The Goals Of The Civil Rights Movement In The 1960s
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
IN THE 1960s
BY
YVONNE M. CANNON
February 26, 2015
HIS 114 (United States History II: 1865 to Present)
Dr. Megan Sethi
As I reflect on the history of the United States of America during the twentieth century and those accomplishments made, I am reminded that the Civil Rights Movement played the most significant role in social and political changes that continue to impact our society today. The goals of the Civil Rights Movement were to end racial segregation, to give equal opportunities in employment and equal opportunities in education to African Americans based on the 14th Amendment of the Constitution which ensured that “all persons born in the United States were citizens” and were to be given “full …show more content…
and equal benefit of all laws.” Initially, the Civil Rights Movement focused its attention on Blacks living in the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi. Because of his involvement in the successful Montgomery, AL. Bus Boycott of the 1950s; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a central figure that catapulted him to fame as the Leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. A major factor of the success of the movement was the strategy of the non-violent protests and Dr. King’s involvement which inspired many civic and religious leaders to lobby for change and campaign on behalf of African Americans, women and other minorities thus resulting in the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act. The provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “forbade discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race in hiring, promoting and firing.” (National Archives & Records). While the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were determined most significant in the social and political changes in America’s history, today, however, in the twenty-first century, racism; discrimination and injustice continue to prevail toward African Americans, women and other minorities.
On August 28, 1963, along with other leaders of the Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom. The purpose of the March was to call attention to President John F. Kennedy, his Cabinet and the Congress to sign the Bill to end racial segregation of African Americans in America. It also set the stage for the passage in 1964, of the Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Over 200,000 people of diverse ethnicities, cultures, creeds and backgrounds participated, while millions watched on television. As the Keynote Speaker, King delivered his most iconic speech, “I Have a Dream” to culminate the event. In his speech, Dr. King stressed how one hundred years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1865, freeing millions of Negro slaves:
“The Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.” (King, 1963).
While he stressed the gravity of the situation, he also stressed a sense of hope, that day:
“This is our hope. This is our faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.” (King, 1963).
Dr. King spoke these words to inspire, not only the African Americans, but the World that the time was right for change. As a leader, Baptist preacher, dreamer, revolutionary man and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dr. King knew how to be eloquent. He understood human nature and he knew that unless things changed and segregation and discrimination against African Americans ended, and justice prevailed, this Country would not be successful in the eyes of the World. Dr. King often stated that “we must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.” As I read Dr. King’s words today, I realize that they are still relevant, fifty years later.
In August, 2013, Americans commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom. In July, 2014, Americans again marched on Washington, D.C. to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the “Civil Rights Act” and to protest homelessness, racial inequality and equal pay for women. In 2014, Thomas E. Perez, Secretary of the United States Department of Labor released this statement:
“When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963, women were earning an average of 59 cents on the dollar compared to men. While women hold nearly half of today 's jobs, and their earnings account for a significant portion of the household income that sustains the financial well-being of their families, they are still experiencing a gap in pay compared to men 's wages for similar work. Today, women earn about 81 cents on the dollar compared to men — a gap that results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages. For African-American women and Latinas, the pay gap is even greater.” (Perez, 2014)
Yes, changes have been made in the past fifty years, but struggles for equality continue for minorities and women in America today. With the election of the first African American President, Barack H. Obama in 2008 and his re-election in 2012, many have suggested that the twenty-first century represents the beginning of “post-racism” in America. Yes, African Americans and women have achieved and made tremendous advances in politics, education, and economically, yet equality is still elusive fifty years after the passage of the “Civil Rights Act.” I know this to be true when I read an article written fifty years ago by Dr. Robert C. Weaver, the first African American to hold a Cabinet-level position in the United States under Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, as the Head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.) and later President of the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College. In June, 1963, he wrote “The Negro as an American” in which he attempted to explain and answer questions “most frequently asked by middle-class white Americans.” “Why do negroes push so? They have made phenomenal progress in 100 years of freedom, so why don’t their leaders do something about the crime rate and illegitimacy?” Dr. Weaver’s reply was:
“That when negroes press for full equality now they are behaving as all other Americans would under similar circumstances. Every American has the right to be treated as a human being and striving for human dignity is a national characteristic. To the negro, as an American, involuntary segregation is degrading, inconvenient and costly. It is degrading because it is a tangible and constant reminder of the theory upon which it is based—biological racial inferiority. It is inconvenient because it means long trips to work, exclusion from certain cultural and recreational facilities, lack of access to restaurants and hotels conveniently located, and, frequently, relegation to grossly inferior accommodations. Sometimes it spells denial of a job and often it prevents upgrading based on ability.” (Weaver, 1963).
