The 1950's
Civil Rights Movements
Throughout U.S history civil rights had been denied to many groups of people. The most commonly known groups had been women and African Americans. During the 1950s civil rights movements have mostly been for the benefit of African Americans. But, with the strong help on Martin Luther King Jr., and President Eisenhower, African Americans were able to fight longer and harder to get back the rights that they were promised in the beginning.
Brown v. Board of Education:
In 1945 Linda Brown, and African American student, wanted to attend an all-white school that was right down the street instead of going to her all-black school that was miles away. When this case was taken to court, the court decision had over turned Plessy v. Ferguson and claimed that separate but equal had no place in education. U.S schools had now been forced into integration. In the response to Brown v. Board of Education, white schools in the south had resisted the courts decision. The Governor of Arkansas had ordered the National Guard to prevent 9 blacks from entering an all-white central high school. In response to the Governors decision, President Eisenhower federalizes the National Guard and then used them to force integration into the school.
What are Civil Rights?
- Civil rights are rights given to citizens by the constitution or the government and they cannot be taken away.
Montgomery Bus Boycott:
Rosa Parks, an older African American was riding the Montgomery, Alabama bus when she refused to give up her seat to a white man. Because of her actions she was arrested and fined. The boycott of public buses started the day of Parks' court hearing. The boycott lasted 381 days. This movement affected the bus companies because more than half of their costumers were African American. This forced the Alabama bus company to de-segregate their buses.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference:
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was formed right after the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Their main goal was to increase the cause of civil rights for African Americans around to Americans but without any violence. The input to the SCLC came from the church; the church was a major part of African Americans lives. All black Americans were encouraged to "seek justice and reject all injustice." Martin Luther King didn't like the idea of using violence to prove their points and show what they deserve, so he created the motto of "not one hair of one head of one white person shall be harmed"
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus.
Civil rights Act of 1957:
The civil rights act of 1957 was introduced to the United States during Eisenhower's presidency. This act was the "kick-start" to the civil rights legislative program. President Eisenhower wasn't a strong supporter of civil rights but he did make notice of the issues in the U.S that had to do with civil rights. The main purpose of the Civil Rights act in 1957 was to make it so African Americans could have the right to vote. The only problem with this Act was that it was not as strongly enforced as it should have been. Any person who was found denying a person’s right to vote was not punished in court as only whites where allowed in the jury. Many African Americans did not like the Civil Rights Act because it wasn't strongly enforced so they saw no point in even having the Act. Also many African Americans thought highly of the Act because even though it wasn't too big of a move up, it still symbolized and upgrade of freedom to them, and made them more hopeful of the future to see what other rights will come to them.
