The Role Of The Civil Rights Movement In The 1950s And 1960s

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement was a battle by African Americans in hopes to achieve the same rights that whites have. A few major events in the fight for civil rights included the Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education case, the Montgomery bus boycott and the 1964 Rights Trial. By the end of the 1960s, some white Americans, even had the courage of joining in the fight with them. No political or social movement of the twentieth century has had as dramatic of an effect, ever.
The birth of the Civil Rights Movement and African American’s first victory came in 1954, with the Brown Vs. Board of Education. Little Linda Carol Brown, 5 years old at the time, wanted to attend Sumner School by her home, but couldn’t because it
was segregated and only whites could attend. Unfortunately, she had to wake up early every morning, walk 6 miles to catch a bus and ride another 2 miles to a school for blacks, in the winter she wouldn’t get home till dark.
Mr. Brown took his daughter to Sumner three separate times, asking the principal why she couldn’t attend. The principal being nice and polite, but insistent, told him “It isn’t my policy…” “Segregation is the policy of the school board, and I have to abide by their decision.“. On May 17th, 1951 in Topeka, KS, the Browns decided to take this situation to court. There has been four other similar cases from D. C., Virginia, South Carolina and Delaware. Since they were members of the NAACP, they applied for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and filed against the Topeka Board of Education. The trial was held before 3 judges with dad’s lawyer being Charles E. Bledsoe, along with NAACP attorneys. This team’s focus was on, not directly expressing, the unfairness of a child being a second-rate person, just because of the color of its skin. The jury was unable to reach a decision in 1952 and again in December of 1953. However, decision day finally
came on Monday, May 17, 1954, when the Chief Justice stated that “… in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place…”, which affected 11 million kids in 21 states. In the Fall of 1954, Linda Carol Brown went into junior high, where the other students accepted her and integration was performed soundly. In 1961, Linda Carol Brown graduated with top honors from high school in Springfield, was offered a scholarship to Drury College and was the 1st full-time Negro student.
African Americans believed that they could change the laws to protect the equal rights of all people regardless of race as a result of peaceful protests. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was taking a bus home from work in Montgomery, Alabama. She had already sat down, in the closest row to where blacks were allowed to sit. When the bus began to fill up and another white passenger came on board, she was told to move back. Rosa, beginning to get tired of being treated like a second class person, refused to move. When she was fined $14, it sparked the Montgomery, AL bus boycott. After the 11 week event, 115 African-Americans were accused of boycotting, while another couple thousand participated by refusing to ride a bus. Judge Carter ordered that Rosa spends 14 days in jail after her first appeal. She didn’t like that result either, so she appealed for a second time to the State Supreme Court and was immediately arrested. Furthermore, all defendants who were brought to the county jail, were fingerprinted and released after they paid a bond of $300. The law that these African Americans broke, carried a max sentence of 6 months in jail and a $1000 bond. E. D. Nixon, a former state president of the NAACP, and Jo Ann Robinson, a teacher at Alabama State College for Negros were the 2 most active Negro political leaders arrested. In addition to those arrested, were 2 Negro ministers. Dr. S. S. Seay is the leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy is the pastor of the Negro First Baptist Church. Two activities that Rev. Abernathy arranged after the boycott was a march and a mass meeting at his church. When those arrested were being arraigned, the blacks who have gone to work in car pools or in cabs since the boycott began would march to the courthouse. The message behind his meeting at his church was "to sing and pray to God Almighty and get into the hearts of Montgomery people so that justice may be done".
”If they don’t get a conviction, I don’t think it will be a place where people can live. They can’t help but be afraid.”, said Mrs. Margaret Burn­side. She is one of the only blacks in Neshoba County who will voice an opinion about Sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey’s and two other law‐en­forcement officers’ arrest in connection with the murders of three civil rights workers. African-Americans also had a pretty good feeling about the arrest of 21 white men in connection with the murders of the three young men last June 21. An officer who attends this same church, Ross Jones, commented that if they do get convicted of conspiracy to violate the victims’ civil rights and refusing to give information, it will be a first. This church, Mount Zion Baptist, was burned a few days before he said this. The civil rights movement was just getting started in the Longdaie community last summer when the church burning, as well as the beatings and murders happened. Mr. Jones also reported that the fund for rebuilding the church is minimal compared to the defense fund to pay the legal expenses.
In 1969, finally, Caucasian men and women teamed up with African-Americans to seek changes. In Harlem, in a building that was once the Theresa Hotel, 150 people gathered (both whites and blacks). They were talking about “meaningful change for black people”, while seeking for more effective manpower programs, orderly transfers of some slum businesses and real estate from white owners to blacks and better trained policemen. Cyril Tyson, the leader of the black men’s group, anticipated that the meeting would be “a first step in the direction of institutional and organizational dialog and negotiation…” Tyson was also the commissioner of Manpower and Career Development, a unit of the city’s Human Resources Administration. Furthermore, the chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, Dore Schary thought that even though the two groups didn’t have the same points of view, there were some things they could work on. He also commented that it was necessary for blacks to “coalesce our interests, struggles, commitment and wills to make a better life in America.” Some workshops during the day focused on improving black involvement in existing and new businesses such as; manpower programs, police protection, health, sanitation and housing programs. A white woman during this meeting confessed that in order to learn about the background, culture and language differences of people, policemen must undergo a “re-education program, to learn to respect the rights of people”. During the closing of this meeting, everyone agreed to finding ways to initiate communications between the white and black communities, as well as between the media and the black community; to research the possibilities for increased housing, better sanitation, welfare programs, health and law-enforcement. Since President John F.
Kennedy passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in June of 1963 lots in the educational and0 professional aspects has changed. He also rambled off a list of statistics for African American children born that year, compared to Caucasian children. When it came to completing high school they would have one-half as much of a chance. They would also only have one-third as much chance of finishing college, one-third as much chance of obtaining a profession, twice as much chance of not having a job, one-seventh as much chance of earning more than $10,000 a year, seven years shorter of a life span and only earning half as much. On the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, fifty years later, the struggle to accomplish social, economic, or educational equality has been a lot less successful than the fight to end discrimination has been. Even though they still lagged in college graduation rates, blacks have made vast improvements in high school education. Poverty rates have declined and their incomes have escalated. However, constantly high unemployment rates, along with an enormous wealth gap remains. The number of black officials elected has risen quite a bit, so has the black voter turnout rate, at the 2012 presidential race. On the flip side, many blacks still live in segregated, often impoverished neighborhoods, while segregation in workplaces and schools has declined. Kennedy knew the challenge wasn't just passing laws, but changing hearts and minds. "Law
alone cannot make men see right," he said. "We are confronted primarily with a moral issue."