The decision overturns the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that sanctioned "separate but equal" segregation of the races, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." It is a victory for NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, who will later return to the Supreme Court as the nation's first black justice. In 1957, King established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with fellow activists C.K. Steele, Fred Shuttleworth and T.J. Jemison. In Birmingham, Alabama, desegregation was being violently resisted by the white population.
I believe that the contribution of Martin Luther King was huge for the Civil Rights Campaign, however many important campaigners were overshadowed by King who possibly got too much credit when it was due elsewhere. King had a giant effect on the progress of the advancement of black civil rights. The first major part he played in improving the social standing of black civilians was in his role governing the Montgomery Bus Boycott between 1955 and 1956. This boycott aimed to achieve, which it eventually did, the desegregation of public buses, which was partly initiated by Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat for a white man when asked to do so, who was then arrested. King was invited to lead the body which was coordinating the boycott, the Montgomery Improvement Association, so he was not responsible for creating and starting off this successful campaign, however his alluring personality and leadership skills helped motivate the campaign brilliantly.
I believe the Montgomery bus boycott was the most important event in the 1950s -1960s in changing the civil rights for African-Americans, because this event gained internationally attention. On the 1st of December 1955 a white man requested for Rosa Parks’ seat however she refused as it seemed unreasonable. Leading her to be arrested, this act was very important because it went against the Jim Crow which was created to force segregation in public school systems, kept many African-Americans from moving out of segregated neighbourhoods and often made it difficult for African-Americans to vote. Overall it was very unfair to the black community, as a result the black community in Alabama started a non-violent boycott of the buses, leaving buses only half full this had a major financial impact on bus companies as it was the black community who used buses the most and the event was lead by Martin Luther King. This event was important because it gained international attention which put pressure on the different structures of the American government to make changes, and finally in 1965 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was illegal.
Calling Nooses What They Are –Terrorism vs. Ignore the Noose Makers George Curry starts off his essay by stating a few incidents where nooses have been publicly displayed as an act of racism. He also states the high frequency of such events “Hardly a week passes without reports of some incident involving a noose…” Curry then talks about the origins of the noose in southern America post-civil war. According to Curry, African Americans in the south were viewed as cruel and harmful for white women. He also stated that the lynching of black people was often used as public displays to show Caucasian dominance over African Americans.
How far has the importance of Martin Luther King’s role in the Civil Rights movement been exaggerated? In the 1950s and 60s, black Americans were victim to severe and brutal racist discrimination, particularly in the southern states, where segregation was “de Jure” ( by law), the ‘Jim-Crow’ laws made sure that everyday facilities such as buses, parks and schools were segregated, with different services for black and white people and where black people were violently threatened to prevent them from voting (for example in Mississippi, any black people who tried to vote faced intimidation and even lynching , this resulted in only five per cent of the black population there registering to vote.). In the north, things were a little better, in the sense that there were laws in place to prevent the amount of legal discrimination of that in the south, however, the discrimination in the North was De Facto, these laws could not control people’s racist attitudes and racism was still an everyday experience for black people; for example in the ghettos, discrimination in employment opportunities resulted in the formation of ‘Ghettos’ where, in some parts, black Americans lived in poverty stricken communities together, in the only housing that they could afford, shabby houses in dire conditions. Throughout the country, black Americans were not given the same educational and employment opportunities as white people and they lived in fear, not only of the daily racist abusers, but also from the police officers who were supposed to protect them, in fact the police often took part in racist killings and white juries almost always acquitted whites of killing blacks. However, amongst all this racism, brave Americans emerged who struggled in the fight for black civil rights and an end to this racism, one of these people being the Baptist minister, Martin Luther King.
Why was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed? The civil rights act was passed after a long battle. The idea of the 1964 act was already in place during Kennedy’s presidency. Johnson wanted to run for the presidency in 1964, he didn’t want to do anything that would offend the black or the liberal vote. As far as Johnsons voting record while in congress on civil rights, he shared similar attitudes with the south towards civil rights for black people.
They were deemed radical by subsequent historians because they insisted that blacks be protected in their new found rights. When white southerner’s intransigence followed the nation’s first civil rights act, Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan act. This gave federal authorities jurisdiction over both states and individuals who tried to deprive Freedmen and women of their new found rights. Never before had the federal intervened so force fully and directly on behalf of its citizens, let alone it’s most constellated and impoverished minority. Yet even
The Black community, the bus company, the Montgomery Council, the actions of the NAACP in the Supreme Court and the Civil Rights Movement itself were all significantly affected by this event. Segregation in the Southern states was a major cause of the Montgomery bus boycott. In the South, a practice of “separate but equal” was followed. Southern states took advantage of the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision and started legalising segregation. Segregation was enforced by Jim Crow laws which kept Blacks and Whites separated.
Thesecond program was used to inspire African Americans to pick up guns to defend the programssent out a message to the African Americans to try and defend the programs so that they can last.The final program was just a demonstration of how the white government had everything theyneeded and more, but only did so little with it, while the Black Panther Party had so little, but didso much with that little that they had. These programs also untied the party from criticism of novalid actions.After the turbulent 1960s, the Panthers lost much of their popular support, and their power waned. Some members turned to more conformist methods of political action, whileothers longed for the combative days. Bobby Seale resigned his place in the Black Panther Party.In 1990 Newton was killed in Oakland while buying crack cocaine. In 1992 former panther Bobby Rush won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the first IllinoisCongressional District.
[Name] [Course Title] [Instructor Name] [Date] The Black Panther Party In October 1966, California saw the emergence of a powerful group The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, later renamed to The Black Panther Party (BPP). Originally founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, it was created when “the Black Panthers believed that the non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King had failed and any promised changes to their lifestyle via the 'traditional' civil rights movement, would take too long to be implemented or simply not introduced,” (“The Black Panthers”). Fueled by the anger of many a black men and women being sent to the Vietnam War fronts against their wishes, racism was the main precursor towards this aggressive movement (“The Black Panther Party”). Their Activities and Controversy “The Black Panther Party (BPP) had four desires: equality in education, housing, employment and civil rights,” (“The Black Panthers”). The BPP demanded that the colored community should be given the freedom to determine its own destiny, decent housing should be provided to all irrespective of color, the promise that was made decades back of forty acres of land and two mules to all those African-Americans who were connected to slavery should be executed, and education should be made available to all with a historically correct version of the role of African-Americans being taught in the history of the US.