African+Americans+During+the+Civil+Rights+Movement


 * Note to parents and community members:** If there is any information on which you would like to comment or provide feedback/insight, please click on the discussion tab above. You must be a registered user. Please click here for those directions.

=African Americans In the Civil Rights Movement= Something is a Civil Rights issue when certain people are deprived of their civil rights given to them through the government (mainly the Declaration of Independence). People are discriminated against because of their race, gender, and even orientation. In this case it was race. In most public places in the South, there was segregation. Blacks and Whites couldn't go to the same stores, go to the same school, sit near each other on buses, or even drink from the same water fountains. The Blacks were being deprived of their Civil Rights or their "God Given Rights". Blacks wanted their rights so they fought for them. The Civil Rights Movement was their fight to receive their rights.

What was the Civil Rights Movement?
The Civil Rights Movement took place throughout the 1900s and was a fight for civil rights for black citizens throughout the country. The Civil Rights Movement had many leaders including Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Linda Brown, Earl Warren, the list goes on and on. Rosa Parks was the basic spark for the movement, by refusing to move on a bus, she started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This showed the black citizens in the South that they had the power to do things and get places if they all worked together. Martin Luther King worked very hard throughout the movement and saw many jail cells throughout his lifetime. The reasons for his arrests were good though. They often had to do with him breaking segregation laws or other Jim Crow laws that spread throughout the southern part of America "//the free land"//. Martin Luther King learned from the best, Mahatmas Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau. He led peaceful protests and marches; he was strictly non-violent. One other leader, Malcolm X was initially all for being violent towards whites but later found himself and became non-violent. This shows that violence is not the answer, you have to fight with your mind. The blacks fighting for their rights made smart choices and decisions that could not be overpowered by the whites. In short, the Civil Rights Movement was a fight put up by the blacks to gain their Civil Rights, they won. Although it can be said that the Civil Rights Movement was a huge stepping stone, the problem has not dissolved completely yet. There is still racism and prejudice in today's world but without the Civil Rights Movement, the country would still be a madhouse. Everyone involved in the Civil Rights Movement did an amazing job for the entire country and can be put down in history as amazing people for helping their country.

What is happening today as far as African American Civil Rights?
African Americans have so many more rights today than they did in the 1900s yet they are still being cheated of some rights. The thing is that there are those people who don't see past the color of your skin to who is on the inside, those people are racist. One thing we can do to prevent racism is hope that it gets through to more people during the future that every man //is// in fact created equal. Thats what a lot of people will do, __hope__ for a better tomorrow, but it is those people who __fight__ for a better tomorrow that will be the ones to make a difference. Hoping may help but it is the action that is taken that will actually make an impact. In order to help in this ongoing fight, don't let prejudice take over your mind, don't let it take over anyone's mind that you know, and if you see something wrong happening, don't just stand there, do something! It cannot be explained exactly what to do in order to help this but you need to stop any wrong you see happening. The steps are as follows: 1. Avoid prejudice and racism yourself. 2. Make sure friends and family aren't racist or prejudiced. 3. Stop any wrong occurring. If someone is being mistreated because of their skin color, either stop them yourself or get help if it is out of your hands. 4. Spread the word that this is an ongoing fight that needs the help of upcoming generations in order to end. There is more that can be done but those are things that will come to you. The Declaration of Independence can come true but it depends on future generations to support the fact that all men are created equal.

__People involved in the Civil Rights Movement__
Martin Luther King Jr. Pictures Jackie Robinson Pictures Rosa Parks Malcolm X Claudette Colvin

__The Montgomery Bus Boycott__
Segregational Bus Issues (Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin - Lindsey's Virtual Legacies)

__**Timeline**__

 * 1896**- //Plessy v. Ferguson// case.
 * 1947**- Jackie Robinson becomes first African American in Major-league baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.
 * 1954**- //Brown v. Board of Education//- Supreme Court finds "separate but equal" unconstitutional in schools.
 * 1955**- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leads Montgomery boycott, after the arrest of Rosa Parks.
 * 1955**- Emmett Till is brutally killed by two white men; J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant.
 * 1957**- President Eisenhower is forced to send federal troops to Little Rock high school in Arkansas to enforce desegregation.
 * 1962**- Anti- segregation sit-ins at lunch counters in the South.
 * 1963**- Birmingham, Alabama, MLK and many other people are arrested for demonstrating against segregation.
 * 1963**- Four young girls are killed at Sunday School when a bomb explodes.
 * 1963**- MLK gives "I Have a Dream" speech. 250,000 people march on Washington, D.C.
 * 1964**- Civil Rights Act bans discrimination.
 * 1964**- 24th Amendment abolishes poll tax.
 * 1964**- MLK wins Nobel Peace Prize.
 * 1965**- Voting Rights Act ends practices designed to not let African Americans vote.
 * 1965**- March to Montgomery.
 * 1965**- Malcolm X is shot and killed by members of the Black Muslim Faith.
 * 1967**- Black Power Movements gains strength.
 * 1968**- MLK is assassinated by James Earl Ray.
 * 1992**- First race riots in decades break out in South-Central Los Angeles after four white men are acquitted by jury for videotaped beating of African American Rodney King.
 * 2005**- Edgar Ray Killen is convicted of manslaughter over four decades after the crimes.
 * 1992**- First race riots in decades break out in South-Central Los Angeles after four white men are acquitted by jury for videotaped beating of African American Rodney King.
 * 2005**- Edgar Ray Killen is convicted of manslaughter over four decades after the crimes.

Bibliography