The Cultural History of America: A Critical Review of The Negro Speaks of the River - Term Paper Example

In the historical context, the jobs were offered on racial grounds and high ranks of the society were reserved for whites whereas their fellow colored countrymen were compelled to perform ordinary jobs. The right to education was also saved for whites and the blacks were left for wondering the streets (Kolchin pp. 169). The supporters of equal civil rights were imprisoned and ridiculed in the community. The white people were of the view that the country was established for their safety and prosperity.

The above mentioned claim was used in order to gain access to societal luxuries while black people starved to death by the millions every year. In 1950s, the civil rights moment lifted its head again and at that time, the intellectual community supported the idea. In the reign of John F. Kennedy the first civil rights bill was passed. In parallel to American civil rights moment, Nelson Mandela was working for the purpose of saving his people’s basic human rights in South Africa. The growing popularity of Mandela’s moment induced American people to understand and comprehend the importance of providing fundamental rights to everyone regardless of race and ethnicity.

The American civil rights moment almost took one and half decade before it was recognized by governmental offices in the country. The significant actors who played a major role in supporting civil rights included the names of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Cesar Chavez. Nevertheless, Chavez worked for his people and left the mark in ethnic leadership. But, other two mentioned gentlemen worked for transformation of whole society at large. The general public on the other hand, supported the notion of societal equality as it was preached by intellectual gurus of that time.

The office of John F. Kennedy managed to get a mere civil rights bill passed from the senate. Yet, the real hero who administered the legalization process of the bill is known as Lyndon B. Johnson in the pages of history. Furthermore, the females in the society, received the right for vote in the same time period. As the general mindset was beginning to swing, the legislators were moved to make the necessary adjustments to laws. The modern American laws against discrimination and racial classifications are based on civil rights bill of 1950s.

Based on the above argument, it can be established that civil rights moment which resulted in passing of civil rights bill, is the fore barrier of contemporary American civil laws. Thus, the contributions of Kennedy and Johnson are really historic in nature because these men changed the entire society. But, historians and philosophers are currently puzzled by the paradox which asks that whether government changed the mindset of the public or was it other way around. In the view of this paper, the notion of changing public prospective forced the government to develop antiracism laws.

According to the rules of sociology, the attitude of the majority always overcomes that of the minority. The politicians sniffed the air and sensed the change in social values. The changing environment of the community compelled them to make legislative changes in order to keep their popularity graph static. In the modern era of the 21st century, the concepts of slavery and social rights violations changed. The modern management’