Assess the Achievement of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s

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Assess the achievement of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s The achievements of the 1950s and 1960s Civil Rights movement provided a real change for African American people. The movement saw the introduction of a variety of new laws and changes in the USA. Beginning in 1950 and ending in 1954 was the case of 8-year-old Linda Brown vs. The Board of Education. Linda Brown became the centre of a Kansas court case demanding an end to segregated schooling. A lawyer for the NAACP (National Assoc. for the Advancement of Coloured People) took the case before the Supreme Court and on the 17th May 1954, the Chief justice overturned the ‘Separate but Equal’ policy on grounds of inferiority and unequal facilities. This set in motion the start of change for African Americans. Rosa Parks, a former NAACP secretary, was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. This was the start of the Bus Boycotts. These were a string of non-violent protests throughout Montgomery, Alabama. African Americans made up approximately 70% of the city’s bus passengers and almost all of them stopped using the buses. A young pastor – Martin Luther King Jr, organized the campaign. A string of African American arrests led to national publicity and Bus Boycotting beginning in other cities. In December 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that segregated buses were illegal. This achievement helped Martin Luther King become a national focus for African American action. In September 1957 9 African American students won the right to enrol at Little Rock Central High school. They won this right through the Federal Court. National guards were called in to protect these students from an angry mob that blocked the entry into the school. The students continued to attend the school despite the school board being bombed as well as homes of those who supported the

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