Although he wrote this paper more than fifty years ago, the significance of it is still important for our twenty-first century generation of Black Americans. Racism and discrimination continue to impact the lives of blacks, both overtly and covertly. Our schools are failing. Homelessness runs rampant, housing costs are extremely overpriced and unaffordable for poor and middle class blacks in this Country (Soomo, 2014); while the prison system thrives as one of America’s top industries. (Kerby, 2012). But most important of the social ills we face today include bias against young African American men, as witnessed in the recent deaths of unarmed Black men by White police officers across America. While these incidents have provoked national protests by Americans of diverse ethnicities, cultures, creeds and economic backgrounds (Peck, 2014), it is evident that this Country still has not ridden itself of racism and discrimination.
From the 1970s through 2010, America saw major changes within its cities. Jobs were eliminated as businesses failed, cities experienced “urban renewal” and “gentrification,” (Soomo, 2015). These changes created a sense of frustration and unrest within white and black families who questioned the impact of the Civil Rights Movement’s legacy on America in the twenty-first century. Scholars have attempted to address this issue.
In 2009, Distinguished Professor, Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Leon F. Litwack, wrote “Fight the Power!’ The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement”, in which he reflected that:
“Even as the civil rights movement struck down legal barriers and transformed the face of Southern politics, it failed to diminish economic inequalities. When it came to changing Black lives, Black mayors and their machines all too often resembled those they replaced. Even as the Supreme Court ended school segregation, by law, the Justice failed to end segregation by income and residence. And this was no longer a Southern phenomenon; in places like Boston, screaming White parents and lawless White mobs repeated scenes that acted out earlier in the South. By the 1970s, the White exodus into the suburbs, in the North and the South, had made a mockery of racial integration; Whites, it seemed, preferred to abandon the public schools and the cities rather than share power and community with non-whites.” (Litwack, 2009).
Most importantly, Prof. Litwack noted that “by the year 2000, more than 70 percent of African American students were attending schools in which they and other non-whites were in the majority. After four decades of struggle, America is moving backward”, he concluded. In many instances, it seems to be true.
Additional evidence of the fact that the legacies of the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King have lost momentum lies in cities across the Country where in Black neighborhoods there are streets named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, many of these streets are places where high crime, unemployment, homelessness and drug addiction prevail. Dr. King would not feel honored, if he were alive, today, because his Dream has not been realized and it will not be realized until racism, injustice and poverty and their impact on American society is addressed. How dismal and depressing it appears when we think about Dr. King’s sacrifice.
In an article written in the summer of 2003, and entitled, “The Martin Luther King we remember”, the authors, Adam Wolfson and Daniel Patrick Moynihan suggest that, “Despite the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and the passage of time, King’s significance remains a point of contention.” They ask, “Do people really know what they are celebrating on the third Monday of every January?” For many Americans, this day has simply become a day away from work and school to enjoy, leisurely. But for many African Americans, we hold this day as sacred, where many spend time in Churches celebrating Dr. King’s legacy. For many Blacks, we thank God that this ordinary man, who did extraordinary things to eradicate racism and discrimination in our nation, lived among us. When asked what he would say to young people today about Dr. King, Congressman John Lewis, one of the last surviving leaders of the Civil Rights Movement recently spoke to a CBS journalist:
“I would say to these young people, I knew Martin Luther King Jr. He was my hero; He taught us that hate is too heavy a burden to bear. As young people, you must never ever become bitter or hostile. You must be hopeful. You must be optimistic and never, never give up. We still have a distance to go…I believe that these young people…will grow up in a better society, a different society. We will get it right.” (Lewis, 2015).
