African American civil rights comprises social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial discrimination and regression against black Americans. The black Americans struggled for equality in earlier 1960s. Many states introduced “Jim Crow” laws that were named for a song sung by white minstrel character who imitated a popular Negro crooning dancing. The Jim Crow laws barred the African Americans from classrooms, theatres, train cars, juries and legislatures. The U.S. Supreme court struck down the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine that formed basis for state sanctioned discrimination, drawing international and national attention to African American plight. Due to large segments of African American people without property, they …show more content…
The movement was not limited to African Americans but also drew attention to the white community. The movement created backlash of racism as it gained ground. According to Arnold R. Hirsch, around fifty white teenagers bombarded Donald Howard’s apartments one evening with stones and bricks. August 9, a crowd of about two thousand were congregating the dwelling in the Trumbull Park Homes, a project of Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), harassing the Howard family and damaging structures with missiles. Notably, Trumbull Park Homes occupied nearly twenty acres of land on the city’s far southeast side thus provided a great opposition to the white. (The Urban North: Trumbull Park, Chicago, …show more content…
Malcolm X had a far-reaching effect on the civil right movement. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and by February 1965, Malcolm X had been killed. Later in the year, violence, anger and disparity fueled due to police brutality in los Angeles African American neighborhood. The violence triggered by the arrest of a black motorcyclist was the most destructive in US history at that time. The riots lasted for a week with more than 10000 people and at least 34 were left dead. The violence shocked the Nation and left the community despaired but a few years later the watts citizens pulled together to rebuild their