The two main catalysts to the movement were Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, but due to the fact that they used diverse methods to get their rights, there was a division in the Civil Rights movement. Black power emerged in the 60’s because some people disagreed with Kings non violent approach to racism. There was an increasing amount of frustration with eventually lead to riots among the black community- much to the white peoples enjoyment. Malcolm X strongly criticized Martin Luther King’s methods. Instead, he advocated the use of weapons for self defence because he felt that non violence encouraged white racism. Black power portrayed the CRM as a consequential mistake, these people were still frustrated with their ghetto lives and felt that violence was necessary. Due to this, the years 1965-1967 saw American cities suffering with a wave of race riots.
After the 1965 Voting Rights Act which was meant to stop racial discrimination with respect to the right to vote, but failed, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act which outlawed most aspects of racial discrimination, a commission was set up to investigate complaints but was not so successful. Both of these acts had immense flaws in the way that the Government could discriminate over race and gender which therefore added to the belligerent attitudes of most black Americans. These acts were set up after President Kennedy was assassinated, many of them being part of his new frontier programme. Although even when he was alive, Civil Rights were not his main priority. Kennedy required the support of Southern democrats and therefore didn’t want to upset them. The whole process of the Civil Rights Movement had seen Americas well loved President and also two influential preachers brutally murdered. Surely this could not mean that the movement was a success?
Alternatively, you could argue that many momentous events occurred in relation to the Civil Rights Movement. Presidents were working hard to overcome the problem, masses of TV coverage which highlighted the problem but probably the most significant of all was the efforts of Martin Luther King. This man devoted the best part of his life to gain Civil Rights for black Americans and succeeded when the act was past along with the Voting Rights act. Racist such as the Ku Klux Klan decreased in popularity along with the Jim Crow laws being outlawed by the end of the 60’s. What came to follow that was desegregation in public places. This meant that black Americans were able to go wherever the opposite race went. The Southern states had never been so integrated and the black race had never felt a part of society until then. Education and transport were the other two key factors that had been incorporated. Without the courage of Rosa Parks who bravely began the bus boycotts, perhaps segregation in transport would not have occurred.
The NAACP had legal victories such as the Brown VS Board case, Topeka and Little Rock. These were great successes, but not as immense as the Voting Rights Act of ’65 and the Civil Rights Act of ’64. Black Americans felt accepted into the Southern states after those two acts were past because firstly they received equal employment rights, and secondly it was no longer an issue if they were illiterate, voting was allowed. In 1960 a insignificant 15% of Alabama was registered to vote, but after the Voting Rights act passed in ’65, 1 year on in Alabama saw a marginal 49% of the community voting- a statistic which lead everyone to believe that the Civil Rights Movement had been a success by the late 1960’s.
Throughout the years, many people believed that television was an un-necessary royalty that gave nothing back to society. Well these TV haters are wrong! If it wasn’t for television emphasising the cruelty and unfairness to the black community in South America , then the profile of the CRM wouldn’t have been noticed by people all around the world, including North America. Eugene Conner’s actions in Birmingham can only be described as in-humane, he set dogs and fired water hoses at African Americans because of his racial views, due to television publicising this, it drew attention to the racism problem in the USA therefore developing the CRM.
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were popular amongst black America. They raised public interest in the movement in the USA and on a global scale too. This was due to their consistent efforts to get equal black Civil Rights. The two powerful leaders gained followers due to their witty and well organised ideas which were either violent or non violent. Most young black Americans felt that Malcolm X was the man to succeed but others liked the ideas of Martin Luther King who had already been an icon before X was exposed. It is right to believe that without the work of those two American saviours, the movement would no way of succeeded in the way it did by the late 1960’s.
In conclusion every event, riot, speech and legal case that happened had a consequence. Three assassinations occurred due to strong beliefs of Civil Rights. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and President Kennedy had high hopes that they could not witness because their lives were taken away almost instantly. America had been through trauma but everything that happened which was brought to the publics attention was dealt with. It has been proven that all had been done to further the Civil Rights Movement; it achieved masses of success, all of which came with consequences that has resulted in the world being what it is today.