I can agree with Congressman Lewis that every one of us should be grateful that Dr. King risked his life and sacrificed much for the cause of civil rights. If he had not campaigned for the cause of injustice against African Americans, women and other minorities, we would not have made the accomplishments that we have these past fifty years. We would not have been able to see the successes and advances made by Blacks, women and other minorities in politics, education and economic ventures. If it had not been for the civil rights movement of the 1960s, we would not have been able to elect an African American President.
But even with the election, we have seen a Congress opposed to President Obama’s Executive orders. We have seen constant criticism and racial epithets against him and his family. Why, because he is an African American. Yes, we still have a long way to go before we arrive in an America that represents “post racism.”
However, President Obama remains hopeful about change in America. In the summer of 2014, when asked about “racially tense moments that have beset the Nation recently”, President Obama responded to the outcry over police violence with messages of restraint.” According to a Washington Post article:
“The President’s central tenets: Don’t give in to anger and violence; work to improve, not destroy, the legal system; and accept that change will come and things are getting better, albeit more slowly than many would like.” (Obama, 2014).
If he were alive, Dr. King would be proud to hear that President Obama has hope for America’s change. But he would be sad to know that although we have made tremendous progress these past fifty years; we still have a really long way to go. Like Dr. King and President Obama, I too am hopeful, in spite of the racism, discrimination and injustice that continues today. As Dr. King stated on that momentous day in August, 1963: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” But the question remains, how much longer will racism, discrimination and injustice continue? How many more years will equality remain elusive for African Americans, women and other minorities? Will it take another fifty years or more? The answer depends on the attitudes and goals of the future generations of Americans.
Yvonne M. Cannon
February 26, 2015
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CBS 2: CBS THIS MORNING. (January 2015) http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-legacy-honored-through-congressman-john-lewis/ Fletcher, M.A.; Williams, V. (2014). “On race, Obama seeks steady gains within the system.” The Washington Post, August 9, 2014. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/on-race-obama-seeks-steady-gains-within-the-system/ar-AA8k4rd?ocid=iehp Kelly, Martin. 14th Amendment Summary. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/14th-Amendment-Summary.htm Kerby, S. (2012). “1 in 3 Black Men Go To Prison? The 10 Most Disturbing Facts About Racial Inequality in the U.S. Criminal Justice System”. http://www.alternet.org/story/154587/1_in_3_black_men_go_to_prison_the_10_most_disturbing_facts_about_racial_inequality_in_the__u.s._criminal_justice_system King, Jr., M.L. (1963). I HAVE a DREAM. Digital History ID 4063. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=4063 Lee, J. “Exactly How Often Do Police Shoot Unarmed Black Men” (2014) http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/police-shootings-michael-brown-ferguson-black-men Litwack, L.F.
