Civil Rights Movement Research Paper

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Abstract The Civil Rights Movement in the US achieved major political successes with the implementation of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. These milestones are directly related to the political opportunities for activism created by the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v Board of Education and the Rosa Parks incident in Montgomery. The Supreme Court ruling found the system of racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional and created new legal precedence on the matter. This outcome formed the basis of legal challenge and civil disobedience by the Civil Rights Movement. The Rosa Park incidence marked the start of civil disobedience against the system of racial segregation in the US. Rosa represented the status of the victims …show more content…

The movement emerged from the system of racial segregation that was advanced in the US, especially the Southern States after the Civil War. The movement was instrumental in the implementation of various reforms that changed the racial relations in the US in the 1960s. These include the introduction of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. The success of the movement at this period can be associated with political opportunities from the 1950s. These events created the legal basis for the implementation of reforms against the system of racial segregation and thus racial discrimination (Marsh, 2004). The US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v Board of Education and the Rosa Parks incident in Montgomery created the political opportunity for the Civil Rights Movement in the …show more content…

The status of blacks as former slaves made them inferior to the whites, and there was the need for them to recognize and appreciate their subordinate position (Marsh, 2004). The Jim Crow Laws were meant to preserve the racial balance by ensuring that the whites were given some privileges in public service. Since the doctrine of racial segregation was recognized by the local and state laws, the blacks did not have the basis for open defiance. The Supreme Court Ruling changed the political environment by implying that the Blacks were being denied their rights. The purpose of the Civil rights movement was to reclaim all the rights that the blacks were denied under the Jim Crow laws. It is after the Supreme Court ruling that the Civil Rights movement gained momentum to influence political changes against the system of racial

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