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Yr12 Coursework Assignment

Unit 3

Civil Rights in the USA, 1945-1968

How far had the aims of Civil Rights been achieved by 1968?

There were numerous significant issues that contributed to the birth of the modern civil rights movement, beginning with slavery, the emancipation proclamation in 1863, the introduction of Jim Crow laws in the southern states, segregation in the 19th Century and also the segregation throughout the world wars; particularly the World War two; young black men were fighting for the United States, but even after serving their country, when they came back they were still second class citizens and looked down on, this encouraged the civil rights movement. After the Civil War, the United States offered a series of amendments to black people: the 13th prohibited slavery, the 14th granted citizenship to everyone born in the U.S.A and the 15th guaranteed citizens the right to vote regardless of their race, but each state found a way to get around giving people their rights by organising tests, telling blacks they must earn their rights as privileges. The aims of the Civil Rights Movement were to abolish public and private acts of racial discrimination against black people between 1954 and 1968; they wanted economic and political power, such as the vote, helping those in poverty; not just black people, but all those living below the poverty line, to end the war in Vietnam, desegregation on transport, the educational system, and public facilities, particularly in the southern states of the United States.

Desegregation was arguably the most successful sector of the campaign to improve civil rights as to a large extent things changed greatly. It focused on desegregation on transport, in the educational system and public facilities. A significant step to desegregation on transport occurred when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white passenger thus causing Martin Luther King to form the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Pressure increased across the country and in the beginning of June, 1956, the federal district court ruled that Alabama’s racial segregation laws for buses were unconstitutional (Browder vs. Gayle), but, an appeal reserved segregation and the boycott continued until the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling. This victory led to a city decree that allowed black passengers to sit where they. The boycott lasted for a little over a year and really showed what a community could do if there was determination.

In the early 1960s a number of student protests began. A new generation of African American students were no longer prepared to accepted segregation. They formed new organisations and adopted a range of Non-violent, direct action approaches to challenge the segregation in the South. In 1961, ‘Freedom Rides’ began as part of the civil rights act. Both black and white students rode in interstate buses into the most segregated and racist part of America, the deep south. Their aims were to test the 1960 US Supreme Court decision, Boyton v. Virginia; the law banned racial segregation on interstate transport, bus stations and facilities. These rides organised by CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, began in May, 1961. The freedom riders gained respect and credibility among blacks in the south by their determination and heroism in the face of threat and danger. This credibility helped many of the subsequent Civil Rights campaigns, including campaigns for freedom in schools, voter registration, and electoral campaigns. Some students were arrested in Albany and the Albany Campaign arose after this. King and Ralph Abernathy became involved in the movement and organised protests and marches against segregation. It had been anticipated that the campaign would encourage a violent police reaction, but, Laurie Pritchett, the police chief prevented such outbursts. It was clear that there was a need for co-operation between groups like the SNCC and the NAACP.

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Continuing the struggle for integration, Students in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia began to ‘sit-in’ at lunch counters in stores to protest against those establishments refusal to desegregate. Keeping with King’s non-violent protest strategy, protesters dressed up, sat quietly and to occupy every other stool so potential white sympathizers could join them. Unfortunately many of the sit-in’s ended with the authorities brutally removing then from the store, however it brought national attention to the movement. By the end of the 1960s the sit-in were at every southern and border state. Protesters focused on other public facilities other than the ...

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