Leaders Of The Civil Rights - Essay Example

Leaders of the Civil Rights John F. Kennedy played one of the biggest roles in the Civil Rights movement. As the president during those years, he enabled laws to be passed that would give African Americans equal rights, such as voting and equal education. President Kennedy was behind the ending of segregation in public places, like schools and movie theatres. Martin Luther King Jr. had perhaps the greatest role in the Civil Rights movement, as well as the most well known. His “I Have a Dream” speech prompted African Americans, and agreeable white citizens, to begin boycotting businesses and companies that supported segregation. Dr. King was also known for leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested for sitting on the wrong part of the bus and refusing to move.

Malcolm X was part of the move to end segregation. He gave speeches and encouraged others to go about obtaining their freedom as they needed to. As citizens of America, they were entitled to the rights and freedom as everyone else, thus they should fight for those rights and their deserved freedom. He died in his fight for his beliefs of equality. Linda Brown played a big role in enabling equal education for everyone. Her famous case, Brown versus Board of Education, allowed all African American children to get better education - the same that others had been getting.

The case had dealt with African American children being forced to attend the all-black school. Parents were against this and started the lawsuit. Abraham Lincoln was another president that played an important role in the Civil Rights movement. As the Southern states tried to break free from the slavery and insanity of the rest of the country, Lincoln, who was president at the time, did his best to keep the states together. He eventually ended slavery after the Civil War with the document known as the Emancipation Proclamation.

Dred Scott had been a slave that tried suing for his freedom. He took his want for rights to the legal level. Though the lower courts would not allow his case to win, he eventually took his battle to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court ruled against him, but this only prompted further actions by slaves to make their own attempts to gain their freedom.