(2009). “Fight the Power!” The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. The Journal of Southern History 75.1: 3-28. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/docview/215785571?accountid=378 Martin Luther King Jr. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” US black civil rights leader & clergyman (1929 - 1968)
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2629.html
BIBLIOGRAPHY (Cont’d)
National Archives and Records Administration. General Records of the U.S. Government Record Group 11. National Archives Identifier: 299891
Peck, P. (2014)
http://www.bet.com/news/national/2014/10/22/rallies-held-worldwide-for-national-day-of-protest-against-police-brutality.html
Perez, Thomas E. U.S. Department of Labor. (2014)
http://www.dol.gov/equalpay/ Trowbridge, D.J. Soomo Learning LLC and Flat World Knowledge. (2014). Third edition Chapter 12. “A Nation In Flux, 1970-1979”. A History of the United States: 1865 – Present
Weaver, R.C. (1963). “The Negro as an American”. AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History. http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/weaver.html Wolfson, A.; Moynihan, D.P. (2003). “The Martin Luther King we remember.” Public Interest 152: 39.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/printviewfile?accountid=3783
IN THE 1960s
BY
YVONNE M. CANNON
February 26, 2015
HIS 114 (United States History II: 1865 to Present)
Dr. Megan Sethi
As I reflect on the history of the United States of America during the twentieth century and those accomplishments made, I am reminded that the Civil Rights Movement played the most significant role in social and political changes that continue to impact our society today. The goals of the Civil Rights Movement were to end racial segregation, to give equal opportunities in employment and equal opportunities in education to African Americans based on the 14th Amendment of the Constitution which ensured that “all persons born in the United States were citizens” and were to be given “full …show more content…
and equal benefit of all laws.” Initially, the Civil Rights Movement focused its attention on Blacks living in the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi. Because of his involvement in the successful Montgomery, AL. Bus Boycott of the 1950s; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became a central figure that catapulted him to fame as the Leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. A major factor of the success of the movement was the strategy of the non-violent protests and Dr. King’s involvement which inspired many civic and religious leaders to lobby for change and campaign on behalf of African Americans, women and other minorities thus resulting in the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act. The provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “forbade discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race in hiring, promoting and firing.” (National Archives & Records). While the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were determined most significant in the social and political changes in America’s history, today, however, in the twenty-first century, racism; discrimination and injustice continue to prevail toward African Americans, women and other minorities.
On August 28, 1963, along with other leaders of the Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom. The purpose of the March was to call attention to President John F. Kennedy, his Cabinet and the Congress to sign the Bill to end racial segregation of African Americans in America. It also set the stage for the passage in 1964, of the Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Over 200,000 people of diverse ethnicities, cultures, creeds and backgrounds participated, while millions watched on television. As the Keynote Speaker, King delivered his most iconic speech, “I Have a Dream” to culminate the event. In his speech, Dr. King stressed how one hundred years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1865, freeing millions of Negro slaves:
“The Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.” (King, 1963).
While he stressed the gravity of the situation, he also stressed a sense of hope, that day:
“This is our hope. This is our faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.” (King, 1963).
Dr. King spoke these words to inspire, not only the African Americans, but the World that the time was right for change. As a leader, Baptist preacher, dreamer, revolutionary man and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dr. King knew how to be eloquent. He understood human nature and he knew that unless things changed and segregation and discrimination against African Americans ended, and justice prevailed, this Country would not be successful in the eyes of the World. Dr. King often stated that “we must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.” As I read Dr. King’s words today, I realize that they are still relevant, fifty years later.
In August, 2013, Americans commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington, D.C. for Jobs and Freedom. In July, 2014, Americans again marched on Washington, D.C. to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the “Civil Rights Act” and to protest homelessness, racial inequality and equal pay for women. In 2014, Thomas E. Perez, Secretary of the United States Department of Labor released this statement:
“When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963, women were earning an average of 59 cents on the dollar compared to men. While women hold nearly half of today 's jobs, and their earnings account for a significant portion of the household income that sustains the financial well-being of their families, they are still experiencing a gap in pay compared to men 's wages for similar work. Today, women earn about 81 cents on the dollar compared to men — a gap that results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages. For African-American women and Latinas, the pay gap is even greater.” (Perez, 2014)
Yes, changes have been made in the past fifty years, but struggles for equality continue for minorities and women in America today. With the election of the first African American President, Barack H. Obama in 2008 and his re-election in 2012, many have suggested that the twenty-first century represents the beginning of “post-racism” in America. Yes, African Americans and women have achieved and made tremendous advances in politics, education, and economically, yet equality is still elusive fifty years after the passage of the “Civil Rights Act.” I know this to be true when I read an article written fifty years ago by Dr. Robert C. Weaver, the first African American to hold a Cabinet-level position in the United States under Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration, as the Head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.) and later President of the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College. In June, 1963, he wrote “The Negro as an American” in which he attempted to explain and answer questions “most frequently asked by middle-class white Americans.” “Why do negroes push so? They have made phenomenal progress in 100 years of freedom, so why don’t their leaders do something about the crime rate and illegitimacy?” Dr. Weaver’s reply was:
“That when negroes press for full equality now they are behaving as all other Americans would under similar circumstances. Every American has the right to be treated as a human being and striving for human dignity is a national characteristic. To the negro, as an American, involuntary segregation is degrading, inconvenient and costly. It is degrading because it is a tangible and constant reminder of the theory upon which it is based—biological racial inferiority. It is inconvenient because it means long trips to work, exclusion from certain cultural and recreational facilities, lack of access to restaurants and hotels conveniently located, and, frequently, relegation to grossly inferior accommodations. Sometimes it spells denial of a job and often it prevents upgrading based on ability.” (Weaver, 1963).
