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Role of media in civil rights movement
Role of media in civil rights movement
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Jude Tahat Mr.Williams US History -1A 15 May, 2018 The Children’s March in Birmingham The Children’s March in Birmingham is the story of when the young people and children of Birmingham, Alabama braved arrest, fire hoses, and police dogs in 1963. They did this to help stop segregation and fight for equality. The children’s march affected America socially by creating an emotional impact on the people, economically by helping create equality in the workplace, and politically by making the presidents at the time realize the problems of violence that is occuring in the south. The Children’s March first began due to the protesting against the segregation of African Americans during the civil rights movement during the 1950’s through …show more content…
The children's march was one of the most important events that took place during the civil rights movement. It had a huge effect and impact on society because it was a eye-opener to the people, that it had reached to a point where young children were being sent out to march and to fight for their own freedom and the freedom of other African Americans in their country. The reason it consisted of children and not grown adults was because the adults were aware of the consequences that could take place if they were to march, so they decided that the children should do it since they had nothing to lose. It was great shock because as the kids were marching the last thing they and the people of Birmingham were expecting was to be attacked by the police. The Police weren't afraid or even hesitant about using very harsh tactics against the kids. They used fire hoses that were so strong that it took four men to just hold it, and they also used police dogs which were very vicious and violent. What made it so interesting and in a way inspiring is the fact that the children continued to sing as they were being beat, sprayed with tons of water, and bitten by guard dogs. Its amazing and liberating to see how passionate these children are about fighting against slavery. Its very sad to know that these children had to be exposed to the arrogance of people who had so much more knowledge than they had, at such a young age. …show more content…
As stated the Children’s March was very violent, as children were protesting the police started attacking them with fire hoses and guard dogs. This caught the attention of president John F. Kennedy, he was horrified by the cruelty of the firemen and police. Also the march was being broadcasted on tv around the world, putting the U.S in a bad light. After seeing this John F. Kennedy stated, “ This is the end of segregation”. However, later on the president John F. Kennedy was assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. In the months after the march the march, ongoing demonstrations and violence continued to pressure political leaders to act. This led to the creation of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which were considered a major turning point in the struggle for Civil Rights. Together the two outlawed segregated public facilities and prohibited discriminatory practices in employment and
When president Kennedy became president in 1961, an abundance of African Americans in the South were denied the right to vote, and could not expect justice from the courts. In 1960 the presidential campaign, civil rights had come out as a critical issue. A few weeks later, Martin Luther King Jr was arrested for leading a group of people through the streets of Atlanta, Georgia.
The city of Birmingham was also known as “Bombingham” because all of the bombings that had gone on in the year 1963. The good thing was no one was hurt in the bombings. All of the targets that were hit were owned by African Americans. The bombers targeted black homes, black businesses, black churches and even black schools. All of these targets were supposed to cripple the will of the black people instead it just strengthened their movement. The main place that people would conduct their civil rights activities was the 16th street Baptist Church (Trueman).
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.
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.
Remembering The Children’s Crusade, or known as one of the most stupefying events in history, could take anyone back in the days of segregation and great detriment to our own people. On May 2, 1963, a group of student protesters, in which were motivated by Martin Luther King Jr., partook in the 1963 campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama. More than a thousand students skipped their classes and marched to downtown Birmingham using tactics of nonviolent direct action (Carson). On the first day, hundreds were arrested and taken to jail in school buses and paddy wagons. On the second day, the children were slashed with high-pressure fire hoses, attacked by police dogs, clubbed, and dragged to jail (Ward, Kelsey and Avery).
Over 200,000 demonstrators participated in the March on Washington in the nation’s capital on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to gain civil rights for African Americans. There was a wide diversity in those who participated, with a quarter of all the demonstrators being white (Ross). Even southern people came to contribute, which caused them to be harassed and threatened for coming to the march. The March on Washington became a very successful event for the rights of African Americans, and amended several peoples’ view-points towards the topic, even President John Kennedy’s.
The March is a story about Congressman John Lewis fighting in the civil rights movement. He portrays his story in flashbacks from 2009 back to the 1950s. The novel starts of with young John Lewis leading his people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. While the police made a barricade at the end of the bridge preventing them to get through. The police were convicting the men of assembling an unlawful assembly but, they were doing nothing wrong.
Have you ever looked at a person and judged them for the color of their skin? If you have you should probably know the background of what they went through 50 years ago to try to gain equality. During the 1950s-1960s there was a civil rights movement that was a movement that ultimately changed the United States of America forever. When the people involved were fighting in a racial war for the equal rights for African Americans that ultimately ended all state racial segregations. This will tell you the large role that young children played in the civil rights movement for the following: The Freedom Rides, The Children’s March, and The Orangeburg Massacre.
