Unity Amid Diversity

Unity Amid Diversity

The 1950’s and 1960’s was a dawning of a new age. Many changes were occurring within America’s society. Segregation was prominent with the passing of Plessy vs. Ferguson, however, the Jim Crow laws of the south were being challenged. Negroes in the south wanted equality and justice. The nation was in need of an ethic of caring and a solid identity of what it meant to be an “American.” With the war in Vietnam and the war for equality, people were fed up with all of the hate. The public cried, “Make love, not war (Tallulah).” During this time of hardship, the Civil Rights Movement introduced us to many influential Americans that helped make equality possible and also made everyone proud to be American. From the famous court case of Brown vs. Board of Education and the refusal of Rosa Parks to the ideas and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Anne Moody, equality emerged in the United States and a positive, patriotic and respectful outlook was placed on what it is to be an “American.”

The Civil Rights Movement was like a time bomb waiting to go off. African-Americans throughout the south looked at each other as if saying, “wait, just wait.”

Surprisingly, the initiation came from a young, black girl who had to travel several miles to attend a segregated school even though she lived right next door to a white elementary school. This famous court case, known as Brown vs. Board of Education, determined that segregation in public schools based on race was unconstitutional. This decision was the result of decades of efforts by black segregationist opponents. With black and white children attending the same schools, having equal opportunities elsewhere became increasingly desirable.

It was during this period of waiting that a petite, middle-aged woman named Rosa Parks was the person to officially begin the fight for racial equality in America. On the afternoon of Thursday, December 1, 1995, Mrs. Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man and was arrested. This simple action of dominance and defiance began one of the most important struggles in American history. As the small yet strong-willed woman was hauled off to jail, word of her refusal spread throughout the country. People of all races and ages were inspired by her actions and the news traveled through telephone lines and word of mout...

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...to every privilege, law and punishment. We, black and white, attend the same schools, churches and shop in the same grocery stores; we live in the same neighborhoods and swim in the same pools. America is the diverse yet unified country that it should be. As a result of the success of the movement, the rest of the world admires the U.S. and what it stands for. Without the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, who knows where we would be in the world society. I wonder. I really wonder.

Works Cited

1.“1963.” http://net4tv.com/color/60/16Bombing.htm Copyright 1997, Iacta IIC, (22 April 1999)

2.Cohen, Jeff and Norman Solomon. “The Martin Luther King You don’t see on TV.” http://www.fair.org/media-beat/950104.html (27 April 1999).

3.Dancier, Tallulah. “Dawning of an Age.” http://net4tv.com/color/60/60about.htm Copyright 1997, Iacta IIC, (22 April 1999)

4.Haley, Alex. “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” New York: Ballantine Books, 1965

5.Moody, Anne. “Coming of Age in Mississippi.” New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1968.

6.Robinson, Jo Ann Gibson. “Excerpts from the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women who Started it.” Primis.