Us History Civil Rights

Ever since I studied the civil rights movement in 8th grade it has always been my favorite part of U.S. history. I do not know exactly how I came to grow so fond of it but I sometimes find myself reading books about the demonstrations that the blacks did during that time to gain their freedom in my spare time. Martin Luther King Jr. is a man that I have come to love learning about. He was just a single man but the change he was able to bring is unbelievable. It is hard to imagine that just back in the sixties blacks and whites in the south had such segregation. They did not go to the same schools or even drink out of the same drinking fountain. Blacks were degraded in so many ways and were murdered for no reason. It amazes me that blacks were forced to give up their seats on buses and were arrested if they did not. I think I have a soft spot for times when a race is discriminated because I am also very fascinated with the holocaust and also with the unity Gandhi brought to people. It also concerns me that although the civil right movement stopped most of the racial discrimination we still have it today. I recently watched a movie about a high school that still has separate proms for black and white people. In this movie a black student and a white student are caught kissing and the white student only gets her parents called, whereas the black student got suspended. It is these kinds of things that make me want the civil rights movement to be taught to all the people who still discriminate. I believe that in order for history to not repeat itself we have to learn from the past. That is why the civil rights is such an important period in U.S. history to me.