All these economic issues and general disrespect from whites meant that the blacks wanted to fight to get their rights. The first time that the blacks fought for their rights, the people involved were not your average hero, more your average Joe. A girl called Linda Brown went to a all black school in Topeka, her school was badly funded and falling apart at the seems, her classes had little equipment or room, but huge classes. Where as the school just up the road for whites only was far better off, so much so Linda Browns dad, Oliver Brown, took the Topeka board of education to court, but no surprises when he came back after losing his case. However a fresh appeal was granted with the help of the NAACP, National Association for the advancement of coloured people. This group helped not only launch an appeal, Oliver Brown went all the way to the supreme court of the united states, where after all the legal fights and even racist views from the court, the chief justice earl Warren declared that the court was “colour blind” and demanded that all schools be de-segregated. This was a massive boost to all blacks and was the first rung in the ladder to equal rights, and now the foundations were set, the black community wanted to build on their first success.
So to summarise in a few words, the blacks were very hard done by during the early 1950’s especially compared to with the whites. There was little wonder the black community were get so enraged by their treatment, and it was obvious that in the next few years things would escalate until the blacks got what they so badly craved for, equal rights. But with the first success from Linda Brown in the bag people new it would not be long before blacks carried on this trend and would win more and more cases, a worry for the whites.
Why did the Civil Rights movements develop in the 1950’s?
From above it is clear that in a few years unless there was significant change the black community would rise up against the whites and demand what we all think of a given in modern terms, equality. But there were key roles to be played in the coming years in the building of rights for blacks, some of which came from un-likely areas, but all vital in not just earning their rights but creating respect from every person in America, which some would say has still not been fully achieved.
The bus boycott took place as a way to try and stir the pot in civil rights for America. Rosa Parks, the secretary of the NAACP was desperately campaigning for civil rights, and one night after her work she refused to comply with local regulations that a black must give up there seat to a white if the bus was full. The bus was forced to stop and Rosa Parks was arrested and sent to the local jail, this caused many to look up and think about black rights. One of Rosa’s friends called a Baptist minister for guidance and help, and this Baptist minister played perhaps the key role in getting blacks civil rights. Martin Luther king believed in peaceful protests, learning much of his ideas from Muhammad Ghandi. He also believed in the use of media, making sure that either all his speeches were being filmed, or recorded or watched by journalists, but usually all three.
He was behind arranging the buss boycott of 1955, he thought without blacks riding buses, buses would be going almost without any riders. He believed this would force the bus company to discredit the regulations and treat blacks equally. Journalists around the world heard about the boycott and flocked to Alabama to get the snatch, and this played straight into Martin Luther Kings plans, to use the media to his advantage. After nearly a year after people began the buss boycott the bus company was hanging on the edge of bankruptcy and finally realized that this needed to end. Because the desperate situation because the boycott at the bus company, the supreme court of America was forced to ban the bus segregation, and the civil rights movement had gathered its second move of momentum.
However, although throughout the years in the 1950’s their were many successes, a major setback came about in a little town called Little Rock in Arkansas. The Government had made it law to desegregate schools, and when the first black students were going to be let in to the gates on 3rd September 1957, the day before the governor of the town decided he would announce to the council there was no way law an order could be kept if the blacks entered a white school and that he would not allow it, so on the 3rd of September when 9 children walked there way to school, when they arrived they were met by hundreds of hostile whites in a huge mob, and also the Arkansas paratroopers all making sure they could not get in. Elizabeth Ekcford who was one of the nine children said “I turned around. The crowd came towards me yelling “lynch her! Lynch her!”
So although there were set backs during the 1950’s, there were many successes after key roles such as Martin Luther king had come into play, helping to build the momentum of the civil rights movement and stepping it up to the next level, a level they wanted to build upon in the next few years of the 1960’s.
How successful had the civil rights movement been by the late 1960’s?
By the end of the 1960’s the black American nation was at its highest point in history, for many of them they thought they’d achieved all they could achieve. They had got their voting rights, they had the civil rights bill, and they had a thriving new black culture around America with stars such as the Harlem Globe Trotters and the Supremes and a new music culture to take the nation by storm, Mo-town. Around America blacks were recognised as equal, but perhaps more importantly around the world they were treated as equal. Because of protests from MLK who adapted his ideas to bring in the media, the world had stood up and watched all that happened in America and took the civil rights movement to heart. But it took a long hard few years after the 1960’s began with more key roles taken upon, the key perhaps Malcolm “X” who perhaps gave the edge to the protests that was needed to gain what the blacks had craved for for many years, equality.
They key role of the 60’s for civil rights movement turned out to be an extremist group by the name of “the black power movement” who’s ideas and methods of protests were a stark contrast to that of Martin Luther King. The leader of the black power movement was a man called Malcolm X, changing his last name to an X to rid himself of the old slave names given when slavery was at its peak in America. This was his first act of rebellion against the whites, the first of many. Malcolm X felt that to get rights from the whites they needed to fight fire with fire which meant violence. “I don’t go along with any kind of non-violence unless everybody’s going to be non-violent….. but as long as you’ve got someone not being non-violent, I don’t want anybody coming up to me talking any non-violent talk.” This clear opinion of fighting violence with violence came from a powerful speech in the early 60’s, Malcolm X also very powerful with words, much like MLK. Malcolm X tried to use the media and his speeches to get his message across, and it seemed to work. The black power movement came very appealing to the black culture and many thought that it would intimidate the whites and help their cause, but it also bought a dark shadow over the blacks cause, many people now disagreeing with the cause because it advocated violence. MLK’s ideas of protest for many went along the way side, and all the support that had been gained for the cause because it was peaceful had gone out the window. And this for some was a step in the wrong direction. Another key role played in the civil rights movement was Stokely Carmichael who was young militant black leader who supported Malcolm X’s cause. Over the coming years riots and fights broke out on marches and walks across America. There were mixed views from the black community about which protest was right, the peaceful protest by MLK or the black power movement advocated by Malcolm X.
These mixed views rose and became more of an issue than people thought they would be. Soon picket lines had been set not just between the whites and blacks, but the black power movement and peaceful protest. All this tension eventually cultivated when Martin Luther King was shot on his balcony by a black power movement representative. As news caught on about his death America went in to a state of civil war, riots broke out in every town and the police struggled to stop it. These riots continued for days, but eventually died down. These riots were exactly what MLK would not have wanted to happen, going against everything he had believed in, going against all he had achieved for the black civil rights movement.
However in his absence the war for civil rights continued, still with the peacefull and more violent protest methods. By the late 60’s the supreme court had had enough, and wanted all the problems to end, so advocated “the civil rights bill” which decreed everyone was equal, finally the black Americans had achieved there goal, racial equality.
Although racist views and deep rooted hatred in some cases is still apparent even today, over 30 years later, the 1960’s was a huge step to racial equality, although bridges did need to be mended around the world after opinions of the cause fell when violence was used what was achieved in the 1960’s in America gave all Black Americans hope for the future, a future that looked so bleak before the movement began.
