Civil Rights Movement - Essay Example

Civil Rights Movement Affiliation Civil Rights Movement Introduction The Civil Rights Movement that started during 1954 andpassed through the era of 1965 represents the period that led to the accomplishment of various goals such as the: eradication of barriers based on race and led to various changes in the political, social and economical spheres of the black Americans (Friedman, 2008). This movement even altered the rights of citizenship of the blacks and made the court of law and the governments protect the rights of blacks. These movements even altered the rights of all individuals including white or black or any other color. When people refer to the word civil rights, they seem to be referring to the speech of Martin Luther King Junior that touched the hearts of several and became the base of various changes in the US. While on the other hand, same words even refer to the atrocities experienced by African American while they stood up for their rights. The most disturbing picture that comes to our minds when we talk of civil rights is the mass murder of black school girls who were killed while they were participating in Sunday school and a bomb struck the 16th street Baptist Church. Such images marks the movements made by the blacks to gain their rights and the aggressive response of the whites (Mertz, 2010). Through the Civil Rights Movement is said to have initiated during the 1950s, but its origins date back to the era when first Africans migrated to US. The base of the entire Civil Rights Movement was laid down by the fight for rights conducted by the early slaved African Americans. Body History During 1619, first ever slaves were transacted to America and the slavery of the blacks continued until Civil War broke out and the 13th Amendment was passed. Even after blacks gained their freedom, they were still not educated and had little or no ownership of property and were subjected to unequal treatment especially in the Southern region where the majority of the slave used to live. To solve the scenario and to help blacks adjust with the whites, several reforms were made during the 10 years period of 1865 and 1875, this ten year period was recognized as the Reconstruction era (McGuire, 2011). One of the major measures taken the government was the 14th and the 15th Amendment which provided the African Americans with the right to vote and to be considered as equal citizens of US. Drastic moves were made, but these moves and their effect existed for a very short period of time. The white population in the South made every move to ensure that blacks do not enjoy the newly rights given to them by the government. Blacks were subjected to harassing behavior, those who harassed them includes the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). The KKK inflicted pain due to which the blacks were not able to exercise their newly awarded rights. The rights assigned to the blacks were already being violated and during this period, all the efforts of the blacks to gain their rights experienced a huge setback due to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson case. The ruling stated that if the facilities provided to both the races are equal in nature, then the blacks and whites can divided legally (Anderson, 1986). The problem was that the black population never enjoyed equal rights and the decision of the court provided the whites with the power of being an obstacle in letting the blacks enjoy their basic rights. The power of the whites led to the creation of Jim Crow laws, according to these laws different public properties were created for the blacks and whites, these properties include: public schools, parks, restaurants and vehicles. Due to these laws and the division of public property, black Americans stood against the strategies of the government that were unequal and unjust in nature. A very prominent figure who stood up against these acts of discrimination was W.E.B Du Bois. This figure urged the black Americans to stand up for their rights and this followed the creation of NAACP (National association for the Advancement of the Colored People). The NAACP is recognized as an organization of the civil rights, this organization connected various professionals from the legal and the educational side and the activist to stand for the rights of the black citizens of the US. This organization carried a very strong campaign in order to put an end to the division of the blacks and the whites in the areas of education, housing and other aspects of citizen’s life. When the World War I took place, more than 25 million black American citizens joined the army but even during war time they experienced racism. During this era, several black Americans even migrated to the Northern regions to participate in the business of defense industries. This huge shift of the population from the south to the north led to heavy unemployment in the north which was already fighting with unemployment issues. The discrimination that took place in the World War I continued to World War II and the blacks were treated the same way as they were treated in World War I. All these malpractices by the whites and the policy makers made the black population agitate for their rights. The Rise Due the way blacks were being treated, several leaders along with Martin Luther King and A. Philip Rudolph who was experienced activist of the civil rights decided to arrange a huge gathering during the period of 1963, the gather took place in nation’s capital. The purpose of this gathering was to urge the acceptance of the legislation of civil rights and to encourage the black community to participate in economic activities. This gathering consisted of over 25 million American citizens; both black and white in color and here the Kind delivered his speech recognized as “I Have A Dream”. In his speech he gave importance and emphasized on the unity between black and white races of America. The speech developed new hopes in the hearts of black Americans, but these hopes were soon eradicated due to continuation of racism, and non acceptance of the civil rights bill. Later the great president Kennedy was murders during 1963 and the presidency was taken over by Johnson who managed to gain approval from the congress and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The