Social Reform Movements In The Twentieth Century

In the twentieth century, various social reform movements changed American society, such as the civil rights movement. This term refers to the 1950s and 60s when multitudes of people worked towards the advancement of equal economic, social, and political rights, especially for blacks. The movement involved courage and determination from leaders and activists, alike. Christianity, through its followers and places of worship, played a key role in inspiring people to follow Christian morals by protesting nonviolently and standing up.
This long-running effort for racial equality can be traced back to the nineteenth century when the Fourteenth Amendment and Fifteenth Amendment was passed, granting citizenship to all born in the United States, including former slaves, and the right of voting to black men, and although it was unenforced by many, it marked the first step to change. The Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, ruled “separate but equal,” making segregation legal. This gave rise to Jim Crow laws, which regulated the separation of races.
The establishment of the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois and many others, marked the turn of the century as the new era in civil rights. In 1954, the Brown
A major turning point in the civil rights movement was the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination and segregation. In 1965, King organized the Selma to Montgomery March where all races were invited to peacefully march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for voting rights. As a result, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was approved, marking the end of unequal voting laws. The movement essentially decelerated in the years after King’s murder, but it was one of the most successful movements in American history and revealed how everyday people could achieve social