The Civil Rights Movement helped launch mass activism among African Americans. Although the Civil War abolished slavery and gave African Americans citizenship, it didn’t give them full rights nor end discrimination. When enough African Americans were fed up with prejudice and violence against them, they took action to foster tolerance during the 1950s and 1960s. Although there was a lot of progress made, it still wasn’t enough. 

We still see activism among African Americans today. We still see police brutality against African Americans. It might be different from what was seen in the 50s and 60s but it’s still there. The Black Lives Matter movement helps organize protesters to protest the injustice still seen in America. 

In my history class, our teacher often talks about the impact African Americans have on our current society, whether that be through music or books or movies. He also talked about the flip side. The majority of prison populations are people of color, serving unfair sentences for minor offences. 

Why am I writing this article? As I learned about the Civil Rights Movement in my U.S History class, I realized a lot of it is still relevant in the world today. During a newspaper meeting in the last week of March, I received a CNN notification that lynching is now a federal hate crime. That notification gave me the idea to write this article, to show that African Americans are still not safe and are still fighting for freedom and their lives. 

The 14th Amendment gave African Americans protection under the law in 1866. The 15th Amendment gave them the right to vote the next year. In spite of these laws, African Americans were largely still unprotected in certain areas. Jim Crow laws were created to segregate the south. African Americans couldn’t use the same public bathrooms, live in the same towns, or go to the same schools as white people. Interracial marriages were outlawed. Many African Americans couldn’t vote as they were subjected to unrealistic literacy tests as a qualification for voting, and these tests were impossible to pass. Even though Jim Crow laws were not implemented in the northern states, in order to help minimize racial tensions in the south, the Eisenhower administration put pressure on Congress to consider Civil Rights legislation. On the 9th of September, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which allowed the federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent another from voting. This act also created a commission to investigate voter fraud. African Americans were still discriminated against. Segregation in the south gained more ground during the Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court case in 1896. The court declared “separate but equal,” African Americans and white people couldn’t be in the same facilities and schools. 

Before the Second World War, many African Americans worked as farmers, factory workers, domestics, or servants and were paid very little. They couldn’t get better jobs during the 40s and were often discouraged from joining the military. After the threat of a march on Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) issued Executive Order 8802 in 1942. This order decreed that all national defence and government jobs had to be open to everyone regardless of race or ethnicity. Now, although segregated, African Americans could serve in the U.S military. The Tuskegee Airmen became the first African Americans in the U.S Army Air Corps and earned many awards for their service. Yet, upon their return home many of the veterans were still met with prejudice and scorn. At the beginning of the Cold War, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981. This order ended discrimination in the military, helped set the groundwork for racial equality legislation and precipitated the Civil Rights Movement.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

One of the important events at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement involved Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old. On December 1st, 1955, she was sitting on a bus in the African American section in Montgomery, Alabama when a white man got on the bus. He was unable to find a seat in the white section, so the driver told Rosa Parks and three other African Americans to give up their seats. The three others complied, Parks refused and was subsequently arrested. Her arrest sparked outrage and support. With one simple act of defiance, Rosa Parks became one of the most iconic Civil Rights activists of the twentieth century. Community leaders came together and formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) which was led by Martin Luther King Jr. They officially started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott lasted 381 days when on November 14th,1956 the Supreme Court ruled that segregated buses were unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Movement gained unprecedented momentum in 1954 when the Supreme Court reversed the Plessy vs Ferguson ruling which made segregation illegal in public schools.

Little Rock Nine

In 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas asked students at an all-black school t

o attend the formerly segregated high school. On September 3rd, nine African American students attended Central High School, a previously segregated school known as the Little Rock Nine. Instead of being able to attend classes, they were met by the Arkansas National Guard, led by Governor Orval Faubus, and a screaming mob. A few weeks later, they tried again, made it inside, and had to be removed from the school due to safety concerns. Eventually, President Eisenhower had federal troops escort the students to and from classes. Their efforts raised much-needed attention to the issue of desegregation. 

Greensboro sit-ins 

                                                                         Four college students decided to take a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina. On February 1st, 1960, the students refused to leave a Woolworth’s lunch counter without being served. Over the course of several days, hundreds of people joined in. This event is now known as the Greensboro sit-ins. Eventually, the owners gave in and served the original four students. The students’ protest spearheaded many peaceful sit-ins in dozens of cities. These helped launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to encourage all students to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement. The SNCC caught the eye of Stokey Carmichael, a young college graduate. He joined the SNCC during the Freedom Summer of 1964 to register African American voters. He became the chair of the SNCC in 1968 where he originated the phrase “black power.

The Black Panthers

The Black Panthers was a revolutionary party founded in 1966 by Huey B. Newton and Bobby Seale. The

group’s original purpose was to patrol African American neighborhoods to help prevent police brutality. The group eventually developed into a Marxist group. From the start of the group, they had developed a Ten Point Program that was meant to initiate the African American community’s survival and forge alliances with progressives. In 1969, due to anti-Russian fears, J.Edgar Hoover considered the group a threat to national security. The Black Panthers used “Black Power” to gain support.