purpose of this law was to diminish the existence of division between whites and blacks of the public property and to encourage equal employment and educational opportunity for both the races. During this era Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee was created with the aim of gaining the right to vote for the blacks. This committee started a drive in order to get the blacks registered for the right to vote. The group was able to get 5% of the blacks of Mississippi registered as voters. During these efforts made by the blacks, whites continued their atrocious behavior towards the blacks. One of the atrocious act was conducted by the KKK, they first arrested three black young employees of the civil rights and later killed them. During the era of 1965, the campaign of getting blacks registered for voting moved to Alabama and Selma, where thousands of activists started a walk for fifty miles to Montgomery under the great leadership of Martin Luther King. Their progress was once again halted by the whites and the activists were harmed with the aid of police whips. This day was recognized as the Bloody Sunday, after this day, the walk was restarted and this time those who were involved in the walk were protected by the National Guards of Alabama. During the August of 1965, President Johnson accepted and passed the bill recognized as the Voting Rights Act, this bill allowed the blacks living in the southern regions to vote. The Fall During the middle era of the 1960s, black demonstrators started losing their faith in the reforms of the Civil Rights Act as these reforms had not yet made any changes to the lower level of discrimination (Knight, 2009). The changes did not make any major changes to the discrimination faced by the blacks, neither these reforms brought tremendous changes to the political and economical status of the blacks. In the south the black demonstrators took a harmonious approach but in the northern regions they were acting quite aggressively. The aggressiveness in the emotions of the SNCC even elevated and they started fighting for black’s independence from the white society and a separate society for the blacks. Malcolm X became the spokes person for a separate nation of the blacks; he was able to persuade ample number of the people in the black youth because of his charismatic nature and his belongingness to the working class. He stood against the nonviolent behavior adopted by the king and rather became an advocate of violent behavior and appealed his followers to take any route to gain their rights. This means of obtaining rights was contradicted by the NAACP and they were against the idea of a separate nation for the blacks. During the period of 1965, Malcolm was put to death but his legacy was continued and his means of obtaining rights was continued by the group recognized as Black Panthers. The hatred of the blacks for the whites did not come to an end and started to elevate day by day. Riots based on race started taking place all over America; even those who were living in slums of the urban centers came out of their shelters and started rioting against racism and poor economic status. These riots did not only hurt the white race, it even inflicted pain upon the blacks and all areas consisting of millions of black people were adversely affected. The reason behind these acts was loss of hope in the non-violent way of achieving rights. These activities did not turn out to be fruitful to the black and even damaged the position of the entire civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was already facing negative effects due to the violence of the black and the movement faced a huge set back during April 1968 due to the loss of the life of Martin Luther King. Due to this huge loss, the entire movement lost its momentum and what was once considered as the best way to get rights started losing its ground. Conclusion The entire civil rights movement gained ample amount of popularity and to date is remembered by the nationals of the United States of America. The movement brought tremendous amount of change and decrease in the way blacks and people of different colors were being discriminated in US. In 21st century, changes brought by the movement can easily be witnessed as the blacks have equal right to vote and take part in ownership of property and have equal economic status in US. They have the right to vote and right of being free and equal and they are even part of the public offices in the United States. Even the current president of America happens to be a person of the black race. Several black Americans are today counted among the richest individuals of US and around the world, this has happened due to the equal economic opportunity gained by the blacks during the civil rights movement. This movement have not only changed the way blacks were being treated and thought of, this movement has even brought changes in the lives of various minority groups living in the US. These groups include women who were once expected to be individuals with low potential are now in the top most level of different organizations and have equal say in the parliament. All these changes have taken place over the several years of struggle of the minority groups, but the base of the struggle was the civil rights movement. Through the civil rights movement, minorities learned how to attain their rights. References Anderson, A. B., & Pickering, G. W. (1986). Confronting the color line: The broken promise of the civil rights movement in Chicago. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Friedman, M. J., & United States. (2008). Free at last: The U.S. civil rights movement. Washington D.C: U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of International Information Programs. Knight, G. L. (2009). Icons of African American protest: Trailblazing activists of the civil rights movement. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Mertz, P. E. (January 01, 2010). Richardson and Jones, Education for Liberation: The American Missionary Association and African Americans, 1890 to the Civil Rights Movement. The Journal of American History, 97, 1, 206. McGuire, D. L., & Dittmer, J. (2011). Freedom rights: New perspectives on the civil rights movement. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. Read More