How successful had the civil rights movement been by the late 1960's?
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Introduction
Question 3 Courswork How successful had the civil rights movement been by the late 1960's? In the 1960's the civil rights movement was becoming successful, however there were some failures; although segregation did end eventually in places such as the south. Public facilities including lunch counters, libraries and buses remained segregated for some time, regardless of court decisions and the policy of the federal government to end segregation. Most laws were not upheld. Housing, unemployment and poor health still existed amongst some blacks. The civil rights movement was becoming successful in the fact that blacks began to gain pride in themselves as the slogan 'black power' became more popular. Many acts and commissions were set up in order to support the blacks. The E.E.O.C was set up, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Blacks were able to hold jobs with responsibilities. Most importantly segregation did end eventually. In the late 1960's the blacks had come a long way from the 1920's, where they had faced racial discrimination in almost every aspect of their life's. They had achieved a lot. How ever there were still some failures. The successes and failures fell into four main categories: social, economical, political and cultural. ...read more.
Middle
Economically the successes were: the civil rights act passed in 1964 lead to the E.E.O.C, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission being set up. The E.E.O.C gave blacks the chance to hold jobs with responsibilities, unlike the menial jobs with low pay they were used to. The E.E.O.C also investigated complaints made by blacks. As education was made better for black people, they were able to understand and learn skills vital for self-improvement; this obviously boosted them with confidence as individuals. Other economical successes were that blacks in the late 1960's were rightfully entitled to vote. In 1967 the first black was elected for mayor of the city of Ohio. The fair housing act gave blacks the right to live in suitable houses. This obviously provided blacks with better living conditions, so it improved health and decreased amount of illnesses. There were still some failures, poor housing faintly existed amongst some black people in some areas. The fact that poor housing remained in some areas was agreed with in this survey done by white people in 1969 where only 35% of them believed housing was better. Another economical failure was that laws were not upheld, but this was always going to be an issue with certain people in certain areas. ...read more.
Conclusion
Riots in the late 1960's disgusted many whites, how ever it was a way of the blacks portraying they were no longer going to be pushed around by white people, they showed disrespect to white people by calling them names such as whitey and replacing there slave names (second name) with X. this was an idea thought of by Malcolm X and his organisation. 'Im not going to beg the white man for anything I deserve - im going to take it- we need power we want black power!' Above is a line spoken by a young militant black leader in a speech in 1967. Many other blacks began to share the same attitude as this young militant leader. There were not many cultural failures faced by blacks in the late 1960's. How ever the fact that whites seemed to respond to black peoples confidence boost 'black power' by blaming them for their own situation might seem a bit unfair and to a certain extent a failure. In 1969 73% of white people agreed that blacks could have done something about their slum conditions. To conclude in the long term, the civil rights movement bought success for black people. How ever racial conflict still remains a issue the improvements in the 1960's did have an impact. ...read more.
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