The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's

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Why did the Civil Rights movements develop in the 1950s? Black Americans were discriminated against on a daily basis creating all sorts of difficulties in life, so the Civil Rights movements in the 1950s sparked optimism in many Black Americans. When America entered the Second World War, in 1942, they required Black men to fight. Many Black men fought for America in the war and did everything expected of them. Although they fought in different regiments to White Americans they were treated with respect, something many Black Americans had not experienced before. Whilst at war they noticed that many other countries- such as Britain- had integrated regiments without complications, so many wondered why America could not do the same. When the war ended in 1945 Black Americans thought, that after all they had done for America in the war, they would be welcomed home as heroes, but instead, they returned to a home of bigotry. In the early 1950s, many Black Americans wanted to bring back the respect they witnessed in the war; this helped the development of Civil Rights groups such as ...

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