During the period of 20 years between 1950 and 1970, black Americans were able to improve their level of civil rights. Therefore, it is logical to say that they were at least partly successful in achieving their civil rights. This was accomplished through a variety of ways, two commonly used techniques being legal strategies and non-violent direct action. However, because they were unable to attain complete equality, there must have been factors that worked against the civil rights movement. One of these factors was the use of violence as a means of protest. Legal strategies contributed greatly to the amount of success that the Civil Rights movement achieved. This was for several reasons, one of the main ones being that they provided integration in specific areas of life, for example, education and transportation. This meant that, for the first time in modern American history, black Americans were protected from racism and segregation by the law. This was seen in the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling and the subsequent Little Rock incident in Alabama, 1957. This was significant because the students attempting to exercise their newly awarded rights were, when confronted with the resistance led by the Governor Orval Faubus, supported by the President and the Supreme Court Topeka decision he represented. Consequently, the resistance caved in and the students were able to go to Little Rock High School. This proved that black students were now able to attend the same schools as whites, something that would not have been possible prior to 1950’s. Therefore, it is evident that the legal strategies were able to provide integration in regards to education. This was also seen in other areas, such as transportation. As a result ... ... middle of paper ... ...fe and kids… will be alright?” in reference to the riots. Therefore, violent protesting provided critics with a reason to say they were undeserving of equality and resulted in scaring away support from white communities. In conclusion, because Black Americans resorted to violence, which intimidated some white citizens and gave reason for critics to claim they were not worthy of full civil rights, they were unable to achieve equal civil rights. Therefore because they did not fully achieve their goals of complete equality, it cannot be said they had complete success. However, through legal action and non-violent direct action, they were able to introduce laws that banned segregation; pressure companies to comply with these new laws and gain crucial public support. It is because of these successes that overall, the movement was, at the very least, partly successful.
The constant efforts and struggles of African Americans against Jim Crow laws, hate groups, social injustice, and racial bias prevailed and led to the Civil Rights Movement that has shaped our contemporary world. The struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights in a society dominated by conservative, white culture and prejudice along with the endeavor of acquiring the constitutional right to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, can safely place Jim Crow laws in archive of American
Du Bois, Alice Walker and Glenn Loury all talked about the racial discrimination. They were against segregation, they were specific in their essay about the need to better protect the rights of African Americans due to discrimination in public places, discrimination in employment and unequal voting requirements. It was a success because the way African America are treated has changed compared to how it was and its getting better. They went further that African American should seek knowledge and be educated so they can be able to meet up with the standard of the
In 1954, the Supreme Court took a step in history with the Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka by stating that, “In the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’, has no place. Separate facilities are inheritably unequal.” Little Rock, Arkansas a city in the upper south became a location of a controversial attempt to put the court order into effect when nine African American students were chosen to desegregate Central High in Little Rock. How did the Little Rock Nine affect America? Sanford Wexler stated in The Civil Rights Movement: An Eyewitness History,” its “effect would ripple across the nation and influence the growing Civil Rights Movement;” in addition, the Little Rock crisis forced the federal government to come down on state government in order to protect the rights of African Americans.
However, these setbacks and discrepancies don’t balance out the great number of successes and advancements made in the civil rights movement throughout the 1950s, and that is why this decade can be viewed as a great success for the civil rights movem
While non-violent protests were politically correct, many participants often put their lives, families and property in danger. Particularly in the south, the KKK and other white supremacist groups gained a reputation for church bombings, lynching and other violent acts against minorities. Despite pacifist idealism in a public protest, it didn’t mean black were willing to let their homes, churches and loved ones go undefended. Many took it upon themselves to arm and protect their communities through any means necessary, and by acquiring as many weapons they could get their hands on. Many black southerners were prepared to meet violence with
In the 1960s, the nation was faced tumultuous times. There was racial tension between the white citizens and black citizens of America. Whites could not understand why the African Americans were so upset; they had their freedom from slavery and job opportunities. However, the African American was dissatisfied with the small crumbs of God given rights that all American citizens were entitled to. Two men propelled to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement as leaders; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Their agenda was to seek equal rights for all Americans. But both men differ on the approaches needed to reach these goals; one believed using nonviolence was the answer while the other advocated violence Many people argue that the
“American civil rights movement.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2013. .
While there seemed to be more successes than failures in the Civil Rights Movement due to the many positive changes that have occurred from then to now, it is safe to say that the movement was not completely victorious. Efforts on the part of many individuals and events made the lives of people today more equal than they were decades ago, however, race is still a factor and de facto segregation and unfair treatment remain a part of American society. Regardless, the successes and failures of the Civil Rights Movement helped shape America today.
