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.
Montgomery Bus Boycott: Factfile Intro The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a refusal of many black Americans to use the Montgomery State bus service because it was segregating the seats. Many political figures led the boycott including Martin Luther King. Eventually, a year after a year of dispute and violence the Supreme Court ruled that the bus service could not use segregation laws. This was the first pivotal event that enabled coloured Americans to pursue freedom and justice through the Civil Rights Movement. Key Features The official start of the boycott was on December 1st 1955.
However, racial discrimination continued after the war. The Southern legislatures, former confederates, passed laws known as the black codes, which severely limited the rights of blacks and segregated them from whites. They were separated in schools, theaters, taverns, and other public places. Congress quickly responded to these laws in 1866 and seized the initiative in remaking the south. Republicans wanted to ensure that while remaking the south, freed blacks were made viable members of society.
Following the Civil War, the legislatures of the southern states passed some laws that limited civil rights of each African Americans. They benefited by this decision because it allowed anyone who did not follow these new laws to be jailed. The blacks and whites pushed the ruling further than before by pushing the black and white communities further apart. 3. In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
Furthermore, the NAACP supported the case against Milam and Bryant in 1955 for the lynching of 14-year old Emmett Till, the NAACP helped by protecting his uncle Moses Wright. This allowed Mose Wright to give his testimony, drawing media attention in the blatant racism in the Deep South. The NAACP was also responsible for the success of the Civil Rights Campaign through peaceful protests, for example they organised the Montgomery Bus Boycott which led to the desegregation of buses in Alabama in the Bowler v. Gayle case. The Role of Individuals was another factor contributing to the success of the Civil Rights Campaign during 1945-57. Rosa Parks helped as she started the bus boycott of Montgomery by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger.
Laws are there to protect against unfair and unjust treatment; however, there are always loopholes when it comes to obtaining a conviction for White person. When the scenario is opposed, the conviction is usually excessive. Legislation to constrain race within prejudicial boundaries included Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow laws were “Laws that enforced racial segregation in the South that required separation of whites from “persons of color” in public facilities, transportation, and schools.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2015) During the Civil Rights Movement, many people fought to overturn this law. They protested, marched, wrote letters to Congress, wrote letters to the President, etc.
Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells provides an insight into the struggle for African-American justice as well as African-American women’s rights. Wells piece addresses American racial and sexual relations. Wells’ piece centralizes on the discrimination against black grocery store owners, Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Stewart and the consequences that led to her exile. The black grocery store was located near an established white grocery store in Memphis which created tension between the two races, especially since the
For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and
The Ku Klux Klan also known as the KKK, was a secret and deadly organization who targeted African Americans. They would be seen dressed head to toe in white cloaks. Their violent attacks were not random, targeting any black or white person trying to promote equality and social rights. African Americans were called cruel names, they received unfair treatment, and were deprived of their rights as citizens of the United States of America all because they were black (Novak, Julie). It wasn’t until the Civil Rights Era with bus boycotts and protests for equality that the skies began to clear for African Americans
In addition, Agent Ward from “Mississippi Burning” stated: “Mr. Anderson, if you were a negro nobody would give a damn what you thought.” This shows that the black community is viewed so unequally by the racist white population, that even their most basic rights, free speech and expression, have been taken away from them. It also states the fact that inequality is a part of everyday black oppression and that the black community isn’t allowed to express their views without violence from the whites or racists. This allows us to see that it is evident that racism shadows people from the