1960s Dbq Research Paper

African Americans have had a troubled past in the United States. They had to endure slavery and fighting for their rights, and still aren’t always seen as equals today. Two major movements happened that paved the way for rights for African Americans, in the 1890s to 1920s, and in the 1950s to 1960s. African American leaders in the 1890s to 1920s laid a foundation for future civil rights movements by unifying African Americans and trying to get full rights and equality at once, while leaders in the 1950s to 1960s built on this foundation by taking a hands-on approach towards accomplishing smaller goals to achieve rights. Civil rights leaders of the 1890s to the 1920s led some of the first movements to obtain rights for Black people. They

One such leader was Earl Warren, who worked as a Chief Justice on the Supreme Court, was a leader for civil rights in the 1950s. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka was a crucial case for Black rights, in which the Supreme Court found it unconstitutional to segregate schools. Warren was quoted saying, “Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race … deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does,” (Doc D). By changing the Plessy v. Ferguson decision from 1896 of separate but equal, Warren directly made an impact on Black lives. He made a lot of progress on completing a smaller goal of the civil rights movement: education. Not only did it become possible for Black children to attend white schools, but it also ensured that they received the same level of education. The impacts of this decision were seen in the Little Rock Nine, who were nine Black students who attended a white high school and paved the way for other Black students to attend White schools as well. Another leader was Martin Luther King Jr.. During his “I Have a Dream'' speech, King talks about how Black people are going to need to continue to fight for their rights, but stresses the importance of nonviolence (Doc G). King himself participated in nonviolent protests in Albany, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama. His strategy was to not only

This altered approach was a result of these leaders seeing what past leaders had done, and the results or effects that had come from their work. Additionally, the 1890s - 1920s leaders had already done some work towards changing people’s minds towards giving rights to Black people. In the first movements, such as those of DuBois and Washington, civil rights was a relatively new topic for the American public. These two men introduced the movement and started a foundation for which other movements would be able to work upon. Earl Thorpe wrote in his autobiography, “The Booker Washington philosophy and program were the first positive ones that the masses of Negroes in America ever had,” (Doc C). Washington and DuBois had similar strategies, as they made speeches and organizations to try and achieve Black rights. On the other hand, King and Warren both took the initiative to do demonstrations of protest that would show the whole country that they were serious. In a way, the early movement stood to unify the Black population on this topic, while the later movements took this unification and used it to show White society why they should be seen as equals. Both movements had the same overarching goal of achieving full civil rights and equality. However, the early leaders and movements tried to accomplish this goal at once,