Methods Used in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's

Methods used by the civil rights movement in the 1950s

The methods that were used in by the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s were largely based around lobbying, protests and boycotting. The African American residing in the United States found these things effective and professional among their community, and together they worked towards changing laws, legislations and above all the constitution of the USA.

Mass protesting was popular and one form of protesting that made a phenomenal part of history. Boycotting was done in mass community protests and they were extremely non violent and labeled by Martin Luther King Jr. as Civil Disobedience.
Protests were spontaneous and could last for many months at a time. Rosa Parks inspired the beginnings of the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person for she was tired after a long day at work. The emergence of Martin Luther King Jr. was along with the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott, as the ring leader. The Boycott lasted for a total of 382 years, was brought together and maintained its strength through Martin Luther King Jr. and it lead to the birth of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The busses became desegregated in Montgomery yet there was no further success towards desegregation over America.
This mass protest was the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.

Activists of the civil rights movement challenged many civilizations at the Supreme Court, but above all they challenged Jim Crows “separate but equal” yet unequal segregation laws. Majority of these court cases revolved around education.
One of these cases included Brown vs. the Board. The supporters of segregation in schools fought passionately to uphold separate schooling for the white children. Fortunately, the Supreme Court acted in favor of the desegregation of schools.
Although the segregation was abolished, it was not terribly effective in some areas for example in Little Rock (Arkansas) where the 101st airborne division of the United States army as well as the state’s militia were brought in to protect just nine students on their enrollment day at a suddenly desegregated local school. Most of the white students were severely unimpressed and assisted in the beginning of a resistance/backlash of the southern states.

Organizations were formed during the Civil Rights Movement to unite people and to give direction and or purpose. Each group had its own representations and messages and each group formed its own protests and ideas. Some of the main groups that were formed were groups such as CORE (congress of racial equality), MIA (Montgomery improvement association), NAACP (national association for the advancement of coloured people), and SNCC (student non-violent coordinating committee). Significant leaders emerged and each group fought for their rights. The organizations were unfortunately not overly effective or successful in gaining rights until later in the 60’s.