Many aspects of society needed to be changed, new and more effective laws needed to be made and the blacks starting active protesting was essential. When these things started to improve and change so did the Civil Rights Movement lead by Martin Luther King. More media interest in the protests and events helped for the whole country to see what the situation was like which put more pressure on the government to make a fair and equal decision. For example; when Oliver Brown challenged the right for his daughter to attend an all white’s school, he took a brave step in helping change the black Americans Civil Rights. He got turned away straight away by the board of education, but then, with the help and funding from the NAACP he took the case to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954, Brown won the case, and segregation in education became illegal all over America; which was extremely unexpected and brought a lot of attention to the case; so people all over the country could see what was happening on televisions, in newspapers and through word of mouth. The victory helped the black Americans realise many things including that the federal was fair, that they weren’t alone in wanting fair and equal opportunities and how they could help to change their way of life.
By integrating and getting rid of segregation in education, white people’s attitudes towards the blacks started to change and they began more relaxed about the black community. Whites attitudes also started to change towards the blacks during World War 2; blacks became equal on the battle field which made it awkward back in America as they were shown to be just as brave and worthy of fighting for their country. For instance, by the end of the war 600 blacks had been trained as pilots whereas before there were none. Campaigns such as the ‘Double V’ campaign were set up for victory abroad and at home, this helped the blacks fight for their rights as they knew that they had a lot of support.
The media also helped the Civil Rights movement develop through music as the talented musicians such as Paul Robeson started to emerge the white community became aware of the talent that was going to waste. Many of the popular trends and fashions came from the black community’s background. As these became popular white people started to ponder over what they felt about the blacks. Other countries, such as England, started letting the blacks live their own lives and looked down on the segregation and constitution laws in America. This was shown to the black Americans through the media and so seeing how they could overcome the white Americans attitudes, they got a boost of hope and the will to carry on protesting and fighting for their rights.
The black Americans started to grow in confidence in the 1950s and so protesting both peaceful and violent became more common; and it could be argued, more effectively. The better education lead to more intelligent speakers and so better protests; this meant that the media would report more of the protests on the radio, television and in newspapers.
Rosa Parks is a prime example of how some of the blacks started to behave; she stood up for what she believed in and did not stand up when she was told to move on a bus. She got arrested for this, and once again the new technologies and communications through the media made it possible for the bus boycotts to be set up; none of the black community would use the buses as a peaceful protest until the buses became de-segregated. The bus boycotts got a lot of publicity and the idea spread quickly and widespread through televisions and newspapers giving the government a scare and forcing them to have to do something about it as they were loosing money and followers. Another case that showed helped develop the Civil Right Movement was the Emmett Till murder in 1955, which also gained a lot of media attention and showed the people in the North how appallingly the blacks were being treated in the Southern states. This particular case made the black community very cross as the murderers were passed as innocent. This started more protesting and the blacks started to get heard for the first time in their lives.
I think that many factors all joined together to develop the Civil Rights Movement, by abolishing the Jim Crow Laws and ending segregation in education the blacks saw that they could try to end segregation altogether. This helped white people’s attitudes to change and so the laws then made more of a difference in the Southern States. The active protesting, which was supported greatly by the NAACP (National Association for the advancement of Coloured People), and lead by key individuals such as Martin Luther King, who lead many peaceful protests and convinced white and black people that both races were in fact equal, to try and increase the blacks Civil Rights by making a stand. Malcolm X, who also wanted equal opportunities for the blacks, believed in using force and violence, both individuals helped to change many people’s attitudes and help the Civil Rights Movement grow stronger after and during World War 2. I think that the most important factor that helped develop the Civil Rights Movement was the protesting and changing white peoples attitudes which were helped mainly by the increase of media attention. The more effective laws could not change the attitudes of people and if no one was to pay attention to them they were no good at all. All the factors helped develop the civil Rights Movement but did not get the blacks all of the rights they deserved still, over a century after the slaves were ‘freed’.