Civil Rights Movement

How important was the emergence of effective organisations to the development of civil rights campaigns after 1945?
The American civil rights movement was mass protest and debate against the racial segregation and discrimination that was witnessed across all of the United States especially in the South. Although there had long been controversy over such issues facing Black people it was until after 1945 that the Civil Rights movement came to international attention. During the development of the Civil Rights campaign after 1945 there were many key factors that contributed to the overall improvements, some of these factors included the experience of black servicemen in World War Two, the continuation of prejudice and discrimination, new forms…show more content…
Although Malcolm X was the one who first introduced the idea it was Carmichael who first properly used the phrase “Black Power.” Stokely Carmichael had originally been involved in the non-violent protest side of the division and in 1966 he was elected as the chairman of the SNCC which stood for the Student Non-Violet Coordinating Committee but his move away from non-violent protest was not usual and was in fact typical of many Black Americans looking for stronger action. The defining moment of movement away from the non-violent methods came only weeks after he took over leadership of the organization. In June in 1966, James Meredith, a civil rights activist who had been the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi, embarked on a solitary "Walk against Fear" from Memphis to Jackson. About 20 miles into Mississippi he was shot and wounded too severely to continue. Stokely Carmichael decided that SNCC volunteers should carry on the march in his place, it was then when he reached Mississippi that he gave the speech which would be best remembered by people. "We been saying 'freedom' for six years," he said. "What we are going to start saying now is 'Black Power.'" The idea of “Black Power” soon became a new slogan and anew idea in the Civil Rights movement. Stokely Carmichael did a great deal of work to help the development of the Civil Rights after 1945,…show more content…
Although the Black Americans had been fighting discrimination for years and years and had overcome many battles by the mid-20th century it seemed nothing had really changed. Blacks were still seen as second class citizens and Whites believed themselves the superior race. One of the most famous examples of the extreme discrimination and prejudice they still faced is the murder of Emmett Till. Emmett Till was a young 14 year old boy who had been brought up in a poor area of Chicago. He had attended a Black only school and thought he knew about segregation and discrimination however when he went to visit relatives in Mississippi he had absolutely no clue how severe the segregation and prejudice was there. One day when he was in Mississippi Emmett and a group of his friends went into the local shop. Emmett Till had previously boasted about dating a White girl back in Chicago and his friends had been amazed and so asked him to speak to Carolyn Bryant, the wife of the store owner, as a form of proof. Emmett purchased some bubble gum whilst in the shop and just before he left he said “bye baby” to her. A few days later Roy Bryant, Carolyn's husband, and his half-brother J.W. Milam kidnapped Emmett Till from his Uncles home. They then beat the teenager brutally, dragged him to the bank of the Tallahatchie River,