The Civil Rights Movement in Alabama in the 1960s - Term Paper Example

The Civil Rights Movement in Alabama in the 1960s The Civil Rights Movement begun in the 1950s soon after the World War II ended and the African American soldiers returned to the United States. Soon after, they were seen in the forefront of demanding equal rights for all American citizens. In the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement came into full effect and became a restructuring pressure group whose main agenda was to ensure racial prejudice against African Americans was banned (Thrasher 84). The movement wanted to reinstate segregation bylaws in the southern states and the restoration of African Americans humanitarian rights. It advocated for the termination of legal discrimination in housing, the education system and the rights of blacks to secure employment. It saw a lot of demonstrations held and a lot of African Americans boycotting daily activities. Alabama State in the south was a place where segregation was custom. This paper will look into how the Civil Rights Movement affected African American lives in the Alabama, USA in the 1960’s. Alabama was a state that was subject to constant racial inequality and segregation. In the early 1960s, there were bombings of African American churches in Birmingham. This fuelled rage among the African Americans since the police administration did not do anything to arrest the culprits of this acts of violence. Activists were enraged since the churches were a meeting point for them to develop strategies for the Civil Movement. This intolerable acts saw civil rights activists such as Fred Shuttleworth, Frank Duke and Martin Luther King, Jr., be in the forefront of pushing for reforms. They opted for boycotts and demonstrations as a form of protests. They gathered masses through the formation of movements such as Shuttleworth’s Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Duke’s Anti-Justice Committee, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. There was a vast array of methodologies that were put forward by the Civil Rights Movement that came and bore little fruit in the early 1960s. Alabama had a past that was characterized by undemocratic practices where the African Americans were un equally treated as opposed to the whites and were economically taken advantage of while also being politically oppressed. This Civil Rights Moments sort the liberation of these forms of oppression. They faced many challenges that were discouraging time and time again while trying to voice their cry but were persistent. By the end of 1961, after nearly a two year protest, some victory was gained in unifying public facilities in Alabama. African Americans were allowed to ride in buses together with the whites. African Americans would be allowed to access bus terminals, parking lots, public facilities such as recreation parks and even the airports. Hotel accommodation was also permitted for the African Americans. This was not for long as the government stepped in to counteract the measures that had been taken. The municipal blocked the local recreational centers. In 1963, things boiled over. A lot of African American lost lives Wendt (48). There were many reported bombings in Birmingham Alabama. This prompted a lot of violence outbreaks. A good example is when a bomb was thrown to a church by a passing vehicle. It killed four children in the church and many were left injured. Violent protests erupted on the streets and lead to the African Americans engaging the police in running battles. The police would open fire and would shoot down African Americans and thus scores would be left lying dead on the streets. Property worth thousands of dollars was also destroyed. When deaths of African Americans were reported, the streets turned into hostile places to be. Stones were thrown at cars belonging to the whites. After African Americans destroyed property belonging to the whites, their business enterprises were lit. This meant that they were still being oppressed economically. For instance a mop factory that was a business establishment owned by an African American was torched. It was reported that a gasoline jerry can was thrown at the building. This constant destruction of property led to a significant increase of administration police patrols in the streets of Alabama State. As soon as dawn came, the streets would be left abandoned. The police issued warnings for both white and African American parents and guardians to ensure the children and teenagers are off the street. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist who believed in non-violent ways to solve the crisis at hand. He employed various efforts to put to a stop the bloodshed and the violence that was going on in the streets. He pleaded with the African Americans to use non-aggressive ways to voice their and demands (Wolfson 153). Martin Luther King Jr. also made an effort to contact the then United States president J. Kennedy in an effort to stop carnage that was happening in Alabama. His efforts were futile as the president took a firm stand that stern action would be taken against all African Americans who took demonstrations to the streets. An Alabama court issued an injunction to illegalize all demonstrations and protests. The African American protestors choose to ignore the injunction and continue with their demonstrations. Martin Luther King Jr. also dismissed the injunction and as a result, on April 12, 1963 found himself behind bars for a week. While in jail, he wrote ‘the Letter from a Birmingham jail’. In the letter, he was saying of all the injustices that the white people were doing to the African Americans. Civil activists tried to publish the famous letter in the print media to no avail. This is when civil rights activist decided to come up with a major strategy to form a national campaign. The campaign was to employ non violent tactics to voice the injustices happening to the African Americans in the Alabama state. In