1960s Civil Rights Movement

1960’s Civil Right Movement

Chris Yacoub

    One of the most important periods/decades of the twentieth century in the topic of American social reform would have to be the 1960s. That decade changed America in many ways and transformed all the lives in this country. A few average people stood up for what they believed in, and were able to change the American Laws themselves. Life in America was hard in this time period, especially on African Americans. The Civil Rights Movement put all of them in danger from radical White Supremacist groups. Now looking back, It was worth the fear and pain they lived through. The 1960s Civil Rights Movement was a key to sculpting the form and leader of the American Government today, and a very important milestone and part of American History.
   
    Average African-American people made the biggest difference in this movement, all it took was leadership and patience. Historical figures that will be remembered anytime this topic is brought up such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and “The Little Rock Nine”. These few citizens were key In events that triggered the movement of public desegregation. Martin Luther King Jr. introduces the concept of “peaceful riots” and fighting this social war without any fighting at all. The decade before, on December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to move to the back of a public transportation bus and let a white man sit in her place. She wasn’t the first one person to refuse and be arrested for not moving on a bus, but she was a big part of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) at one point secretary to the President of the organization. This sparked the Boycotting method for African American people. “The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days, ended on December 21, 1956 when segregation became illegal as the Supreme Court ruled in the Browder vs. Gayle case of 1956.”# This was a key in the sit-ins, boycotts, and protests that would take place and ultimately change America completely by the end of the 1960s. “The Morning of December 21, 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Glen Smiley, a white minister, shared the front seat of a public bus.”# The boycott had ended, but there were many more to come.
   
    Despite arrests and almost all white citizens of America against the Civil Rights Movement, they push through to the government and take multiple cases to the Supreme Court, where slowly more and more public places became more desegregated. One of these cases would be “Boyton vs. Virginia, which outlawed segregation in interstate transportation terminals.”# This case took place in the 1960s and ruled in favor of African Americans, outlawing segregation in airport/train station terminals across America. June 12 of 1965, “the Supreme Court hands down a decision in the case  Loving vs. Virginia, striking down laws against interracial marriage as unconstitutional.”# There were still some social customs being repealed by the American Government, but the Civil Rights Movement moved past such road bumps in their path, and overcame small problems such as these. Many acts were signed by the President and the Government to help desegregate America. “On April 11, 1968 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act) into Law, which prohibits discrimination by the sellers or renters of property.”# “President Lyndon Johnson signed a major civil rights bill in 1964 that prohibited discrimination in public schools on account of national origin, race, color, gender, or religion.”#

    Many hardships were crossed besides the regular protests and sit-ins. Dr. Martin Luther King leaves for a big series of protests in Albany, Georgia. “Activists participate in a series of protests, marches, and meetings, which became known as the Albany Movement. Dr. King stayed in Albany, Georgia for nine months. He left because nothing was able to be changed/accomplished, except for the gained experience which allows him to be successful in Birmingham, Alabama.”# King was also arrested many times for all the sit-ins and protests he was a part of. While in prison, Dr. King wrote his famous ““Letter from Birmingham Jail” justifying disobedience to unjust laws, before being released on bail on April 1920.”# Along with these hardships, progress is made as African Americans begin to be appointed to high positions of government. “Johnson appoints Thurgood Marshall to be the first African-American justice on the Supreme Court, June 13.”# Violence takes another turn during these times as the rise of the Ku Klux Klan gets involved with the crime chains taking place across the nation in public buildings and centers, such as the Church Bombings of Atlanta, Georgia. Lynching, a long time-used method of murder against African Americans, comes back and becomes a new method of terror. Police brutality causes rioting across the nation in major cities and suburbs.

    Civil Rights Continues through terror and lamentation put on by the Ku Klux Klan, but the momentum that the African Americans had was withering away. Martin Luther King makes his famous “I Have A Dream” speech to revive the Civil Rights Movement before it loses its momentum and just turn into a chaotic war between Black activists and White radicals. Focus towards desegregation of schools continues after the “Little Rock Nine” with protests at universities, “including Cornell University and North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, not only asking for a Black Studies program but the hiring of African-American faculty.”# From “February to May of 1968, African American students protest at major universities, including Columbia University and Howard University, demanding changes in faculty, living arrangements and curriculum.”# Schools slowly desegregate and become fully integrated when a few Government acts were passed.
   
    Civil Rights Success and momentum crashes as more leaders are silenced and ultimately, the Civil Rights Movement is ruled a successful movement in American History. “April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated as he stands on the balcony outside his motel room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee.”# A man by the name of Reverend Ralph Abernathy tries to carry out King’s vision after his death, but his leadership proves not strong enough as many protesters and rioters are arrested when African Americans set up a camp in Washington D.C. More leaders of the Civil Rights Movement are killed. On December 4, 1969, Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party is shot by police during a raid. Federal grand jury refutes the police’s assertion, but no one is ever indicted for Hampton’s killing. These few assassinations proved enough to be able to end the Civil Rights Movement. The damage had already been done, and African Americans could now truly have equality among others in America.

    The 1960s Civil Rights Movement may have been the biggest decade in social reform for America. It change America forever and was key in sculpting the latest term of Presidency in America, which provided us with the First African American President, Barrack Obama. That alone is a key link between today and what happened about fifty years ago. We now live equally among each other in peace, as the constitution has been rewritten. Life, Liberty, and Property are truly a right that all citizens of this country now share because of this decade in time. The Violence, the deaths and suffering that African Americans were put through made a difference forever. The peaceful protests, boycotts, sit-ins, riots. They all made the biggest difference in society. Those men and women who died for their cause will forever be remembered as American heroes and heroines.