Although he wrote this paper more than fifty years ago, the significance of it is still important for our twenty-first century generation of Black Americans. Racism and discrimination continue to impact the lives of blacks, both overtly and covertly. Our schools are failing. Homelessness runs rampant, housing costs are extremely overpriced and unaffordable for poor and middle class blacks in this Country (Soomo, 2014); while the prison system thrives as one of America’s top industries. (Kerby, 2012). But most important of the social ills we face today include bias against young African American men, as witnessed in the recent deaths of unarmed Black men by White police officers across America. While these incidents have provoked national protests by Americans of diverse ethnicities, cultures, creeds and economic backgrounds (Peck, 2014), it is evident that this Country still has not ridden itself of racism and discrimination.
From the 1970s through 2010, America saw major changes within its cities. Jobs were eliminated as businesses failed, cities experienced “urban renewal” and “gentrification,” (Soomo, 2015). These changes created a sense of frustration and unrest within white and black families who questioned the impact of the Civil Rights Movement’s legacy on America in the twenty-first century. Scholars have attempted to address this issue.
In 2009, Distinguished Professor, Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Leon F. Litwack, wrote “Fight the Power!’ The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement”, in which he reflected that:
“Even as the civil rights movement struck down legal barriers and transformed the face of Southern politics, it failed to diminish economic inequalities. When it came to changing Black lives, Black mayors and their machines all too often resembled those they replaced. Even as the Supreme Court ended school segregation, by law, the Justice failed to end segregation by income and residence. And this was no longer a Southern phenomenon; in places like Boston, screaming White parents and lawless White mobs repeated scenes that acted out earlier in the South. By the 1970s, the White exodus into the suburbs, in the North and the South, had made a mockery of racial integration; Whites, it seemed, preferred to abandon the public schools and the cities rather than share power and community with non-whites.” (Litwack, 2009).
Most importantly, Prof. Litwack noted that “by the year 2000, more than 70 percent of African American students were attending schools in which they and other non-whites were in the majority. After four decades of struggle, America is moving backward”, he concluded. In many instances, it seems to be true.
Additional evidence of the fact that the legacies of the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King have lost momentum lies in cities across the Country where in Black neighborhoods there are streets named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unfortunately, many of these streets are places where high crime, unemployment, homelessness and drug addiction prevail. Dr. King would not feel honored, if he were alive, today, because his Dream has not been realized and it will not be realized until racism, injustice and poverty and their impact on American society is addressed. How dismal and depressing it appears when we think about Dr. King’s sacrifice.
In an article written in the summer of 2003, and entitled, “The Martin Luther King we remember”, the authors, Adam Wolfson and Daniel Patrick Moynihan suggest that, “Despite the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and the passage of time, King’s significance remains a point of contention.” They ask, “Do people really know what they are celebrating on the third Monday of every January?” For many Americans, this day has simply become a day away from work and school to enjoy, leisurely. But for many African Americans, we hold this day as sacred, where many spend time in Churches celebrating Dr. King’s legacy. For many Blacks, we thank God that this ordinary man, who did extraordinary things to eradicate racism and discrimination in our nation, lived among us. When asked what he would say to young people today about Dr. King, Congressman John Lewis, one of the last surviving leaders of the Civil Rights Movement recently spoke to a CBS journalist:
“I would say to these young people, I knew Martin Luther King Jr. He was my hero; He taught us that hate is too heavy a burden to bear. As young people, you must never ever become bitter or hostile. You must be hopeful. You must be optimistic and never, never give up. We still have a distance to go…I believe that these young people…will grow up in a better society, a different society. We will get it right.” (Lewis, 2015).