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education that schools needed to integrate and provide equal education for all people and it was unconstitutional for the state to deny certain citizens this opportunity. Although this decision was a landmark case and meant the schools could no longer deny admission to a child based solely on the color of their skin. By 1957, most schools had began to slowly integrate their students, but those in the deep south were still trying to fight the decision. One of the most widely known instances of this happening was at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. It took the school district three years to work out an integration plan. The board members and faculty didn't like the fact that they were going to have to teach a group of students that were looked down upon and seen as "inferior" to white students. However, after much opposition, a plan was finally proposed. The plan called for the integration to happen in three phases. First, during the 1957-1958 school year, the senior high school would be integrated, then after completion at the senior high level, the junior high would be integrated, and the elementary levels would follow in due time. Seventeen students were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be the first black teenagers to begin the integration process. The town went into an uproar. Many acts of violence were committed toward the African-Americans in the city. Racism and segregation seemed to be on the rise. Most black students decid...
African Americans are still facing segregation today that was thought to have ended many years ago. Brown v. Board of Education declared the decision of having separate schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. As Brown v. Board of Education launches its case, we see how it sets the infrastructure to end racial segregation in all public spaces. Today, Brown v. Board of Education has made changes to our educational system and democracy, but hasn’t succeeded to end racial segregation due to the cases still being seen today. Brown v. Board of Education to this day remains one of the most important cases that African Americans have brought to the surface for the good of the United States. Brown v. Board of Education didn’t just focus on children and education, it also focused on how important equality is even when society claimed that African Americans were treated equal, when they weren’t. This was the case that opened the eyes of many American’s to notice that the separate but equal strategy was in fact unlawful.
The children of Little Rock Arkansas never doubted that, like every other southern Negro, they lived in an unequal, segregated society. In the twentieth century, the black population of Arkansas still endured periodic beatings, arrests and daily racial taunts at the slightest provocation. However, the law was turning in the Negroes favour. Various organisations including the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and Negro produced newspapers fought for an end to racial discrimination and for the advancement of the black population. “They began to assert political and economic pressure” against citizens, organisations and governments violating human rights. The victory in the 1954 Brown Vs Board of Education case granted the Federal Government the ability to pass school integration laws permitting Negro children to attend white schools. This was “a great forward step in achieving true equality” . Virgil Blossom, of the Little Rock school board, consented to nine black children integrating into Central High on September 4th 1957, 3 years after the United States Supreme Court decision.
The Supreme Court is perhaps most well known for the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. By declaring that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, Kevern Verney says a ‘direct reversal of the Plessy … ruling’1 58 years earlier was affected. It was Plessy which gave southern states the authority to continue persecuting African-Americans for the next sixty years. The first positive aspect of Brown was was the actual integration of white and black students in schools. Unfortunately, this was not carried out to a suitable degree, with many local authorities feeling no obligation to change the status quo. The Supreme Court did issue a second ruling, the so called Brown 2, in 1955. This forwarded the idea that integration should proceed 'with all deliberate speed', but James T. Patterson tells us even by 1964 ‘only an estimated 1.2% of black children ... attended public schools with white children’2. This demonstrates that, although the Supreme Court was working for Civil Rights, it was still unable to force change. Rathbone agrees, saying the Supreme Court ‘did not do enough to ensure compliance’3. However, Patterson goes on to say that ‘the case did have some impact’4. He explains how the ruling, although often ignored, acted ‘relatively quickly in most of the boarder s...
The Civil Rights Movement brought to light the immorality of segregationist laws, and much in part to the methods of civil disobedience that they used, these laws were eventually removed. Since legal methods proved to be ineffective, peaceful resistance was seen as the only solution to the racial issues that plagued the U.S during this time. As Martin Luther King said in Letter from Birmingham Jail, “The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.” When negotiations had not lead to action, Martin Luther King realized that civil disobedience would be the only route to justice. The direct-action used in the Civil Rights Movement was routed in peaceful resistance and nonviolent tensions, which created the right amount of constructive tension necessary to spark growth. Where there was growth, there was change. This change and equality would simply not have been reached -- at least not timely -- without peaceful
In order to make a case that the Black Power Movement was a logical extension of the African American freedom struggle based on the longstanding African American strategies and goals for change, it is important to look at the longstanding strategies and goals, and compare them to the Black Power movement, using the examples of strategies taken by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) in Alabama. Knowing this, it can be determine whether the Black Power movement built upon those strategies, or went against them. There are several noteworthy strategies used in this comparison. The names of these strategies are based off of the people who are synonymous with them. They comparisons are as follows: W.E.B DuBois’ Talented Tenth Plan, Booker T. Washington’s “Cast down your bucket” Plan, Thurgood Marshall’s Legal Campaign, and Dr. Martian Luther King Jr.’s Non-Violence Movement. In addition to determining whether or not the Black Power movement utilized these strategies, it is equally imperative to ask, assuming that the movement went against these strategies, if it was practical or logical, given the circumstances faced by SNCC and the LCFO, not to implement them.
Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s. This movement started in centuries-long attempts by African slaves to resist slavery. After the Civil War American slaves were given basic civil rights. However, even though these rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment they were not federally enforced. The struggle these African-Americans faced to have their rights ...