How Did African Americans Influence The Civil Rights Movement

The civil rights movement was a movement to fight for equal rights and privileges of a U.S citizen non-dependent of their race or religion. The movement goes back to the 19th centry but peaked in the 1950s and 1960s.
African American men and women, along with whites, organized and led the movement at national and local levels. They pursued their goals through legal means, negotiations, petitions, and nonviolent protest demonstrations. The civil rights movement was largest social movement of the 20th century in the United States. It influenced the modern women's rights movement and the student movement of the 1960s.
The civil rights movement centered on the American South. That was where the African American population was concentrated and where
racial inequality in education, economic opportunity, and the political and legal processes was most blatant. Beginning in the late 19th century, state and local governments passed segregation laws, known as Jim Crow laws; they also imposed restrictions on voting qualifications that left the black population economically and politically powerless. The movement therefore addressed primarily three areas of discrimination: education, social segregation, and voting rights.

During the civil rights movement many people showed no moral rights, only greed and selflessness.
For example President Truman had once said “‘You know I am against this bill, but if it comes to the vote, i'll have to vote for it. All my sympathies are with you but the Negro vote in Kansas City and St. Louis is too important.”(4). This quote is showing that even though he doesn't believe in what he is going for. He is going to do it just so he can get the majority vote and win the election. This also shows that he only cared about himself and no one else, they did what benefited them without even looking at the other people. Another instance where they showed no moral rights only greed is in this quote “It was made plain to us by some white people we talked to that in the contracts we had signed we had all agreed to be locked up in a stockade at night or at any other time that our employer saw fit. -----------In other words, we had sold ourselves into slavery”(1) This shows that because they didn't know how to read they took advantage of them and made them sign a contract they said was for a different thing. Also, this shows that they had no moral rights they just did what they wanted to make more money while treating them like criminals for no reason except the color of there skin. If it wasn't enough that they were selfish but they didn't even treat their veterans with respect because of their
color.

The veterans were mistreated even after fighting for freedom. For instance when the soldiers would come back from war to fight for freedom for all of America they were met with cruel people who didn't care, taking the freedom they just fought for away from the soldiers. An example of this is when Rodgers M. Smith author of the unsteady March mentioned a story in which it said “He was a combat veteran, still in his uniform going home to his family after serving four years to protect his country, as he left the vehicle, the police officers grabbed and began beating him.The beating continued at the local jail, where the officers used the end of a nightstick to gouge Woofers eyes, blinding him permanently” (3). This shows that even though they fought long and hard for America they still are mistreated and dont have the rights and respect they earned. Another example of this is shown in the quote “And though not technically lynchings, several other blacks, often returning veterans who would try to vote or in some way antagonized local whites, were killed or attacked during this period”(3). This shows that even though they could fight for America in the war they didn't have a say in who the president was. Also, this shows that they would kill people just to make a mark and scare others away from voting. Not only where the people cruel to the black veterans just because of their color but they were also hypocrites.
Some people during the civil rights movement were hypocrites.
For example Martin Luther King jr. stated in his letter from the birmingham jail that he is doing he same thing the prophets that everyone worships upon is doing but yet he is being criticized. This is shown in the quote “Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town”(4). This quote is showing that just because of Martin Luther King jr. color he is being put down for doing the same thing others are doing by speaking about what he believes is right and true. Another example is when Martin Luther King Jr. states “The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.”(4) This shows that, for the longest time whites have been pushing african americans to use negotiation and when the African americans decide to use direct action it is frowned upon. This also shows that when the African Americans tried to use negotiation nothing would happen and they
were told to wait and were still being beaten and therefore here only option left was to do direct action. Therefore, during the civil rights movement many people were hypocrites.
In conclusion the civil rights movement was a long battle within the United states to fight for freedom.