I can agree with Congressman Lewis that every one of us should be grateful that Dr. King risked his life and sacrificed much for the cause of civil rights. If he had not campaigned for the cause of injustice against African Americans, women and other minorities, we would not have made the accomplishments that we have these past fifty years. We would not have been able to see the successes and advances made by Blacks, women and other minorities in politics, education and economic ventures. If it had not been for the civil rights movement of the 1960s, we would not have been able to elect an African American President.
But even with the election, we have seen a Congress opposed to President Obama’s Executive orders. We have seen constant criticism and racial epithets against him and his family. Why, because he is an African American. Yes, we still have a long way to go before we arrive in an America that represents “post racism.”
However, President Obama remains hopeful about change in America. In the summer of 2014, when asked about “racially tense moments that have beset the Nation recently”, President Obama responded to the outcry over police violence with messages of restraint.” According to a Washington Post article:
“The President’s central tenets: Don’t give in to anger and violence; work to improve, not destroy, the legal system; and accept that change will come and things are getting better, albeit more slowly than many would like.” (Obama, 2014).
If he were alive, Dr. King would be proud to hear that President Obama has hope for America’s change. But he would be sad to know that although we have made tremendous progress these past fifty years; we still have a really long way to go. Like Dr. King and President Obama, I too am hopeful, in spite of the racism, discrimination and injustice that continues today. As Dr. King stated on that momentous day in August, 1963: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” But the question remains, how much longer will racism, discrimination and injustice continue? How many more years will equality remain elusive for African Americans, women and other minorities? Will it take another fifty years or more? The answer depends on the attitudes and goals of the future generations of Americans.
Yvonne M. Cannon
February 26, 2015
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CBS 2: CBS THIS MORNING. (January 2015) http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-legacy-honored-through-congressman-john-lewis/ Fletcher, M.A.; Williams, V. (2014). “On race, Obama seeks steady gains within the system.” The Washington Post, August 9, 2014. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/on-race-obama-seeks-steady-gains-within-the-system/ar-AA8k4rd?ocid=iehp Kelly, Martin. 14th Amendment Summary. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/14th-Amendment-Summary.htm Kerby, S. (2012). “1 in 3 Black Men Go To Prison? The 10 Most Disturbing Facts About Racial Inequality in the U.S. Criminal Justice System”. http://www.alternet.org/story/154587/1_in_3_black_men_go_to_prison_the_10_most_disturbing_facts_about_racial_inequality_in_the__u.s._criminal_justice_system King, Jr., M.L. (1963). I HAVE a DREAM. Digital History ID 4063. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=4063 Lee, J. “Exactly How Often Do Police Shoot Unarmed Black Men” (2014) http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/police-shootings-michael-brown-ferguson-black-men Litwack, L.F.
(2009). “Fight the Power!” The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. The Journal of Southern History 75.1: 3-28. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/docview/215785571?accountid=378 Martin Luther King Jr. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” US black civil rights leader & clergyman (1929 - 1968)
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/2629.html
BIBLIOGRAPHY (Cont’d)
National Archives and Records Administration. General Records of the U.S. Government Record Group 11. National Archives Identifier: 299891
Peck, P. (2014)
http://www.bet.com/news/national/2014/10/22/rallies-held-worldwide-for-national-day-of-protest-against-police-brutality.html
Perez, Thomas E. U.S. Department of Labor. (2014)
http://www.dol.gov/equalpay/ Trowbridge, D.J. Soomo Learning LLC and Flat World Knowledge. (2014). Third edition Chapter 12. “A Nation In Flux, 1970-1979”. A History of the United States: 1865 – Present
Weaver, R.C. (1963). “The Negro as an American”. AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History. http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/weaver.html Wolfson, A.; Moynihan, D.P. (2003). “The Martin Luther King we remember.” Public Interest 152: 39.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/printviewfile?accountid=3783