The Civil Rights Movement

1016 Words3 Pages

The purpose of this essay is to outline the main events of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Specifically, the focus will be on the main activists involved in the movement such as Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks and the major campaigns of civil resistance.

The Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states.African-Americans were able to gain the rights to issues such as equal access to public transportation, right to vote, right to fair trials, and many others.

The many movements lasted roughly from 1955 to 1968. During this time African-Americans were constantly degraded and reminded of their inferior status to the whites.

Different ways this was done was by Racial Segregation; where, by law, public facilities, transportation and services such as education were divided into separate ‘white’ and ‘black’ sections, Exploitation; widespread economic oppression of blacks, Latinos, and Asians. They were denied economic opportunities, and faced prevalent employment discrimination and Disfranchisement where black voters were forced off the voting rolls until the number of African-American voters dropped so significantly they were unable to elect representatives.

During the mid 50's, the Civil Rights Movement challenged the inequality using boycotts, marches and non-violent resistance to try to persuade the government to change the laws and gain the rights they deserved.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott started on December 1, 1955. The segregation on the public transport helped give blacks a daily reminder of their inferior status. After paying their fares at the front of the bus, ...

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..., religion, sex or national origin" in employment practices and public accommodations.

On December 10, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the youngest man to receive the award at 35 years old. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for leading non-violent resistance to racial prejudice in the United States.

Works Cited

http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/civilrights-55-65/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1955%E2%80%931968)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Nixon

The Civil Rights Movement - Nigel Ritchie

Martin Luther King Je - Anita Ganeri

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Peck_(pacifist)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Jobs_and_Freedom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream

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The Civil Rights Movement

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