How Did Maya Angelou Contribute To The Progression Of The Civil Rights Movement?

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The Progression of the Civil Rights Movement Murders, mass arrests, jail beatings, and church bombings were the nightmares that the minority groups of the United States had to face. All of these disturbing things happened during and before the civil rights movement. People were discriminated against because the color of their skin was different from the average white American. Mae Jemison, Muhammad Ali, and Maya Angelou are some of the people who stood up to this injustice and helped the progression of the civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Movement was a social movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country (“Civil Rights Movement”). …show more content…

Angelou was very active in the civil rights movement as well. While she was alive, she got to work with other historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning” at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton. This would make her the first poet to do an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961 (Spring and Brandman). Angleou was a key figure in the civil rights movement due to the fact that she inspired the Black Americans through her words and …show more content…

All three of these historical people helped in the civil rights movement whether they wrote a book or made history by being the first person to lead in their given field. Mae Jemison was the first black woman in space, riding in the Endeavour. Muhammad Ali is one of the all time best boxers. Maya Angelou wrote many amazing poems and books. These figures helped make history and move civil rights forward. Equal rights are important no matter your skin color, religion, or how you look. “Before the American Civil War, eight serving presidents had owned slaves, almost four million black people remained enslaved in the South, generally only white men with property could vote, and the Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to whites” (“Civil rights movement”). After the Civil War, slavery was abolished and black Americans were then freed. But just because slavery was gone doesn’t mean that people with colored skin didn’t face racial injustices and were discriminated against. The people in this essay helped stand up against these racist rules and tried to make the world a better place for future

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