The Civil Rights Movement
by Krysta Cardinale“1964, Civil Rights Act”
The United States Civil Rights Movement last from 1955 to about 1968. It began after every citizen was given the same rights by law in the U.S. Constitution. However, segregation and discrimination still continued especially in the Deep South. During the latter half of the 20th Century societies began introducing legislation that tried to remove discrimination based on gender, race, or disability. The Civil Rights Movements was a reform movement against public and private acts of racism and/or discrimination against African Americans. One of the most famous Civil Rights leaders was Martin Luther King Jr.
During the mid 1900’s the racial discrimination and violence in the United States began to spiral out of control. There were actually four permitted acts of discrimination against African Americans. One of which was racial segregation, separate but equal was okay, upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision of “Plessy v. Ferguson” in 1896. The other three included voter suppression, denial of economic opportunity, and private and mass acts of violence towards African Americans. These became known as the “Jim Crow” laws in the southern states.
Prior to the Civil Rights Movement there were private attempts to abolish discriminate laws. These attempts included lobbying and litigation by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). However, by 1955 these private attempts became frustrated and massive resistance became the new adopted strategy. The strategy was non violent but direct, and became known as civil disobedience. These acts of civil disobedience included boycotts, sit-ins, and marches. One of the most famous boycotts was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama from 1955 to 1956. A mass successful demonstration of a sit-in was the Greensboro sit-in of 1960 in North Carolina. An example of a successful march was the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965 in Alabama.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. played a major role as one of several civil rights leaders in the American Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King preached non-violence; the demonstrations he led, like the one in Washington D.C, were examples of orderly but powerful pleas for the equality and integration of African Americans. He performed his famous “I had a dream” speech during the march at Washington D.C.
Martin Luther King Jr. speaks:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live up to the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the Red Hills of George, sons of former slaves and sons of former slave owners; will they be able to sit down together at the table of the brotherhood? I have a dream.”
Dr. King’s speech was heard around the world and the world responded. In 1964, he traveled to Sweden to receive the Nobel Prize for peace; the youngest Nobel recipient at age 35. King brought his message to other countries in Europe in speaking engagements and conferences.
Martin Luther King Jr. speaks:
“You’ll have a long, long way to go; but I think the important thing is, that we are making progress.”
King was right; there was still a long way to go. Segregation and racial discrimination were still the norm in the South. Local governments even used State Troopers to keep the status quo. In an effort to combat this, Civil Rights Organizations began sending young northern college students, black, and white, to southern cities to work for justice and equality. In time, public sentiment shifted and Americans demanded an end to racial injustice and discrimination.
In the morning of April 4th, 1968 gunshots rang out at a small motel at Memphis. One of the America’s great civil rights leaders lay dead. Dr. King was shot down by an assassin in Memphis, butchered by someone who did not understand the meaning of peace as did the great leader.
The murder of Dr. King devastated the Civil Rights Movement at the time in which it had been making great strides. Sadly, Dr. King’s message of non violence went unheeded after his death. Rioting broke out in cities across the nation, leaving 45 people dead, hundreds injured and more than 20,000 under arrest. Civil rights leaders appealed for calm. They asked people to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s message of non violence.
Civil Rights Act
In 1964, Congress passed the most important Civil Rights Legislation since reconstruction. President John F. Kennedy initiated the bill, but it was his successor Lyndon B. Johnson who lined up the votes to get it passed.
Lyndon Johnson speaks:
“The civil rights act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our States, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country.”
The Civil Rights Act prohibited racial discrimination in employment, public facilities, unions and dozens of other situations, making these crimes Federal offenses. Johnson handed out souvenir pens as mementos of the historic occasion. One of the recipients was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. whose efforts helped make this Federal mandate for justice a reality. Dr. King helped change the destiny of a nation. Though one of the America’s most powerful voices was killed on April 4th, 1968, Dr. King’s dream for justice and equality for did not die.
