...The Civil Rights Movement is popularly known to have started in the mid 1950’s—but I do agree with Jacquelyn Dowd Hall’s article “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past” that the Civil Rights movement did not begin so late. Structurally, culturally, and ideologically the Civil Rights movement began decades before the nation became aware of it. The work of civil rights activists such as A Philip Randolph, beginning in the mid 1920’s, affected change in the structure of government by pushing for anti-discriminatory legislation for Black workers. Further affecting structural institutions was the effect that World War II had on Black Americans, who were disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the United States fighting for...
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...The Social Events of the 1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90s Introduction Over the past 50 years, there have been many changes within the social movement in the United States. Some of these changes have been for the better and some not so great. These changes were made with the hopes and dreams of making life better for all cultures, species, families, and environment. Now the question is, how did these change come about, and what were these changes about? Social Life of the 1950's In the early 1950's was a new beginning for the United States. With the end of the Great Depression and World War II, people felt that they could start living, and have things they thought they would never have, like a home, cars, a wife or husband, and children. With the new beginning, families started moving from large city life to the suburbs, for the reason that life in the suburbs was considerable less hectic and peaceful than what city life was like. Due to the Great Depression, many men and women put off getting married or starting families for the reason of lack of money or homes, and with the War, many were afraid they might not come home. However, with the new feeling of security and peace couples were able start the family they always wanted and so began the Baby Boom years. People moving to the suburbs triggered...
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...the nineteen fifties, African Americans were the subject of more discrimination than any other race or religion in all aspects of being treated both as a person, and a race. These people were up until almost the mid 1900’s as slaves, even though slavery was abolished long before, even in the mid 1900’s, African Americans were still considered “second class citizens”, not seen as equals in the eyes of others. It was during the 1950’s that African Americans, and other racial authorative groups collaborated to change their status in society. This challenge of fighting against discrimination and for racial equality among racial groups became one of the most important times in United States history; it was the beginning of what we know as the Civil Rights Movement. The fight for racial equality started long before the 1950’s, in the early 1900’s, the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) was created by Booker T. Washington, and Webb Du Bios, Mr. Washington was actually an ex-slave. As the NAACP grew in numbers and support, the NAACP also published its own newspaper, showing progress, and enticing people to come forward to support for their rights. One of its first victories was the laws of segregation in housing, and also the right of African Americans to jury duty. The NAACP helped in establishing other groups such as CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) which their purpose was to end discrimination. The founders of the NAACP had the same...
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...The Civil Rights Movement Sharon L. Jordan HUM410 Contemporary History Instructor: Lila Griffin-Brown October 16, 2011 African Americans’ efforts to stop the segregation of trains and streetcars, the organizations created to contest Jim Crow laws, and segregationists’ attempts to silence the protests all provide rich testimony to the spirit of agitation present even in this bleak time in American history (Kelley, 2010, p.5). The Civil Rights Movement was a struggle by African Americans in the mid-1950s to late 1960s to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites, including equal opportunity in employment, housing, and education, as well as the right to vote, the right of equal access to public facilities, and the right to be free of racial discrimination (Law, 2005). This movement sought to restore to African Americans the rights of citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The words civil rights often raise images of Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his soul-stirring “I Have a Dream” speech before the nation’s capital. "The practical cost of change for the nation up to this point has been cheap," Martin Luther King Jr. conceded “(LITWACK, 2009). Martin Luther King Jr., and other leaders of the movement anticipated, the movement provoked gains not only for African Americans but also for women, persons with disabilities, and many others. Organized efforts by an African American, W.E.B. Du Bois, who exhorted blacks to fight for the rights was...
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...Do what you wanna do! “It’s your thing, do what you want to do! It is Crazy how this quote could truly describe the 1965-1975 era in so many ways. Around this time many things were happening like African American trying to earn true inequality in civil rights movements, free spirited hippie era and the closing of the Vietnam War. Many of those events that happened in that decade has been prolific in are day in age now and the strides in development in our country today. The cultural arts in this time period were creative but also very powerful. The way they dressed, and music that was listened to reflects to who they were and what they represent and allowed them to express themselves. . The 1960’s was a major part of American history in so...
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...Final Paper Sept. 11, 2012 In the late 1890’s for about 65 years the southeastern part of the United States was ran by the Jim Crow south. Which in basically states after slavery the African Americans must have equal facilities as the whites, but they had to be segregated. After the duration of World War II is when people started to make strives to end segregation. Also some people would boycott some businesses because of the way the treated many African Americans. Some things African American’s did to try and change the injustices that was happening to them was protest and do sit ins. Like Rosa Park’s famous scenario about how she was going to stand up for herself and stay in the front. Or the four Woolworth University students who went to an all-white luncheon and sat at their front counter. Some people radicals but for the most part they just wanted change. Also around the civil rights movement we start to see figures that wanted change more than anyone. Figures like Louis Farrakhan, Hughey Newton, and Martin Luther King, Jr. These gentlemen made civil rights a national issue and made the United States fully aware of the injustices happening in the south. As all Americans are lead to believe that we all have the same rights and opportunities as the person next to us. But if you think about it, if you are different in the least it was an uphill battle to achieve normalcy with the rest of the world. Think about the rights off all except babies and country clubs there...
