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The civil rights movement in the USA
The civil rights movement in the USA
The civil rights movement in the USA
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When you think about how far as a country we have come you would be amazed. In the 1960s the Americans only knew the potential of the equal protection of the laws so that is what they followed. Not knowing that the congress would soon come up with an act that would provide even more opportunities for America. In 1964 the Congress passed an Act called the Civil Rights Act and that act is still around to this day. It has made it possible for everyone in America to have a job. The Civil Rights Act brought years of struggles to an end. It also banned discrimination in public places and as employment. Later bringing the equality to the African Americans for voting. It is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements. This act in my opinion
When the Government Stood Up For Civil Rights "All my life I've been sick and tired, and now I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired. No one can honestly say Negroes are satisfied. We've only been patient, but how much more patience can we have?" Mrs. Hamer said these words in 1964, a month and a day before the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 would be signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. She speaks for the mood of a race, a race that for centuries has built the nation of America, literally, with blood, sweat, and passive acceptance. She speaks for black Americans who have been second class citizens in their own home too long. She speaks for the race that would be patient no longer that would be accepting no more. Mrs. Hamer speaks for the African Americans who stood up in the 1950's and refused to sit down. They were the people who led the greatest movement in modern American history - the civil rights movement. It was a movement that would be more than a fragment of history, it was a movement that would become a measure of our lives (Shipler 12). When Martin Luther King Jr. stirred up the conscience of a nation, he gave voice to a long lain dormant morality in America, a voice that the government could no longer ignore. The government finally answered on July 2nd with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is historically significant because it stands as a defining piece of civil rights legislation, being the first time the national government had declared equality for blacks. The civil rights movement was a campaign led by a number of organizations, supported by many individuals, to end discrimination and achieve equality for American Blacks (Mooney 776). The forefront of the struggle came during the 1950's and the 1960's when the feeling of oppression intensified and efforts increased to gain access to public accommodations, increased voting rights, and better educational opportunities (Mooney). Civil rights in America began with the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, which ended slavery and freed blacks in theory. The Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 were passed, guaranteeing the rights of blacks in the courts and access to public accommodation. These were, however, declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, who decided that the fourteenth did not protect blacks from violation of civil rights, by individuals.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first serious attempt by the United States government in 75 years to address the racial divide which had consumed the nation. At its core the Act was an attempt to address the suppression of Black American voting rights in southern states. The Act...
Kennedy’s Civil Rights Act, which called for the fair treatment of all races, changed the tone of the Civil Rights Movement. This doesn’t mean that everyone automatically started to change the way they thought about African Americans, but people started to come together and realize that change needed to happen soon. 5 months after Kennedy first announced the bill, he was shot in Dallas, Texas. It wasn’t until 8 months after Kennedy's assassination that Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill into effect on July 2, 1964. The bill was passed through congress with a 290-130 vote. (History Channel 2010) After the bill was passed, more action was taken to assure equal rights for African Americans. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was created to prevent discrimination and unfair treatment with African American voters. (Library of Congress) The 1964 Civil Rights Act sent a message loud and clear: no longer was discrimination or racism going to be tolerated. In fact, many people thought that change needed to happen soon, as a 1964 Gallup poll suggests. 58% approved of the bill while only 31% did not. 10% were undecided (Public Broadcasting Service 2015). Not only did those who were black support the bill, but many white national leaders started to support the ideas of the act. The bill became the national pathway to equal rights. However, not all were ready to move towards change. Following the signing of the bill, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were both assassinated.
African Americans are now guaranteed civil rights. This change opened doors for African Americans so that they can progress and excel in the political system. Public schools were now established and access to jobs outside domestic labor was now available.
The Improvement of the Civil Rights in 1945 and 1963 The US citizens improved the civil rights in the years 1945 – 1963. Firstly the Brown Vs Board of education of Topeka case. This case was about a black girl called Linda Brown, who travelled several kilometres and crossed a dangerous railway track to get to a black school, rather then attending a white-only school nearby. The NAACP (National Association (of the) Advancement (of) Coloured People) whose goals were to end racial discrimination and segregation. They took the case to the Supreme Court against the board of education in Topeka.
...cation in the United States, it put the Constitution on the side of equality between races and made the civil rights movement into a innovation. In 1954, a ton of the United States had separated schools by races which was made legal by the Plessy V Ferguson case.
The Civil Rights Movement had a lot going on between 1954 and 1964. While there were some successful aspects of the movement, there were some failures as well. The mixture of successes and failures led to the extension of the movement and eventually a more equal American society.
