Write An Essay On The Civil Rights Movement

Kaimon Lee
Ms. Manion
English III
November 7, 2016 Civil Rights Movement
It's saddening to say that inequality exists in America, and even worse to say that it currently affects African Americans the most. From century to century, this major issue has slightly gotten better over time due to the greatest known African Americans to exist. Before the civil rights movement even occurred, African Americans had it bad enough already and have came a long way from that horrid, not so distant past. Equality means everyone is treated fairly, but in America equality means superiority over others. It's unfair to be treated differently and wrongly based on your race, religion, etc., and should one day come to a complete end. The Star Spangled Banner
makes it clear that we're the land of the free, but America is not as clear as it is made out to be.
On June 7, 1892, a man named Homer Plessy was sent straight to jail because he sat in a "White Only" train section aboard the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy's skin complexion allowed him to be considered a caucasian citizen, but because of the Louisiana Law, he was classified as African American and was forced to be aboard the "Colored Only" section of the train. He had received the term 'Creole', New Orleans slang, because he was an African American because of his link of French, Spanish, and Caribbean ancestry who settled and lived in what is now known in Louisiana before it formed and became apart of the United States. In 1892, the Separate Car Act was established. This caused caucasians and African Americans to ride in a train in different sections. An African American civil rights organization got together and decided to challenge and fight against the Separate Car Act in court. Plessy's lawyer argued that the Separate Car Act went against the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments and the outcome of this case was that being 'separate' is legal as long as both sides, 'Black and White only', are treated 'equal'.
On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signs 'Executive Order 9881', in which the order said that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. To clarify, this meant equal rights and equal treatment to everyone fairly. Everything seemed to be going good until May 17, 1954, which is the famously known date to be 'Brown vs. Board of Education' in Topeka, Kansas. This court case, determined by the Supreme Court, became unconstitutional because segregation in public schools was unauthorized by the constitution. Members of the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, were forced to take their children to all-black schools in the city because they were denied to be enrolled within schools in their zoning neighborhoods and did not get the same education worth as an all-white school. This caused 'out-of-the-way' traveling and struggles to get their children to school and because of that, many parents filed suits against the Topeka Board of Education. Since Oliver Brown, a minister, was the first person to be on the list, the court case was named after him. In a later case in 1955, called Brown II, the court decided to rule that the 17 states that required segregation and the four states that allowed segregation to occur, were obligated to integrate their school systems. Today, schools are much more integrated and everyone is receiving the same fair and equal education they rightfully deserve.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks rode the Cleveland Avenue bus to head home after a long day at work. She had sat down on a seat that was strictly for "Black Only" passengers. took a seat in the first of several rows designated for "colored" passengers. The bus's rules and regulations allowed drivers to authorize assigned seats, but it did not specifically mention to give them the rights and authority to force a passenger to give up a seat to anyone, no matter the color of their skin. Except drivers who drove the Montgomery buses, because there was a well known regulation to make African American passengers give up their seats to caucasian passengers if necessary, or when the bus was full. If the African American passenger was bold enough and protested the situation, the bus driver had the power and authority to refuse the African American any services and could have the right to call the police and have them escorted off of the bus and possibly arrested. The route the Montgomery bus was traveling picked up a handful of caucasian citizens along the way. Further down the route, the bus driver noticed it started to get packed and too many caucasian passengers were standing. He slowed the bus down and came to a complete stop and made the four African American passengers, including Rosa Parks, to give up their seats to the remaining caucasian passengers. Three out of the four decided to give up their seats, but Rosa denied the request to stand and remained seated. The driver asked Rosa why did she not follow directions and stand up when instructed to, but she replied saying she refused to give up the seat and continued to sit in the seat. The driver had called the police to have her escorted off the bus and arrested. Rosa later confirmed that her denying to give up the seat was not because she was exhausted from work, but that she was tired of giving in to the corrupt society. The police had arrested her at the scene and charged her with the violation of Chapter 6, Section 11, of the Montgomery City Code. She was taken to police headquarters to eventually be let out from bail later that evening. Today, sitting anywhere preferred on the bus is not a problem because it is first come first serve for seats and if you have to stand, no one is required to give up their seat for anyone.
On September 9, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Act had been noted to be the first occasion since Reconstruction that the federal government made a significant legislative action to give protection to civil rights. Although the strong persuasive southern congressman broke down the bill's main point, it still included a number of important preparations for voting rights to be protected. It allowed the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department to be established, and gave federal officials the authority to defend individuals that united to deny or shorten another citizen's right of voting. However, it also formed a 'U.S. Civil Rights Commission', in which they had the obligation to investigate accusations for voter violations. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 began an increasing federal commitment to the cause of fair and equal civil rights.
On August 28, 1963, approximately 200,000 thousand Americans from across the United States gathered together on the nation's Capitol to witness a historic moment in the Civil Rights Movement.
The March on Washington began in 1962 when Asa Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, came up with the idea of putting together a massive gathering on Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the economic and social difficulty of the county's African American population. Randolph came in contact with the nation's leading civil rights organizations and leaders to contribute their support to the march and persuaded President John F. Kennedy to endorse the march. As plans that were made stabling and increasingly progressed, Randolph gave a civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin, the heavy task of coordinating and directing the planning and arrangements for the march. Rustin and his crew of voluntary workers worked ‘around the clock’, meaning no wasted time, to make necessary arrangements to spread out the word of the upcoming march throughout the country, and thousands of worried and uneasy supporters prepared to make their journey to the nation's Capitol. On August 28, 1963, an estimate amount of 250,000 people, including almost about 450 members of Congress, gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to listen to the scheduled performances and speeches. Randolph along with Roy Wilkins, John Lewis and others delivered motivating and touching speeches before Martin Luther
King took his place at the podium and historically gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. It took a whole year before King's dream was realized with the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act.
In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding leadership of the Civil Rights movement and solid commitment to achieving racial justice through nonviolent action. King accepted the award on December 10, 1964 because of his prestige leadership and speech for the Civil Rights movement and donated the prize money to the movement's continued development. At the age of thirty-five, King became the youngest man, and only the second African American, to receive the prestigious award.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while standing outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. As soon as King's death was announced and spread out through the nation, violent riots occurred in African American neighborhoods approximately over one hundred cities across the United States. On April 8, 1968, Coretta Scott King and their four children led a crowd of at least forty thousand individuals in a quiet, silent march through the streets of Memphis to honor the death of Martin Luther King Jr. The next day, a funeral for King was held in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. It was a nationwide broadcasted televised live funeral service at Ebenezer Baptist Church. King's body was carried three and a half miles through the city's streets, with over one hundred thousand depressed followers close behind, to Morehouse College where a second funeral service was held. King's assassin, James Earl Ray, was arrested by officers in London, England after two months of hunting this man down globally. After being released, James travelled to Tennessee and pleaded guilty to murdering Martin Luther King, Jr. and was given a ninety-nine year jail sentence.
After Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, the Poor People's Campaign began to fall apart.
King delivered the organization's supplies to the Poor People's Campaign in 1967, in response to the numerous breakouts of riots that had recently occurred in New York, New Jersey, Chicago and Los Angeles. The goal of the campaign was to highlight the difficulty of the poor and to push the country's lawmakers to pass federal regulations to improve the economic and social conditions for the poor. Members of the SCLC, Southern Christian Leadership Conference were in the middle of planning a massive protest of the poor in Washington, D.C. In the result of King's death, Ralph Abernathy took over leadership of the SCLC and vowed to continue work on the Poor People's Campaign in memory of his fallen ally. In May of 1968, protestors traveled the nation's Capitol, by foot, car, bus, a horse with a carriage, and mules. The protestors lived in Resurrection City, a camp set up on the National Mall, with dining and daycare locations, a dispensary, and a City Hall. Thousands of civilians began to fill up Resurrection City and performed daily presentations at the offices of government officials and their agencies. Despite the efforts of the organizers and participating civilians, the Poor People's Campaign and their march on Washington failed to gather the specific and important response needed from the country's legislators. On June 19, 19, at the Lincoln Memorial, Resurrection City closed and the Poor
People's Campaign came to an end.
From 'Brown vs. Board of Education' to Martin Luther King Jr's 'I have a dream speech to now, African Americans have always been fighting for their civil rights, equality, and freedom within our country. If it wasn't for those historic moments, African Americans would not have the opportunities, rights, freedom, and equality given this current era. The Civil Rights Movement was a very significant and historic series of events that allowed African Americans to be treated like decent human beings and broke African Americans away from the vicious cycle of inequality and ignorance. African Americans have came a long way, from slavery to now and it's about time we finally reach complete freedom and complete equal rights.