His emergence as an independent, revolutionary leader of the black mass movement made Malcolm the object of death threats from a number of forces--notably the Nation of Islam leadership and white supremacists--as well as harassment and infiltration of his organizations by local police and federal intelligence bodies. Any one of these could have been responsible on Sunday, February 21, 1965, when Malcolm X was shot
King’s would face his greatest adversary, the FBI and their tactics use to bring down the civil rights movement. King’s criticisms incensed the FBI’s director, J. Edgar Hoover, who initiated a vicious campaign to discredit King.13 Dr. King, attacked the FBI for sympathizing with the southern segregationists, fraternizing with the local police, and failing to apprehend Klan bombers and murderers.14 Appalled by the rise of the civil rights movement, Hoover singled out King, its primary symbol to stop.15 Although the FBI made malicious attempts to discredit Dr. King, they could not stop all his achievements relating to the nonviolence
Malcolm x, one of the leaders of the nation of Islam, his ideas were opposed to those of martin Luther king and as African Americans lost faith in peaceful protests it led to the rise of black power. Many people were dissatisfied with Martin Luther King’s tactics therefore in the 1960s different black power movements rose such as the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers. The black power movement came to an end in the 1970s despite achieving not as much for the black people in the north; it did however build their confidence and self-esteem. Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, believed in a strong moral code, self-discipline. He encouraged black men to find dignity in hard work and to disapprove the illegal world of gambling, drinking, prostitution and drugs.
The Ku Klux Klan, Knights of White Camellia, and other terrorists murdered thousands of blacks and some whites to prevent them from voting and participating in public life. The KKK was founded in 1865 to 1866. They directed their violence towards black landowners, politicians, and community leaders. They also did this to people who supported Republicans or racial equalities. Many Africans were brave and fought against this treatment.
The KKK quickly adopted violent methods. The increase in murders finally resulted in a backlash among Southern elites who viewed the Klan's excesses as an excuse for federal troops to continue occupation. The organization declined from 1868 to 1870 and was destroyed by President Ulysses S. Grant's prosecution and enforcement under the Civil Rights Act of 1871. In 1915, the second Klan was founded, it preached racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Communism, nativism, and anti-Semitism. Some local groups took part in lynchings, attacks on private houses and public property, and other violent activities.
During the 1950’s and 1960’s, black Americans faced a number of civil rights problems. These problems included segregation, black voter – registration as well as poverty which began to become Martin Luther Kings focus after major civil rights legislation. Martin Luther King responded to these issues by organising a successful boycott to end segregation on transport, a march in Selma and his Poor People’s campaign. During the 1950’s and 1960’s one of the problems blacks faced was segregation. After the 1896 ‘Plessy vs. Ferguson’ ruling on ‘separate but equal’ everything was segregated.
Instead of the government allowing slavery, it looked like it found a loop hole to not treat people of color equally for anything whether it was sports, school or public facilities blacks were still treated as inferior. Thankfully the civil rights movement that occurred during the 1950’s and 1960’s would turn out successful after years of civil demonstrations (some which would become riots e.g. : Birmingham, Alabama), marches, and speeches. One might say that one of the most famous speeches of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech, would see fruition when looking at today’s society despite some traces of racism. Now we live in an era where different races can co-exist.
The KKK was set up as a secret society. Its aim was to make sure that white people controlled society by terrifying black people and ethnic minorities. Also after 1877 many schools for black people were forced to close by white racists. Some schools were burned and students were badly beaten up. Furthermore in the Southern states of USA the abolition movement was resented.
Prior to the 1960’s, racial segregation was the norm, with the “separate but equal” statement hanging loosely over America. However, during the 1960’s, a student-driven young civil rights movement flourished. This movement was facilitated by the strength of the NAACP, SNCC, and the SCLC; key civil rights groups that helped break the grasp of segregation. Key leaders such as Dr. King, whose goal was to simply integrate all races through peace and nonviolence helped further this goal. On the other hand, there were also black groups that favored separatism over integration, such as the Black Panthers and the Black Muslims and even the SNCC and CORE eventually began to promote ‘Black Power’, an ideal of black individualism.
The United States experienced a dramatic shift in the avenue of racial discrimination with the end of the African-American Civil rights movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The purposes of these social movements were to arouse national awareness towards racial equality and successfully led to the official and legal recognition of abolishing racial discrimination. Yet like many areas throughout the country, my small rural hometown of Oxford, North Carolina was not quite ready to accept this integration. In May of 1970, Oxford was the stage of the tragic racially inclined murder of Henry ‘Dickie’ Marrow by several white oppressors known as the Teel brothers. This act of violence eventually went on to lead to several continuous retaliatory instances