The civil rights movement

 The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that mostly took place in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States, with the goal of granting Black Americans equal legal rights. Although the Civil War ended slavery, it did not stop prejudice against African-Americans, who continued to suffer the devastating impacts of racism, particularly in the South. By the mid-nineteenth century, Black Americans had had their fill of bigotry and brutality. They, together with a large number of white Americans, rallied and began a two-decade-long campaign for equality.

World war II and civil rights

Most Black people worked as low-wage farmers, industrial laborers, domestics, or servants prior to World War II. War-related labor was thriving in the early 1940s, but most Black Americans were denied the better-paying positions. They were also persuaded not to enlist in the military.

On June 25, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 in response to thousands of Black people threatening to march on Washington demanding equal job rights. It allowed all Americans, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin, to apply for national defense and other government employment.

Despite facing segregation and prejudice during their deployment, black men and women served valiantly in World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the United States Army Air Corps, earning more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses in the process. When they returned home, however, many Black soldiers were treated with discrimination and derision.

Rosa parks

Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old lady, secured a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus after work on December 1, 1955. Parks had complied with segregation laws at the time, which required Black passengers to sit in assigned seats at the back of the bus.

The bus driver told Parks and three other Black passengers to give up their seats when a white man boarded the vehicle and couldn't locate a seat in the white area at the front. Parks was detained after refusing to comply.

Parks unknowingly became the "mother of the contemporary day civil rights movement" when word of her arrest sparked outrage and support. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was founded by black community leaders and led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr., putting him at the forefront of the civil rights movement.

The MIA was inspired by Parks' bravery to launch a bus boycott in Montgomery. The bus boycott in Montgomery lasted 381 days. The Supreme Court found segregated sitting was illegal on November 14, 1956.

Civil rights act of 1957

Despite the fact that all Americans were given the right to vote, several southern states made it impossible for African-Americans to exercise their right to vote. They regularly required people of color to take difficult, incorrect, and nearly impossible-to-pass reading examinations.

To demonstrate its commitment to the civil rights movement and reduce racial tensions in the South, the Eisenhower administration encouraged Congress to pass new civil rights legislation.

On September 9, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It made it possible to bring criminal charges against anyone who attempted to prevent someone from voting. It also established a panel to investigate voter fraud charges.

Freedom riders

Seven Black and six white activists boarded a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C. on May 4, 1961, to begin on a bus tour across the American south to protest segregated bus terminals. They were putting the 1960 Supreme Court judgment in Boynton v. Virginia to the test, which deemed interstate transportation segregation illegal.

The Freedom Rides garnered international attention as they faced violence from both police officers and white protesters. The bus arrived in Anniston, Alabama, on Mother's Day 1961, where a mob mounted it and tossed a bomb into it. Although the Freedom Riders were able to flee the burning bus, they were severely beaten. The gang couldn't locate a bus driver to take them any further when photos of the bus engulfed in flames went viral. The Freedom Riders continued their journey under police protection on May 20 after US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (brother of President John F. Kennedy) mediated with Alabama Governor John Patterson to find a suitable driver. However, once they arrived in Montgomery, where the bus was viciously attacked by a white mob, the officers left the group. Attorney General John F. Kennedy sent federal marshals to Montgomery in response to the riders and a call from Martin Luther King, Jr.

March on washingtom

On August 28, 1963, one of the most renowned events in the civil rights movement occurred: the March on Washington. Civil rights heavyweights such as A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King, Jr. organized and attended.

Over 200,000 people of all colors gathered in Washington, D.C. for a peaceful march with the goal of imposing civil rights legislation and ensuring work equality for everyone. The march's centerpiece was King's speech, in which he repeatedly proclaimed, "I have a dream..."

King’s “I Have a Dream” speech galvanized the national civil rights movement and became a slogan for equality and freedom.

Civil rights act of 1964

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, legislation launched by President John F. Kennedy prior to his assassination.

The signing was observed by King and other civil rights advocates. The law ensured that all people were treated equally in the workplace, limited the use of voter literacy tests, and empowered federal officials to ensure that public facilities were integrated.

Bloody sunday

The civil rights movement in Alabama took a particularly violent turn on March 7, 1965, when 600 peaceful demonstrators marched from Selma to Montgomery to protest the killing of Black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer and to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment.

The protestors were stopped as they approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge by state and municipal police sent by Alabama governor George C. Wallace, a staunch opponent of desegregation. Refusing to back down, demonstrators marched ahead, where they were brutally battered and teargassed by police, resulting in the hospitalization of hundreds of protesters.

The entire incident was broadcast on television, and it was dubbed "Bloody Sunday." Some activists planned to retaliate with violence, but King advocated for nonviolent protests and was finally granted federal protection for a second march.

Civil rights leaders assassinated

In the late 1960s, the civil rights movement had tragic implications for two of its leaders. Malcolm X, the founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity and former leader of the Nation of Islam, was assassinated at a demonstration on February 21, 1965.

Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was slain on the balcony of his hotel room on April 4, 1968. Looting and riots erupted as a result, placing even more pressure on the Johnson administration to pass more civil rights legislation.

Fair housing act of 1968

The Fair Housing Act was signed into law on April 11, 1968, just days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It prohibited discrimination in housing based on race, gender, national origin, or religion. It was also the final piece of civil rights legislation passed.

For Black Americans, the civil rights struggle was both liberating and dangerous. Civil rights activists and numerous demonstrators of all races worked together to pass legislation that abolished segregation, voter suppression, and discriminatory job and housing policies.