, she had been arrested for refusing to give up her seat for a white person on a bus. Since King’s church was the closest church in the down town area his church was chosen.
If you grew up in the 60s’, it was a time where major protest groups began to appear all over the place with one protest or another against things like the war, women’s rights, school protests, etc. But in the 60s, there was one of these groups that want to fight for equity and that group was the civil rights group. Therefore, even though the civil rights group began in the 50’s it did not really come into the forefront until the 1960s, where they emerged and greatly expanded in the 1960s. This group was the first movement group of the 1960s-era social movements. This movement was also responsible for producing one of the most significant American social activists every of the 20th century, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most important events of the history of the United States. Although many people contributed to this movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., is widely regarded as the leader of the movement for racial equality. Growing up in the Deep South, King saw the injustices of segregation first hand. King’s studies of Mahatma Ghandi teachings influenced his views on effective ways of protesting and achieving equality. Martin Luther King’s view on nonviolence and equality and his enormous effect on the citizens of America makes him the most influential person of the twentieth century.
The many leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, little rock nine, John Brown, Linda Brown, Ruby Bridges, Frederick Douglass, Plessey Scott, JFK, and Malcolm X. All of these men and women had a great influence on the movement’s success in the United States and helped end racial segregation. It all started in 1954 in the Brown vs. Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas. The people who were involved were John Brown and Linda Brown. This happened because of the separate but equal law created 60 years earlier in the Plessey vs. Ferguson case when Plessey lost and created separate but equal laws.
Success was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. Starting with the year 1954, there were some major victories in favor of African Americans. In 1954, the landmark trial Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas ruled that segregation in public education was unfair. This unanimous Supreme Court decision overturned the prior Plessy vs. Ferguson case during which the “separate but equal” doctrine was created and abused. One year later, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. launched a bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama after Ms. Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat in the “colored section”. This boycott, which lasted more than a year, led to the desegregation of buses in 1956. Group efforts greatly contributed to the success of the movement. This is not only shown by the successful nature of the bus boycott, but it is shown through the success of Martin Luther King’s SCLC or Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The conference was notable for peacefully protesting, nonviolence, and civil disobedience. Thanks to the SCLC, sit-ins and boycotts became popular during this time, adding to the movement’s accomplishments. The effective nature of the sit-in was shown during 1960 when a group of four black college students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in hopes of being served. While they were not served the first time they commenced their sit-in, they were not forced to leave the establishment; their lack of response to the heckling...
In many states, African Americans were denied voting rights and access to schools, buses, and other public facilities that were segregated. They were also denied accommodations in hotels that were for whites only. Discrimination was openly practiced and in some places sanctioned by law. Dr. King’s goal was to protest segregation until it was declared unconstitutional. In 1955 Rosa Parks was ordered by a bus driver to give up her seat to a white passenger. When she refused, she was arrested and taken to jail. King started the Boycott of the Montgomery Bus System. In 1956 the Supreme Court declared Segregation Laws unconstitutional which ended Bus Segregation. King learned Civil Disobedience from Gandhi and proved that peaceful non-violent protests, such as marches, boycotts, and sit-ins, were an effective weapon against depression. In 1957 Dr. King and other ministers formed the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) which fought for the Civil Rights of all Americans. In 1959 King returned to Atlanta, Georgia, the headquarters of the SCLC, to assist his dad and work for Civil Rights. In August of 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech during the March on Washington. Later in the spring of 1963 President JFK introduced the Civil Rights Act (the single most important piece of Civil Rights Legislature) which was passed by President Johnson.
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of the Brown v. the Board of Education. This was a very historical moment because their ruling eliminated, the "separate but equal " doctrine. Their ruling called for school integration, although most school were very slow in complying if they complied at all. The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Color People, viewed this ruling as a success. The schools lack of the obedience toward this ruling, made it necessary for black activism to make the federal government implement the ruling, and possibly help close the racial gap that existed in places other than public schools. During one of the boycotts for equality, a leader emerged that would never be forgotten. Dr. Martin Luther King, who was leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, quickly became the spokesperson for racial equality. He believed that the civil rights movement would have more success if the black people would use non violent tactics. Some say he was adopting the style of Ghandi. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, was formed by King and other activist in 1957. They were a group of black ministers and activist who agreed to try and possibly help others see the effects of a non violent movement. Also following the strategies set by the SCLC, a group known as the SNCC or the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, began a string of sit-in and campaigns as the black population continued it's fight for equality. It was the undying efforts of the two groups that paved the way for the march on Washington. This march which drew a crowd of at least 200,000, was the place that Dr. King, gave his famous "dream speech." Both the SNCC, and the SCLC were victims of lots of threats and attempted attacks, yet they continued to pursue freedom in a non violent fashion. However near the late 60's they had another problem on their hands. There was a group of activist known as the Black Panthers who were not so eager to adopt the non-violent rule. The believed that the civil rights movement pushed by Dr. King and is non-violent campaign, which was meant to give blacks the right to vote and eliminate segregation, was not solving problems faced in poor black communities. This Black Panther group, stabled the term "black power", which was used a sort of uplifting for the black self esteem.
The mob of white people trying to attack Richard in the corner of the paper. This represents the racial oppression that Wright and other black people had to face. The building represents where the white people live, a much better place than the African Americans. The building is on fire because of all the riots that took place during that time period. I drew the white people with all the weapons much bigger than Richard because that represents how much social and political the white people have rather than the African American society during that time period. Also, the clothes that the white people have are much nicer and don’t have tears because they have the money to afford nice clothing. But Wright on the other hand is poor so he has to