The 1960’s were a time of freedom, deliverance, developing and molding for African-American people all over the United States. The Civil Rights Movement consisted of black people in the south fighting for equal rights. Although, years earlier by law Africans were considered free from slavery but that wasn’t enough they wanted to be treated equal as well. Many black people were fed up with the segregation laws such as giving up their seats on a public bus to a white woman, man, or child. They didn’t want separate bathrooms and water fountains and they wanted to be able to eat in a restaurant and sit wherever they wanted to and be served just like any other person.
...tates on a social level but politically too. This bill set the precedent for using a cloture to stop a filibuster in the Senate. Similar cloture votes in 1966 and 1968, with bills for equal voting rights and guaranteed equal housing respectively were used to stop Southern filibusters. The Civil Rights Act also proved that mass demonstration and peaceful protesting are heard in Washington D.C. Martin Luther King and the Leadership Conference started with nothing and achieved everything. From the segregated South those who fought for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 changed the course of American history and ridded the nation of inequality under the law.
For many years after the Civil War many African-Americans did not truly enjoy the freedoms that were granted to them by the US constitution. This was especially true in the southern states, because segregation flourished in the south wwhere African-Americans were treated as second class citizens. This racial segregation was characterized by separation of different races in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. In addition, Blacks were not afforded justice and fair trials, such as the case of the murder of Emmet Till. This unjust treatment would not be tolerated in America any more, which spurred the civil rights movement.
In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act to end racial discrimination in employment, institutions like hospitals and schools, and privately owned public accommodations In 1965, congress returned suffrage to black southerners, by passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Foner 926). In the case of Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional (Foner 951). Because of the civil rights movement in the sixties, minorities gained more rights than they had prior to the 1960s. While the 1960s were a time of advancement for minorities, it was also a time of advancement for women. In 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which outlawed discrimination in the workplace based on a person’s gender (Foner 944).
Civil rights are the rights guaranteed to the citizens of the specified location. When looking back at our history our civil rights have changed our life forever. Our civil rights were first introduced in 1787 as our Constitution. The Constitution states that any citizen is guaranteed the right to freedom of speech, of religion, and of press, and the rights to due process of law and to equal protection under the law. Civil Rights Acts and Movements helped define all of the civil rights but mainly who the rights were for and what freedom of religion, and equal protection under the law truly intended.
Historically, the Civil Rights Movement was a time during the 1950’s and 60’s to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights. Looking back on all the events, and dynamic figures it produced, this description is very vague. In order to fully understand the Civil Rights Movement, you have to go back to its origin. Most people believe that Rosa Parks began the whole civil rights movement. She did in fact propel the Civil Rights Movement to unprecedented heights but, its origin began in 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka was the cornerstone for change in American History as a whole. Even before our nation birthed the controversial ruling on May 17, 1954 that stated separate educational facilities were inherently unequal, there was Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896 that argued by declaring that state laws establish separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities. Some may argue that Plessy vs. Ferguson is in fact backdrop for the Civil Rights Movement, but I disagree. Plessy vs. Ferguson was ahead of it’s time so to speak. “Separate but equal” thinking remained the body of teachings in America until it was later reputed by Brown vs. Board of Education. In 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, and prompted The Montgomery Bus Boycott led by one of the most pivotal leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. After the gruesome death of Emmett Till in 1955 in which the main suspects were acquitted of beating, shooting, and throwing the fourteen year old African American boy in the Tallahatchie River, for “whistling at a white woman”, this country was well overdo for change.
One of the causes of the Civil Rights Movement was African-American discrimination and segregation. One example of this is how African-Americans were sit-ins, or where they protest in which they occupy a place, refusing to leave until their demands are met, their demands being having equality between African-Americans and Americans. According to the book, Eyes on the Prize, Black people and white people had different restaurants and drinking fountain. According to “Civil rights movement” on “INFOhio,” one law required black people to give up their seats for white people, but white people did not have to give up their seats African-Americans.
...or southern blacks to vote. In 1967 the Supreme Court rules interracial marriage legal. In 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead at the age of thirty-nine. Also the civil rights act of 1968 is passed stopping discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. In 1988 President Reagan’s veto was overridden by congress passing the “Civil Rights Restoration Act” expanding the reach of non-discrimination laws within private institutions receiving federal funds. In 1991 President Bush. signs the, “Civil Rights Act of 1991”, strengthening existing civil rights laws. In 2008 President Obama is elected as the first African American president. The American Civil Rights Movement has made a massive effect on our history and how our country is today. Without it things would be very different. In the end however, were all human beings regardless of our differences.