Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Right Acts of 1965 guaranteeing basic civil rights for all Americans, regardless of race, after a decade of non-violent protests and marches. Throughout the novel, there were many different means of non-violent protests. The black community were taking a different approach to the racism unlike the white people who were very violent and abusive. The black people wanted to be free from the segregation and would do anything to escape it, if they had of fought back matters may have been made worse and their lives would have been made even more unbearable. One of the forms of non-violent protests was Boycotts.
MLK was the leader of the boycott that had started against the Montgomery buses. The bus strike lasted 381 days, into December 1956 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the segregation law was unconstitutional and the Montgomery buses were integrated. MLK made a change, after that change he fought for equality through non violent pro-testing. He traveled across the nation and spoke to hundreds of communities of equality and the rights that African Americans deserve defined by the constitution. MLK made powerful statements through marches and peace protests for the rights of black children’s education and rights and liberties of the African American people and their right to
For white Southerners, keeping blacks away from the ballot box was crucial. Blacks were a large percent of the population and especially in the deep South, a black voting block could change the power structure. The vote was the key to official power and the perquisites of power. A Voter Education Project was begun in 1962 and met serious and even violent resistance. A black who tried to register in Mississippi was shot at by a white.
The social climate in the American south post civil war to 1960s included the subordination of blacks. Black Americans have suffered the effects of institutionalized prejudice in this region for decades following the armed conflict that split the American south from the northern union states. While the war set precedence in terms of recognizing this segment of the U.S. population, the emancipation of Black Americans harbored ill will amongst a great many of the ruling white class majority who were vanquished in the civil war. Black Americans could neither vote nor seek social stratification in the American south because the climate was such, that the ruling white majority set an insurmountable set of political obstacles
4,000 people that had taken part in sit-ins had been arrested, transforming the struggle for civil rights into a genuine social movement . The Greensboro Woolworths finally began serving blacks six months after the sit-in began. These students went against a system and helped the nation realize that this system evidenced racial inequality and injustice, all of which this democracy is supposed to oppose. The Greensboro students were afraid they would be arrested, beaten or even killed, but they were determined to stand up for their rights and the rights of all African Americans which eventually lead to a great significance as it was the key to the movements success. It can be determined; that the sit-in movement, non-violent action was enforced particularly for public demonstrations, it took a radical initiative from the younger generation to kick-start the process, as it was not a new form of protest, but the response to the sit-ins in the southern cities was unique
Ferguson which held up “separate but equal” laws which were established by many states held that African Americans were of no concern. Lynching was on the rise as were the laws to stop them from voting.” These laws were in place along with the atrocities that were plagued on the African Americans in order to keep them down. These laws stated that they were not entitled to the rights given a citizen of the United States. Throughout the history of America the black Americans have suffered at the hands of the white population. From being herded onto ships and brought to the America for sale as a slave.
The meetings later resulted in many (ignored) peaceful demonstrations to promote civil rights and equality for African Americans. Throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s many small marches were made, but until 1963 the great March on Washington took place. The segregated and limited access to equal education and job opportunities determined the economic outlook for many African Americans. The average black family earned $3,500 a year, while the average white family earned $6,500. These were just some of the many reasons for this march.
The black people believed that President Kennedy was feeling bad for the civil rights movement more than his opponent, Richard Nixon. The Freedom Riders was that an interracial group would board buses destined for the South. The white people sit at the back and the blacks at the front. When it was mother’s day on May 14, the Freedom Riders split up into two groups to travel through Alabama. The first groups met up with about 200 angry Mob in Anniston.
The segregation was one more way for the whites to control the African Americans. In 1909, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) commenced what has become its legacy of fighting legal battles to win social justice for African-Americans and indeed, for all Americans (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , 2012). Many changes were on the horizon for the African Americans and it started in 1948 when President Harry Truman declared an end to segregation in the U.S. military (Macionis, 2012). The NAACP aided in the fight to desegregate schools and may other legal battles to give the African Americans the same rights as the White Americans. In 1954 the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas) was trying to prove that the claim that black and white children could be taught in “separate but equal’ schools (Macionis, 2012).
The movement helped to end segregation in the South, and affected the ability for African Americans to vote. Before the movement the courts didn’t enforce the 14th and 15th amendment and blacks were separated by Jim Crow laws. Also blacks were unable to vote due to poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The civil rights movement changed the laws and the ways people perceived African Americans and primarily used civil disobedience, “occupations”, and boycotts. Today, affirmative action is used to call into action the government in favor of racial minorities.