The Civil Rights Movement

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When we look back on the history of America many events occurred that are either frowned upon, or seen as the glory days. The events that are the glory days or the highest points in American life such as Independence from England helped to make America what it is today. Those events that we look back on, that are not the best periods of time, such as slavery and African Americans fight for Rights in the 1960's, also helped to make the United States what it is today. When in the 1960's, leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and religious leaders such as Malcolm X, stood forward to talk about the rights that were taken away from African Americans, they were look down upon. Today however, they are heroes to us. The steps and actions made by them to free the African American people from segregation, and for them to have a chance at having equal rights and liberties as stated by the constitution. After the end of slavery and the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation the first steps were made towards civil rights. The 1940's to the 1960's were a section in time where racial injustice was done to the African American people. As we came to the 1960's a change came to the United States in the goals, strategies, and the support towards the movement for African Americans civil rights. The start of the 1960's brought on changes in the goals that were set by African Americans towards their civil rights. It started with the search for Desegregation of public facilities. The desegregation of schools, buses, and bathrooms, are just a few examples of what the African Americans hoped to change. A change in segregation came with the Brown vs. Board of Education trial. Later on as more African Americans began to see how the political structure of the United States worked; they decided that voting rights were prejudice towards people. Whites made tests that would disqualify many African Americans from voting, making it so that the white population could vote and a small majority of African Americans along with them. Organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) were formed to help bring the rights that were stated in the constitution to the people. They did not use force, but just the freedom of speech as their main source of power. In the search for desegregation which was then made a law, that no person was to have a different facility and that all people were to be treated equally, came the protection of these rights.

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