Preview

The Civil Rights Movement

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1438 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement

The civil rights movement was a period of time when blacks attempted to gain their constitutional rights of which they were being deprived. The movement has occurred from the 1950's to the present, with programs like Affirmative Action.
Many were upset with the way the civil rights movement was being carried out in the 1960's. As a result, someone assassinated the leader of the movement, Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Many blacks were infuriated at this death so there were serious riots in almost 100 cities. President Johnson then appointed a committee called The Kerner Commission to study the civil rights movement. They concluded the following: "We are moving toward two societies-one white and one black, separate and unequal." There is some truth to the Kerner Commission report, but on the whole the civil rights movement has been a success because blacks are better off now than they were before it began.

The Kerner Commission report has some truth when it comes to blacks and politics, but overall the movement was a success because blacks have achieved more politically than before they began. Before the movement, blacks had almost no political power due to laws designed to prevent blacks from voting, like poll taxes, literacy tests and the Grandfather Clause. Also when some blacks went to vote, people simply wouldn't let them register. Due to lack of voting ability, no blacks were elected into office and therefore, blacks had no say in the government. Also, blacks were not allowed to serve on juries, yet they were almost always found guilty in court, even if the evidence was clearly against them. For example, years ago a boy in Georgia broke into a school to steal an ice cream. While he should have gotten a few hours of community service, he got three years in jail just because he was black. A truth to the Kerner Commission report that occurs today is that blacks are not being represented in Congress proportionally. While 12% of U.S.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    PLessy’s only punishment was to pay a small fine. After the case was presented at the district…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Civil Rights Movement did not produce a unanimous course of action. Many different activists held drastically different ideals and visions of what American society should look like. One of the larger activism groups was the Black power movement that sought to bring greater representation of blacks in all sectors of society such as politics or the economy. The movement largely wanted to give blacks a voice in society. A series of riots broke out in large part due to this feeling of powerlessness among the African American community. In response to these riots in Watts, Detroit, and Newark, Lyndon Johnson tasked the Kerner Commission with figuring out why these events happened and how to fix them. The commission found fundamental societal inequalities towards blacks and called for a complete restructuring of U.S society. They recommended the spending of millions of dollars to aid unemployment, housing, and education in black communities. The report generated massive popularity as many awaited Johnson’s response, but he barely acknowledged the report. An example of the black community’s largest grievance, when the report called for change Johnson quickly discredited it and chose to take no action at all. All hope for change seemingly was lost. Americans were powerless, and any hope of creating the society they envisioned was…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Is Rodney King Wrong

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A tragic event that could've been prevented if Rodney King wasn't speeding or drunk behind the wheel, but as he admits in the interview he was just getting his life back together as he just received a phone call that he could return to his construction job on Monday. However, he knew if he was stopped and be arrested because he was on probation and be right back where he started nowhere. We've all been in some sort of situation like that where we know we made a mistake, but we just want run to because you're just starting to get things back on track so we decided to run. His decision unfortunately almost cost him his life.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the American Civil War, slavery of the black people ended. However, discrimination and injustice towards black people was still happening all around America. Around America, black people were pushed around against their will, not given the rights that are rightfully by law theirs, and even though there were organizations such as The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) working to fight against that, not much was being resolved. The murder of Emmett Till erupted in the country, and stimulated the Civil Rights Movement (CRM). This essay discusses the murder itself and its consequences, but more importantly to what extent did it affect the CRM and how important that effect was.…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Civil Rights Movement is the most significant and eventful era in America and in African American history. The movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states. The movement opened new economic, social and political opportunities to blacks. It had a strong effect on the way people thought and acted. The struggle was about far more than just civil rights under law; it was also about fundamental issues of freedom, respect, dignity, and economic and social equality.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At this point in time, the Civil Rights Movement was at a full swing. Black and white people alike had grouped together to get the equal rights for the persecuted black people spread throughout…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    How accurate is it to say that the Black Power Movements of the 1960’s achieved nothing for the Black people?…

    • 1857 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the Civil Rights Movement, Sits Ins took place in order to make a strive towards equality. While there were many positive accomplishments that came from this movement, I think that the Black Power Movement in 1970 was more effective as it affected politics, instilled African American pride, and caused a stir.…

    • 230 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How far do you agree that opposition to the civil rights movement did more to help the movement than to hinder it?…

    • 676 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King had led the blacks through various protests but they still weren’t being treated right and they had had enough, for the past 10 years they had protested peacefully without any major action. Martin Luther King wasn’t doing it the way they needed and after turning back at Selma he was criticised for being weak. The blacks needed to get…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It seems as if time is repeating itself because we are in the second civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Movement is a movement that was made to secure equal rights for African Americans. This applies to what's going on today because there has been a lot of brutality on black people by white people recently. In many occasions the white person won't get charged for the crime they committed. We are in the middle of the second civil rights movement because many black people have died at the hands of white people, some of the people that commit these crimes don't get convicted, and the mayor isn’t taking the proper steps to fix the problem.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were many civil rights activists, men, women, and children during the 1960’s who fought, bled and died for fighting against social injustices upon the African American community, during a time of what we call the Civil Rights Movement. Many actions had to take place in order for the black American’s to feel as though they mattered and contributed to the economy as much as white Americans. Civil resistance, boycotts, petitions, sit ins, inner city riots, freedom rides, voting registration organizing, and march’s were all well strategized actions leading to great results that the African American into today’s society can enjoy living the America Dream. There are many successful black lawyers, Doctors, educators, and political figures,…

    • 1767 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    African Americans have fought for equality for an extensive period of time against desegregation and racism. The genesis of the Jim Crow Laws have allowed the continuing evolution of many court cases over the years, which have inspired many prominent civil rights leaders to affect and impact of our United States’ history and future. But throughout history the main factor is a matter of perspective and/or point of view of a personal and cultural belief leading to social inequality; in many instances one's ill-information leads to misinterpretation and misunderstandings.…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Civil Rights Movement in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s Research Task – Report…

    • 1664 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the effects of the Civil Rights Movement is the laws were changed. For example, the water fountains now have no signs or rules to anyone where they have to go to a certain water fountain. For another example you can sit wherever you want to sit and stay on a bus. One more example, black and white people can go through any door they like or the same as white people.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays