During the Women’s Rights Convention in the Seneca Falls, NY, women gathered to discuss resolutions demanding increased rights for women, including better educational and employment opportunities, and the right to vote. Stanton also composed the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, which was modeled after the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments contained several resolutions, including that men, and the government, should not withhold a woman's rights, take her property, or refuse to allow her to vote. The leaders of Women’s rights weren’t successful at first, however, by discovering the Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 that granted all men the right to vote (Not just property owners). It wasn’t until 1920, which hard work and dedication for Women’s rights leaders like Mott and Stanton paid off, when the Nineteenth Amendment was passed which provided women with the right to vote. After this, Women were finally liberated, and the right to vote was at last an opportunity. The determination and willpower of these Suffrage leaders produced much success that will last forever for all women in the United States.
During the mid 1900’s, another huge reform movement was carried out, known as the Civil Rights movement, in which certain African Americans fought hard to achieve the rights that other, white Americans, had occupied. During this time, African Americans were denied basic rights of citizenship based on the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution. It all began after the Civil War, when the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments allowed blacks to obtain rights, however, the rights were abruptly rescinded after the Reconstruction era ended in 1876. In the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were equal. This racial segregation and non-rights for blacks continued until the mid 20th century, when Civil Rights activists and leaders began to step up and fight for the struggle. In 1955, an African American lady named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man in a Montgomery, Alabama bus. This incident caught the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement, whose goal was to achieve Civil Rights for African Americans by civil disobedience and non-violence.
After hearing about the incident with Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. led the Montgomery Bus Boycott soon after, in which African Americans boycotted Montgomery city buses until they could sit anywhere they wanted, instead of being relegated to the back when a white boarded. This boycott sparked the modern Civil Rights Movement that allowed African-Americans to exercise their civil rights, in a non-violent and passive resistant manner. Even though the Brown Vs. Board case of 1954 banned racial segregation in public facilities, segregation was still occurring, however, but was starting to come to an end once the actions of Dr. King Jr. and fellow African Americans were taking place. The success of Dr. King Jr. was finally attained, as the government began to grant civil rights to African-Americans. The government proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 24th Amendment, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which made it illegal for racial segregation (1964 Act), banned the poll tax (24th Amend.), and banned literacy tests for voting (1965 Act). Racial discrimination and the non-rights for African Americans finally came to an end.
Without the occurrence of such reform movements like the Women’s Suffrage movement and the Civil Rights movement, rights for certain people would not have been attained. With individuals like Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton leading the way, the rights for all women were achieved, through dedication and pure determination. Also, with hard work and the will power of a certain few in Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the rights for African Americans have also been achieved. Without these particular role models stepping up and taking charge, these movements may not have taken place, which would have been detrimental to the United States society forever.