turn, the Birmingham Manifesto was drafted. The draft stipulated the demands that African Americans had so that they could once and for all do away with discrimination. In the beginning of May 1963, the Birmingham kicked off. It started with a major setback since the men and women still had to fend for their living, they therefore had limited time to carry out peaceful demonstrations (Murphiee 14). This is where one of the Civil Rights Movement activists named James Bevel suggested that even the children should be involved in the campaign. His idea was approved by his fellow activists since they argued children had a lot of spare time. The children crusade was initialized and no sooner had they marched down the street than the administration police attacked them ruthlessly. Finally, the national media started taking interest in the plight of African Americans. The broadcast media started airing images of African American children being handled ruthlessly by the administration police. The media also showed disturbing images of the police releasing dogs to attack children and spraying water on them with pressure hose water pipes. These upsetting images were also published to the print media. Martin Luther King Jr’s letter from a Birmingham jail was also published. Business deteriorated and Alabama State had won the attention it wanted. This saw negotiations between the African Americans and white Civil Rights Division administrators. President John F. Kennedy stepped in and ordered 3,000 officers of the state to move to Alabama State to control the violence and to ensure that it comes to a stop. African American protestors who had been arrested were also released. This negotiations bore fruit as a Civil Rights Bill was established which later the Civil Rights Act became. The act stipulated that equality rights should be upheld. Signage such ‘Whites Only’ from lavatories, from recreational facilities and all other public institutions. Restaurants and other public amenity places were also desegregated (Murphiee 27). Racial discrimination was banned and among the amendments done, was the founding of a biracial committee that was charged with the duties of ensuring that non-discriminatory reforms are implemented and upheld. The Civil Rights Movement therefore had a deep impact on the African American society in Alabama. In the late 1960s, legal imposed segregation injunctions were abolished. Before the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were subjected to living in low standards of living areas that were poverty stricken and poor living conditions. The move also gave the African Americans a say in the American political field (Thompson 309). Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists provided a platform for today’s politics. African Americans would also be allowed to exercise their democratic rights as they were allowed to be registered voters. The Civil rights Act saw the drafting of the African American Job Improvement Plan (Jones 41). This plan was formulated to improve the working standards of African Americans. It allowed citizens of Alabama to have non-discriminatory employment opportunities irrespective of the race. This helped more African Americans secure better jobs under government performance contracts. The Job Improvement Plan ensured better working conditions and environments and improved salaries for the African Americans. After the Civil Rights Movement the first African American driver was also employed. Racial discrimination was curbed in work places and this became significant in ensuring equality. This progress in working conditions and improved salaries helped the African Americans to lift their living standards and to access better social amenities. Civil Rights Movement liberated African Americans from economic oppression. Conclusively, the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama State was instrumental in the revolution of the lives of the African Americans. The struggles they went through and the risks they dealt with to liberate themselves from socio-cultural, economic and political oppression goes down in history as one of the most movements of honor. It took a lot of empowerment to question the then administration on matters concerning racism in Alabama State. The Civil Rights Movement saw desegregation and the curbing of racial discrimination. No doubt, it brought African Americans, whites, and persons of all other races together as American citizens. In the late 1960s, the Civil Right Movement had ensured that the principles that America was founded ‘freedom and justice for all’ was upheld. Works cited ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jones, William P. The Unknown Origins Of The March On Washington: Civil Rights Politics And The Black Working Class."Labor: Studies In Working Class History Of The Americas 7.3(2010): 33-52. America: History & Life.Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Murphiee, Vanessa D. Black Power: Public Relations And Social Change In The 1960S. American Journalism 21.3 (2004): 13-32. America: History & Life. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Thrasher, S., Jacquelyn DowdHall, and Bob Hall. Learning From The Long Civil Rights Movements First Generation. Southern Cultures 16.2 (2010): 72-. . 89.America: History & Life. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Thompson, Heather. Another War At Home: Re-examining Working Class Politics In The1960S." Mid America 81.3 (1999): 297-318. America: History & Life. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Wendt, Simon. God, Gandhi, and Guns: The African American Freedom Struggle In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1964-1965. Journal Of African American History 89.1 (2004): 36-56.America: History & Life. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Wolfson, Adam. The Martin Luther King We Remember:Public Interest 152 (2003): 39. America: History & Life. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. Read More