A cultural and social failure was the mortality rate of black babies, that being twice as high as the mortality rate of white babies. This fact could act as evidence to prove that health amongst black people was poorly in comparison to white people. The majority of black people living in the north of the USA lived in the city ghettos, where there was slum housing, high unemployment and poor schools. This was socially damaging to black people.
One politically damaging aspect to a failure of the civil rights movement was that white people began requesting that black people were punished harsher for their crimes, and in 1965, when Malcolm X was assassinated by a black man; damage was done to the black culture.
However, along with the numerous failures, there were also successes. There were also cultural, economical, political and social successes by the late 1960s gained through the civil rights movement.
Four significant anti discrimination laws were passed, beginning in 1964 when The Civil Rights Act was introduced. This forbade discrimination in public places such as restaurant, schools and hotels. It also outlawed discrimination in employment and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was also set up to follow up accusations made. Socially, the position of black people had improved through this law.
In 1965, the second of the four key anti discrimination laws passed in the 1960s was introduced. The Voting Rights Act stopped racial discrimination with respect to the right to vote. This law gave blacks more power politically and gave them a say in powerful decisions
By 1967, it had been ruled by the Supreme Court that state laws forbidding inter racial marriages were unconstitutional. This gave more freedom to black people and therefore acted as a success socially, economically and culturally. In 1968, a civil rights act (Fair Housing Act) made racial discrimination in housing illegal. Therefore, blacks were now, in economically better off.
Other successes gained through the civil rights movement included when Carl Stokes was elected to be the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio in 1967. Carl Stokes became the first black person to be elected mayor of a major city. Politically, this was a major breakthrough for black people. Blacks began to gain pride in themselves through all their successes. As blacks had to work together to achieve their rights, they became closer as a whole. Culturally, this was a success in itself. By the end of the 1960s segregation was eventually ending.
Overall, 1 have found there to be stronger successes than failures. 1 can therefore conclude that the civil rights movement was more successful than unsuccessful by the late 1960s. However, discrimination is still an issue that affects us today. An example of existing discrimination would be the fact that the Ku Klux Klan a.k.a KKK is still in practise. However, most people have learned to accept different cultures and, races. Therefore attitudes have changed considerably since the late 1960s.
