Show that the Civil Rights movement became more successful in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Civil Rights 1

In this essay I will be looking at sources 1-5 and use them to show that the Civil Rights movement became more successful in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Source 1 is utile in helping us to understand why the civil rights movement was becoming more successful. Source 1. A time line from 1954-1968 reveals a turning in history. The bus boycott was significant because it was the first time that the Blacks had taken a stand together. What they did was to stop using the buses. Martin Luther King became the president of the NAACP, who organised the bus boycott. This was important because it showed them that they could make a difference by using none violent ways. Another important date in the timeline was 1957 when president Eisenhower sent 10,000 National Guardsman and 1000 paratroopers to make sure that black pupils could attend a school. This was important because it showed that the President was willing to go against popular opinion and really make a stand for the black community. It was also good because the media made a big deal about it, so it was going to be seen by people all around the world and by other Americans.

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Source 2 is an advert for the NAACP. It is utile as it gives us details about the group and its aims. The advert is telling us that the NAACP stands up for black people. It is quite reliable as we can cross reference it with source 1 to see educational legislation and voting gains which Kennedy (source 4) saw as important to his Presidential campaign. This group contributed greatly to the movement becoming more successful because if showed the Blacks what they could achieve if they could stick together. Source 3 a book, Oxford History USA 1917-19800 by Nigel Smith, shows us that change was happening but it was not happening quickly enough. The source is about what change was happening. It shows us that when things started to change, the Klu Klux Klan tried to resist the changes by intimidation. It shows the President (Eisenhower) became concerned by the pace of change but significantly it shows that Whites still had a biased judgement in Southern Courts. It is utile to show us that change was happening in the 1950’s and sixties but that it was not always consistent

Source 4 is an extract from the book by A.Schlesinger called 1000 days. In it, he talks about how Martin Lurther King was the key to real progress. This is illustrated when Rosa Parks refused to obey the segregation laws on the buses. This started off the Bus Boycott which was organised by King and inspired other people to support it and protest for better rights for Black people.

Source S an extract from “The eyes on the prize,” by Vincent Hardling. It tells us that Americans had to treat black people more equally. As the cold war was looming and Americans claimed to be the leaders of the “free world” they could not be seen to be racist so they had to improve their race relations. This greatly helped the Civil Rights movement as the American leaders were in the spot light and with all the added media attention they had to be seen as whiter that white.

Show that the Civil Rights movement became more successful in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

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