According to the march organizers, the march would symbolize their demands of “the passage of the Kennedy Administration Civil Rights Legislation without compromise of filibuster,” integration of all public schools by the end of the year, a federal program to help the unemployed, and a Federal Fair Employment Act which would ban job discrimination (“The March on Washington” 11). In order for the march not to appear as a war of white versus black it had to be racially integrated so it looked like justice versus injustice. Some organizers wanted to call for massive acts of disobedience across America, but when the Urban League and the N.A.A.C.P. joined the organization of the march, they insisted against it. The march was originally going to be on Capitol Hill to influence congress, but because of a 1882 law against demonstrating there, they decided to march to the Lincoln Memorial and invite congress to meet them there, knowing that they would not.
On March 7 1965 policemen attacked 525 civil right demonstrators that took part in the march between Selma and Montgomery Alabama. The march was to let black people vote. The police used tear gas and charged on horseback into the crowds, there were more than 50 demonstrators injured. The day of the protest was named “Bloody Sunday”, and it was all over America broadcasted on national TV and in newspapers and Americans were very mad at how the authorities handled it. Even though people were hurt in bloody Sunday, 8 days after bloody Sunday President Lyndon B. Johnson presented a bill to congress that would turn into the black Voting Rights act of 1965. ("The New York times")
They looked to family and friends for support of one another. Charles Avery left his high school to lead about 800 students in a 10-mile walk from Alabama to Birmingham City. They were stopped by the sheriff’s department, arrested, and sent to jail. He went on this 10-mile walk because he believed that the Children’s Crusade was wrong and cruel. Birmingham City was known as one of the most racist cities in the south. Some people described it as a symbol of hard-core resistance to integration. The activists nicknamed it Bombingham because of the constant violent attacks against the people who were fighting the system of segregation. It was the Rev. James Bevel who came up with the idea of a protest group made up of only children. He was a leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and he was an advisor to the King. On May 1963 they had launched the Children’s Crusade and then started a march in Birmingham. By the time Avery made it to the city it was May 7, a lot more then 3,000 young colored people were marching in the city of Birmingham.
On April 1968, everyone around the world was alerted with the dreadful news that U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. MLK had led the civil rights movement since the mid-1950s. To do this he made powerful speeches using a variety of strong words and non-violent protests like sit-ins and boycotts. Protest marches was his way of getting people to join him in what he believes in this includes the huge “March on Washington” in 1963 in order to fight segregation, make compelling civil rights as well as voting rights for African Americans. MLK’s assassination led to an outburst of fury among black Americans, also a time of national grief. This tragedy helped speed up the process for an equal housing
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of the Brown v. the Board of Education. This was a very historical moment because their ruling eliminated, the "separate but equal " doctrine. Their ruling called for school integration, although most school were very slow in complying if they complied at all. The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Color People, viewed this ruling as a success. The schools lack of the obedience toward this ruling, made it necessary for black activism to make the federal government implement the ruling, and possibly help close the racial gap that existed in places other than public schools. During one of the boycotts for equality, a leader emerged that would never be forgotten. Dr. Martin Luther King, who was leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, quickly became the spokesperson for racial equality. He believed that the civil rights movement would have more success if the black people would use non violent tactics. Some say he was adopting the style of Ghandi. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, was formed by King and other activist in 1957. They were a group of black ministers and activist who agreed to try and possibly help others see the effects of a non violent movement. Also following the strategies set by the SCLC, a group known as the SNCC or the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, began a string of sit-in and campaigns as the black population continued it's fight for equality. It was the undying efforts of the two groups that paved the way for the march on Washington. This march which drew a crowd of at least 200,000, was the place that Dr. King, gave his famous "dream speech." Both the SNCC, and the SCLC were victims of lots of threats and attempted attacks, yet they continued to pursue freedom in a non violent fashion. However near the late 60's they had another problem on their hands. There was a group of activist known as the Black Panthers who were not so eager to adopt the non-violent rule. The believed that the civil rights movement pushed by Dr. King and is non-violent campaign, which was meant to give blacks the right to vote and eliminate segregation, was not solving problems faced in poor black communities. This Black Panther group, stabled the term "black power", which was used a sort of uplifting for the black self esteem.
African Americans had been struggling to obtain equal rights for scores of decades. During the 1960’s, the civil rights movement intensified and the civil rights leaders entreated President Kennedy to intervene. They knew it would take extreme legislature to get results of any merit. Kennedy was afraid to move forward in the civil rights battle, so a young preacher named Martin Luther King began a campaign of nonviolent marches and sit-ins and pray-ins in Birmingham, Alabama to try and force a crisis that the President would have to acknowledge. Eventually things became heated and Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor released his men to attack the protesters, which included many schoolchildren. All of this was captured and televised to the horror of the world. Finally this forced the President into action and he proposed a bill outlawing segregation in public facilities. The bill became bogged down in Congress but civil righ...
Racial unrest by the summer of 1963 was at its height since the Civil War. President Kennedy picked up the situation at the close of the Eisenhower years at a time when tensions were rapidly increasing. By the summer of 1963, however, after a series of violent demonstrations in the South, particularly in Birmingham, Alabama, President Kennedy pushed for a very strong civil rights bill in Congress. The first of its kind since the Civil War, this bill drastically called for the end of all segregation in all public places. In the eyes of the civil rights movement leaders, this bill was long over due.