Success of the Civil Rights Movement by 1963

The civil rights movement was a political, legal and social struggle

by Black Americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve

racial equality. After the eminent speech by Martin Luther King (in

the early 1950's) African American men and women, along with the

whites, organised and led the movement at national and local levels.

Organising events such as non-violent protests, bus boycotting and

sit-ins. The Civil Rights movement was based in the South of America,

where the African-American population was concentrated and where

racial inequality was most obvious.

There were several incidents that challenged segregation. One of which

was an event that took place in Topeka (1954). This was the Brown

versus Board of Education. This was about the NAACP (the National

Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) taking the Topeka

education board to the Supreme Court, for denying his daughter access

to a white school. The court verdict was that segregated education was

unconstitutional, and by 1955 all states were ordered to integrate

schools, though most states ignored the ruling. As a result, lynching

and racial attacks increased in the South. Another event that took

place, challenging segregation was the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This

concerned a forty-four year old, black woman called Rosa Parks, who

refused to give-up her seat to a white man and stand at the back of

the bus. Consequently, because of her 'selfish' act, she was arrested

and then fined $10. Her friends and family became so fed-up they

refused to use the buses. This marked the beginning of success for

boycotting because the blacks accounted for 75% of all buses. So when

other blacks agreed to use other means of transport, the Supreme Court

put a ban on segregation on buses as it was damaging the Bus Company's

business. In addition to that, another event that happened was in

Little Rock. It was about nine students, who tried to enrol in a

school there, but instead were met by an angry mob and state troopers.

The President (Eisenhower) had to send 1000 soldiers to ensure that