Civil Rights Dbq

In the early and late 1950s, discrimination against African Americans (AA), especially in South America - still existed even after the Abolition of Slavery in 1865. AA’s were segregated from the rest of the White Americans and were not treated equally and so were unable to experience the freedom the white people had. Jim Crow laws (1877-1954) stated that Black and White people must be segregated from each other at all times (but equal to each other) as also the Political and government roles in the country were led by mainly white people of America who were often biased towards AA. This hatred towards AA’s sparked events throughout the following years which caused the movement for Civil Rights - to come closer to the truth. However in between
And in fact, he became extremely confident in his influence as this is represented is [Source 16]. This is a letter from MLK to the President Eisenhower and it states, ‘We implore you to re-examine your decision not to speak out to the south on the question of law and order’. Martin Luther King happens to be suggesting to the president on how to react to the discrimination in the south implying the effect MLK has on the President. This letter also exemplifies and shows how MLK had access to the President and can this allows the voice of AA’s to be heard. This bold but tactical move, shows MLK’s dominance and willpower to gain equality for AA’s in America and how significant the Bus Boycott had become as it lead to such chain of events. In combination with all these sources, they represent the influence of Media, Significance of the Boycott and also the importance of MLK’s role in achieving desegregation in America and the immense struggle to reach equality [Source
Even though Martin Luther King was very influential, he had possessed no political power at the time and such important rights were not given to the AA’s like the right for Freedom of Speech. There was no black senator in power at the time and therefore the push for Civil Rights still lingered to be only on the political spectrum – to bring forward the importance of rights for AA’s, which rightfully they should possess living in a hegemonic white society of America. The weakness of the MBB is represented in [Source 13], an image of Martin Luther King’s house bombed by the KKK. Even though the MBB allowed desegregation to be stopped on buses, people still attacked AA’s in revolt against them to not having civil rights. This is further message is embodied in [Source 45] which states in a sub-title of a newspaper from 1965: ‘Integration, too fast?’ This happens to recognise that long after the Bus Boycott, people were still in doubt as to if desegregation should even happen years after the Bus Boycott. However, even though not all attitudes towards Civil Rights has not changed, the fight for Civil Rights carried on as the AA’s community would not back down – successfully having the Civil Rights Act passed in