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...Civil Rights are defined by Merriam-Webster as the rights that every person should have regardless of his or her sex, race or religion. The fifties planted the seeds for the cultural conflict that traversed the nation in the sixties, a time when civil rights in inequality, an unfair situation in which some people have more rights or better opportunities than other people, created division and discord. Injustices such as the denial of full citizenship rights, equal opportunity in education, jobs, access to transportation and public facilities experienced by African Americans led to The Civil Rights Movement in the United States and a time of social unrest. The Civil Rights Movement was about the campaign of African Americans who had visions of equality and sought social change. Janie Mae Overton was an African American woman who, along with many others, was actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. Her involvement included participation in non-violent demonstrations, sit-ins and marches against inequality and social injustice which was the African American experience....
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...King: Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and the Civil Rights Movement in America are alternative beats of the same heart. In his overall fight against racism, the important landmarks were the Montgomery bus boycott, the March on Washington; anti-Vietnam War Activism and Assassination in the year 1968, Dr. King emerged as a sterling crusader. He was the living legend and glorious in death. He was intensely loved and fiercely hated. In his book, “Pilgrimage to the Mountaintop,” Harvard Sitkoff writes, “I have to craft a brief yet stirring narrative for a twenty-first-century readership that illustrates the historical forces that shaped King, and how he, in turn, changed American society.”(xiv) Black freedom movement was a tough socio-political responsibility for Dr. King, and his adversaries belonged to the powerful ruling class, reluctant to give any concessions to the blacks. He led the movement at great personal sacrifice and suffering. Sitkoff writes, “ However overwrought or sometimes paralyzed by fear he became, King’s biblical faith enabled him to keep his eyes on the prize, to put righteousness before expediency, despite the beatings, jailing, inner turmoil, and constant threats if assassination.”(xiv) Unprecedented changes began to happen in United States and King’s mission paved way for a broader crusade against imperialism and of economic inequality by the time of his death and subsequently thereon. The forces that were bitterly...
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...recognizable African American figure in world history. First thrust into the international spotlight courtesy of his leadership of a boycott of the public bus system in Montgomery, Alabama, where he was pastor of a local church, King became the lightning rod for the civil rights movement that emerged in the wake of the successful boycott. During the 1960s he gave innumerable speeches characterized by oratorical genius, led a succession of mass marches in the heart of segregated America and helped to reconstruct American race relations before his assassination in 1968. Ever since Montgomery he has attracted the attention of biographers and historians keen to understand what made him such a magnetic and inspirational leader and what made the story of the civil rights movement so compelling. Martin Luther King is most remembered for a speech given during one of the finest hours of the civil rights movement -- a sermon that set the moral tone for the movement. But while the Aug. 28, 1963, sermon "I Have A Dream," delivered during the March on Washington, framed much of Martin Luther King Jr’s notions of a free America, it was not the speech that defined his legacy. One of the world's best known advocates of non-violent social change strategies, Martin Luther King Jr., synthesized ideals drawn from many different cultural traditions. Recent studies of him emphasize the extent to which his ideals were rooted in African-American religious traditions which were then shaped by his education...
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...writing this paper to reveal and describe different events that have occured over the past 50 years that have had a direct impact on the United States and affected the way we all live today. There are many economical, social, and political events that have helped shaped not only our country, but many other nations around the world as well. This paper is an attempt to reveal and speculate on some of these important events. 1950’s A growing amount of American people began to speak out about inequality and injustice during the 1950’s and the Rosa Parks bus incident is a perfect example. On December 1, 1955, a 42 year old African American woman who worked as a seamstress named Rosa Parks boarded a Montgomery, Alabama city bus to go home from work. On that bus that day, Rosa Parks started a new era in the American quest for equal rights (Rosa Parks Bus, 2002). Parks sat toward the middle of the bus, right behind the 10 seats that were reserved for white people. The bus ended up getting completely filled up and when a white man that entered the bus did not have a seat, the driver tried to make the four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the white man could sit down. Mrs. Park’s who was already a NAACP activist, quietly refused to do so. For disobeying the bus driver’s orders and not giving up her seat to the white man, she was arrested and convicted of violating segregation laws, which were known as “Jim Crow laws”. Mrs. Parks ended up...
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...When looking at trends in American history, one can argue that many important trends can be traced to the 1960’s time period. The 1960’s was a time when many ideals were changing for people and there were quite a lot of problems going on in the world around us. With the introduction of mass media into the mix, public opinions gained the ability to literally do a one-eighty overnight based on the news and information they were getting in real time First of all, one must understand some of the new developments that came along in the 1960’s and also some of the things people of that time period were facing. In the year 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected as president. Immediately, many steps were put into place for really bettering the quality of life for American Citizens through various “Community Action Programs”. These programs inevitably failed, and their failure greatly contributed to the change of the public attitude toward federal government, especially the federal governments place in solving social issues. Also during this time was a huge battle for civil rights. Racial equality was a hot topic at the time; and the time being Martin Luther King Jr.’s time. We all know about King, what he stood for, etc. This push for civil freedoms and liberties also put more pressure on the federal government to please. Add to the top of all of this a constant fear coming from the Cold War scare, and combat troops from America being sent to Vietnam as a direct result of Cold War type issues...
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...HIS:204 American History 1865-Present Instructor Bruce Carruthers January 13th, 2014 The Troubled Past of U.S. African Americans As we move into the new century, our reliance on the past has never been more apparent to how we should proceed in the future. Our past experiences, in some respects, are still problems in the present. Throughout history, African Americans have struggled with equality. One question that still remains is: How can we (Americans) move forward while incorporating past experiences to overcome this ever pressing issue that has plagued the U.S. for so long? The answers might very well be a combination of understanding our past, while educating and changing the mentality of our nation. In this paper, I will focus on the racial discrimination and segregation the African American population suffered from, and fought to abolish throughout our history to the present day. I will cover events dating back to 1865, such as the “Black Codes”, and the “Colfax Massacre”, leading into events such as the Chicago Race Riots, to more current events that dated around the mid to late 1900’s such as the “Harlem Renaissance”, “The Freedom Flyers”, otherwise known as the Tuskegee Airmen of the 1940’s, and the “Civil Rights Act”. The chain of events that took place that helped shape the society that we live in today, was not always pleasant. Throughout the years from 1865 to 1895, African-Americans that lived in this period went through arguably the most...
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...considering that majority of their ancestors entered the US as slaves. African Americans were brought to North America via the middle passage which originated during the fifteenth century. They were enslaved for approximately 400 hundred years until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Although African Americans were enslaved in America, they were determine to survive and one day be freed in this great country. During The African American’s journey to freedom several significant events took place which was inclusive of but not limited to: The Civil Rights Movement of 1865-1877, Separate but Equal Legislation (Plessy vs. Ferguson court case) in 1896, The Harlem Renaissance of 1920, Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, The March on Washington Movement of 1963, and The Black Power Movement of the late 1960s and 1970. I will discuss the significance of these events in relation to the African American journey to freedom and how they have help shape American society today. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT OF 1865-1877 Frequently when one hears of the Civil Rights Movement we automatically think of the Civil Rights events that had taken place in the 1950-1970s. However, the Civil Rights Movement actually began in the 1860-1870s immediately following the Conclusion of the Civil War. After hundreds of years of enslavement of African Americans, the Civil War was fought with the intent to abolish slavery. The winning of the...
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...The 1960s was a decade filled with change. It started out with optimism among America’s youth that was unprecedented in history. Before too long headlines of civil rights, university reform, pacifist movement against the Vietnam War, women’s rights, and sexual liberation were made and the “Camelot” vision was quickly shattered. America’s youth began to revolt against the establishment and the foregone conclusion that they would adopt the lifestyle of their parents. In ten short years societal norms were turned completely around. Never before had change happened so quickly or been driven by the same group. This rapid change is breathtaking, considering most young people are generally naïve and disinterested in events outside their immediate scope. I have therefore decided to investigate what role the media played in the youth revolutions of the 1960s. This paper will identify media’s influence in driving change and analyze relationships between media, specific historical events, and the reaction of America’s youth. This will be achieved by looking at both primary and secondary sources to determine how much influence the media played in manipulating America’s youth via songs, marketing, and select writings. The media industry’s reaction to the social and technological upheavals of the twentieth century was to encapsulate the mantra “youth as fun” and sell it to America’s teens. . It was the social exposure that the media promoted that resulted in the heightening...
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...Haller Eng-132 22 April 2016 Civil Rights Movement In history there have been many changes socially and physically. In the 1960’s the civil rights movement was significant for the equality of people. After the abolition of slavery in 1853, there had been a continuous conflict between the races of people who lived in the United States. In the United States there have been and still are many hate groups. Many think that after the civil rights movement African Americans and whites people got along perfectly; however, there are many stories on how white people have been disgracing African Americans. There were many types of protesting during this time. Some protest involved violent and some involved non-violent protesting. Many influential people were here at the time such as: Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. There were also many hate groups at the time that tried to erase the African American population. During this time there were many rights that were violated during the civil rights movement. Many amendments were also made to stop the segregation such as the 14th and 15th amendment. The civil rights movement was a mass protest movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern United States that came to national prominence during the mid-1950s. This was in the roots of centuries-long efforts of African slaves. (Carson, 2015) The south was worse than the north about how this. The civil rights movement was about of the Jim Crow laws...
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