Students choice: Civil Rights Movement was a revolution

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Civil Rights Movement

 

The Civil Rights Movement was a powerful and historical movement that spanned across several decades with the aim of enforcing legal and constitutional rights to African Americans that were provided to other Americans. The movement has its foundation in the Reconstruction era of the late 19th century. The movement achieved the largest legislative benefits by mid 1960s. The undertaking involved grassroots protests and direct actions that occurred between mid-1950s to 1968.  It involved several strategies delivered by several groups who organized social movements that helped to put an end to legalized discrimination, racial segregation and disenfranchisement in the United States. Through the utilization of nonviolent campaigns, the protesting teams had managed to secure new recognition within the federal protection for all Americans and in the federal law. Based on how the movement had been organized and the achievements it had made, it is prominent that people fought for their rights and ultimately there was change and segregation ended. This paper will discuss how the civil rights movement was a form of revolution that would forever change the scope of American society.

Following the elimination of slavery and after the American Civil War of 1860s, there was Reconstruction Amendments added to the U.S constitution that approved constitutional rights of citizenship and liberation to all African Americans. These included most African Americans who were slaves. Even though African Americans were permitted to vote in elections and hold political offices, they were deprived of their civil rights. This was usually because of Jim Crow Laws that had subjected African Americans to discrimination and combined with continued violence by White Americans in the South through supremacist white groups such as Ku Klux Klan. This required African Americans to come up with various strategies to secure their legal rights. The climax had occurred between the years 1955 and 1968 when African Americans took part in acts of nonviolent protests that was combined with civil disobedience that led to productive dialogues and crisis situations occurring between activists and government authorities (Stephens 563).

As discussed by Kirk (2014), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended the segregation in public arenas and stopped employment discrimination based on skin color, race, national origin, religion and sexual orientation. Even though this Act was first proposed by John F. Kennedy, the then president, it won the severe opposition by Southern Members of the Congress. As a result, it was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy’s successor. In the following years, Congress managed to expand the act and as a result, passed more civil rights legislation including the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Kawashima (2014) points out that after John F. Kennedy became the president in 1961, he was hesitant to support anti-discrimination laws. However, the protests and nonviolent campaigns in the South including the case in Birmingham in Alabama where nonviolent demonstrators were brutally suppressed by the police using dogs, high-pressure fire hoses, and clubs forced Kennedy to act.

According to History.com, the proposition made by Kennedy in 1963 was the most complete and comprehensive for of civil rights legislation till today as he said that the United States will never be free unless all citizens were free. Unfortunately, Kennedy was assassinated before he could sign the Act. However, his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson was up to the task since in his first State of the Union address, he acknowledged that his presidency would be known for having done the most for civil rights than all other sessions in the past combined. Even though southerners during the US House of Representatives considered the bill unconstitutionally usurping states’ rights and individual liberties, Lyndon still managed to get it across to the winning table.

Even though the revolutionary bill in the United States Senate faced strong opposition by people who were not ready to go of discrimination against the Blacks, it still passed with the help of politicians who wanted all people to be treated fairly and equal. As noted by Staff, The Root, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the earlier form of segregation on the basis of race, national origin, and religion was banned at all public accommodation areas such as hotels, courthouses, sport arenas, parks, and restaurants. This way, Blacks could not be denied any form of service simply because of their color.  In addition, Gettysburg Flag Works argues that the act stopped discrimination based on race, gender, religion, and national origin by labor union and employers leading to the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that grated aggrieved workers the power to file court cases.  History.com also notes that the act prohibited use of federal finances for discriminatory programs and thus authorized the Office of Education to help in school desegregation and stop unequal voting application requirements.

According to Staff, The Root noting the words of Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights Act of 1964 acted as a second emancipation. This was because of the resulting numerous bills and Acts that were meant to protect all vulnerable populations. For instance, while the Civil Rights Act only protected the rights of Blacks, it was later expanded to protect disabled Americans, women, and the elderly. It also led to proposition and voting of two other major bills; the Voting Rights Acts of 1965 (to stop literacy tests among other discriminatory voting practices) and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (to stop discrimination in financing, sale, and rental of property). Even though the struggle to curb racism had not ended, Pedriana and Stryker (2017) note that legal segregation was a thing of the past with the Act.

In conclusion, the civil rights movement was certainly a form of revolution that would forever change the scope of American society. Initially, Black Americans were fighting for their human rights through the court system with cases that never ended. However, in order to be able to have their voices heard and actions taken, the Civil Rights Movement combined many activist movements in the fight against segregation, discrimination, and violence. This was accomplished through nonviolent protests and campaigns including marches, boycotts, demonstrations and sit-ins. While several politicians especially those representing the South had rejected the propositions by Black people, the proposed bill was ultimately brought to the senate by President Kennedy and it was eventually signed into law by President Lyndon. These were two presidents who believed in making United States a better place by guaranteeing the freedom of all Americans regardless of their color and national origin. It is therefore most notable that the Civil Rights movement was a revolution that made the life of African Americans better by ensuring that their rights were documented and respected while leading to endorsing of other related bills and acts.

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Gettysburg Flag Works. Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement, 2020. Web. <https://www.gettysburgflag.com/timeline-american-civil-rights/>

History.com. Civil Rights Act of 1964. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act, 2018. Web. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act

Kawashima Masaki. “The Historical Significance of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Nanzan Review of American Studies, vol. 36, Mar. 2014, pp. 99–111.

 

Kirk, John A. “Going Off the Deep End: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Desegregation of Little Rock’s Public Swimming Pools.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 73, no. 2, Summer 2014, pp. 138–163.

 

Pedriana, Nicholas, and Robin Stryker. “From Legal Doctrine to Social Transformation? Comparing U.S. Voting Rights, Equal Employment Opportunity, and Fair Housing Legislation.” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 123, no. 1, July 2017, pp. 86–135. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1086/692094.

Scholastic.com. (2020). Jim Crow Laws | Scholastic. [online] Available at: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/jim-crow-laws/.

 

Stephens, Randall J. “‘It Has to Come from the Hearts of the People’: Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, Race, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.” Journal of American Studies, vol. 50, no. 3, Aug. 2016, pp. 559–585. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1017/S0021875815000687.