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Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement

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Introduction to the Civil Rights Movement

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The Civil Rights Movement was a well known movement that began in 1954 and ended in 1958. The Civil Rights Movement was preceded by a decades-long campaign by African Americans and their like-minded allies to end legalised racial discrimination, disenfranchisement and racial segregation throughout the United States. I chose to talk about three significant people that made a change in the time of theCivil Rights Movement; Rosa parks, Martin Luther king and Malcom X. All the people above significantly impacted the Civil Rights Movement and led to large changes, individually and for the community.

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Rosa Park’s extreme bravery to stick up for her rights resulted in change for African Americans. Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on public bus precipitated in the 1955-56 bus Boycott in Alabama became the spark that began the Civil Rights Movement throughout the United States. Rosa was called the mother of the Civil Rights Movement as she kick-started the whole movement. Rosa Parks invigorated the struggle for racial equality when she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Due to this, by not giving up her seat and standing her ground, she was soon arrested on December 1st in 1955. Her arrest soon began the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 black citizens. Parks became an instant icon, however her resistance was a natural extension of a lifelong commitment to activism. Over the years, she had repeatedly disobeyed the segregation regulations and one time even resulted in her being pulled off a bus for her defiance. Back in the time of the Civil Rights Movement there was much racial bias around, and a seperate place for coloured people and white people to sit on the bus (see image above). At the time the incident occurred, there were 26 African Americans and ten white people that were seated on the bus at the time. When the driver of the bus asked Mrs. Parks and three other African Americans to give up their seats, a number of white people were seconds away from boarding the bus. There were already a number of white people standing on the bus as well as a number of African Americans. Once the situation had been taken to court, the driver later explained that he was "equalising the seating facilities". (Primary Sources - Rosa Parks & the Montgomery Bus Boycotts) This did not stop Rosa at the time. Later on, after the situation was taken to court, they changed the charge to read a violation of state law which gave bus drivers the power to assign and erasing seating which didn't change much for African Americans as the drivers where white. Rosa not only made a change for herself but for all the other African Americans that were being mistreated.

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Malcom X challenged racism in America as his ideas inspired the black Power movement. Malcom X was an African American leader in the Civil Rights Movement, minister and supporter of black nationalism. He urged his fellow black Americans to protect themselves against white aggression "by any means necessary". (Malcom X, A&E television networks). Malcom excelled in school however, after one of his eighth-grade teachers told him that he should be a carpenter instead of a lawyer, he lost interest in school and soon ended his formal education. Malcom was looked up upon by many African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement period as he orchid on the streets of Harlem and spoke at major universities such as Harvard and the University of Oxford. He was very keen and passionate when it came to equal rights and respecting each individual. In 1963, there were deep tensions between Malcom and Elijah Muhammad over the political direction of the nation. Both Malcom and Elijah had different views and opinions when it came to what is right for the nation. Malcom urged that the nation become more active in the widespread civil rights protests instead of just being a critic on the sidelines, but Muhammad didn't agree. Malcom brought bad publicity to his name when he said John F Kennedys assignation was an example of "chickens coming home to roast" which was a violent comment that lead the society suffering the consequences of violence. Due to Malcom's words, Muhammad issued a 90 day period of silence to Malcom and the break between the two leaders eventually became permanent. Malcom left the nation in March 1964 and in the next month founded Muslim Mosque inc. Malcom changed the Civil Rights mMovement as he was a "perfect hero" who preached non-violence and love which then inspired the black power movement.

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Martins’ movement to end segregation and counter prejudice in the United States had a profound effect on African Americans. Martin Luther King JR, was a baptist and social rights activist in the United States in the 1950's and 60's. Martin was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement and he was known for his organisation of several peaceful protests as the head of the southern Christian leadership conference including the famous march on Washington in 1963. In 1954, when King was only 15 years old, King entered Morehouse College in Atlanta under a special wartime program intended to boost their enrolment system by admitting promising high school students like King. When King started at the school, he was shocked by how peacefully the races mixed in the North, remaining surprised that "negroes and whites go [to] the same church" just showing how different African Americans were treated compared to white people. King also said in a letter that he sent to his parents that he "never [thought] that a person of my race could eat anywhere," (Martin Luther King Jr) yet again just showing you how unfair and how poorly African Americans were treated. King contained to further his studies and spent the next three years at Crozier Theological Seminary which was located in Chester, which is where he became acquainted with Mohandas Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence, as well as with the thought of contemporary Protestant theologians. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity Degree in 1951. Renowned for his oratorical skills, King was also elected president of Crowzer's student body, which was composed almost exclusively of white students which shows that just by that small step, King was having an impact on the society. However, the shock of King becoming a student body did not stop there. As a professor at Crozer wrote in a letter of recommendation for king, "the fact that with out student body largely southern in Constitution a coloured man should be elected to and be popular [in] such a position is in itself no mean recommendation,"(Martin Luther King Jr) once again showing how amazed other people were that a coloured person like King had the same opportunities as white individuals. King was also involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott which is what Rosa Parks was known for. Activist formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to boycott the transit system and chose King as the leader demonstrating he has the right characteristics and traits to be a leader when it comes to such a worthy movement for coloured individuals.

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Rosa Parks Image - https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsocialism.com%2Ffs-article%2Ffs-book-review-montgomery-bus-boycott-women-started%2F&psig=AOvVaw0Ke6MNjDRwAUQgrOgOG6KS&ust=1630719646490000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCLjnxJzW4fICFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

https://www.thompsonschools.org/cms/lib/CO01900772/Centricity/Domain/3627/Montgomery%20Bus%20Boycott%20Primary%20Sources.pdf

History.com Editors. “Malcolm X.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 29 Oct. 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/malcolm-x.

“Martin Luther King, Jr.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr.

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Many Historians had great opinions when it came to the civil rights movement and what it involved. Harvard Sitkoff who is Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire argues, that " the seeds that would later bear fruit" were planted; by 1940 blacks believed "that a new page in American history had been turned". inferring that the Civil rights movement had a great impact and was a turning point for change. However, According to Robert Norrell, the late 1930s and 1940s revealed "not just a few tantalizing moments of protest, but a widespread, if not yet mature, struggle to overthrow segregation and institutionalized racism." Once again agreeing that the civil rights movement intended to put an end to segregation and help better the life of African Americans.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/D480468E9D7ABEC7F043C536A25EB28F/S0021875800033697a.pdf/div-class-title-historians-and-the-civil-rights-movement-div.pdf