In 1955, a black lady named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. For this she was arrested and fined. This angered the black community and, in response, Martin Luther King organised a boycott of the buses, sending the bus companies into financial ruin. In 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregation in transport unconstitutional, the boycott ended and the Civil Rights Movement was underway.
Encouraged by Martin Luther King, there were many forms of non-violent protest used throughout the southern states over the next few years. These included sit-ins, to force the desegregation of counters in shops, and freedom rides, to force desegregation of buses in Mississippi. Organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) were set up to fight for civil rights peacefully. All these increased support for civil rights as they were peaceful.
In 1962 in Birmingham, Alabama, authorities closed many public facilities to prevent integration. In protest MLK organised many marches around Birmingham. The authorities responded very brutally by using dogs and hoses on the protesters, many of whom were children. Racial abuse was also used but, fortunately, the media observed the whole thing and it was shown worldwide. This greatly increased support for blacks as the press had exposed the police. JFK finally passed a Civil Rights Bill to Congress.
King’s next move was a huge march in Washington called the March on Washington. It was aimed at getting the Civil Rights Bill passed. Here, King gave his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech which had a tremendous impact on public opinion. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and the Civil Rights Bill was passed in 1964.
This law meant that discrimination had to end in public accommodations, schools and employment. It also meant the federal government could withhold money and funds from companies that refused to obey it.
Winning the Nobel Peace Prize didn’t stop King fighting for equal rights throughout the South. In 1965 he organised a march in Selma, Alabama. This was because a very small percentage of blacks were registered to vote. The white authorities banned the march so King changed the route and made it shorter. Some protestors still took the original route and were brutally attacked. However, this won the blacks gained national sympathy and support. The Voting Rights Act was then passed in 1965.
Despite everything that King and the civil rights protests had achieved, many blacks believed King wasn’t doing enough and change wasn’t coming fast enough. This lead to many people turning to violent protest. Blacks burned white-owned property and fought the police. People like Martin Luther King were afraid that this violence would undo all the work they had done in changing national opinion of blacks.
This lead to the increasing popularity of Black Power. Black Power meant that blacks were superior to whites and should force them to give them equal rights instead of peacefully asking.
Groups such as the Black Panthers were formed which supported black power. Stokely Carmichael also took over SNCC and it adopted more radical policies.
The final thing that made blacks angry was the Vietnam War. This was partly because there was a disproportionate number of blacks drafted to fight in a war they didn’t believe in and partly because there was lots of protesting about the war and attention was being driven away from civil rights.
So to summarise: although the Civil Rights Movement achieved many things such as the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and worldwide support, people also thought it wasn’t doing enough and turned to violence because change was too slow. So the Civil Rights movement had achieved many good and bad things throughout the course of 16 years.
