African Americans In The 1950's

After the Civil War, African Americans were free from slavery. The Reconstruction era that followed the war helped to piece the fragmented America back together into one unified country. While this period assisted in the bonding of the North and South, the newly freed slaves did not receive enough protection or help from the government to get them on their feet after essentially starting a new life with literally nothing to their name. Due to the negligence of the U.S. government, the white supremacist south created a series of loopholes known as Jim Crow Laws that severely limited the rights that had been given to African Americans. This racial segregation and discrimination of African Americans continued for decades until they began

One specific Boycott in the 1950's took place for an entire year. African Americans refused to use the public transportation until segregation in them ended. They organized themselves at the statewide level, and found alternate transportation methods for the ones involved. These boycotts put lots of financial pressure on the bus companies, and they were eventually forced to give in to African American demands for desegregation. Sit ins also became more prevalent as the Civil Rights movement picked up. Sit ins occurred when African Americans went and sat in white only segregated dining establishments until they were served. The initial one happened with four college students wanting to change end segregation. As word spread, more college students and people began to join in. What first started in one town ended up spreading and happening in cities all over the country. During the sit in, the participants would often be treated very poorly, with food being thrown at them or being beaten. With these widespread sit ins and eventually boycotts of the segregated businesses, business owners eventually gave into their demands of being served food. Out of these protests came SNCC, which helped organize the peaceful protests on a much grander and organized

The civil rights act of 1954 and the voting rights act of 1957 were both government legislation that gave more protection to Black voting rights, and the started to break down the tricky Jim Crow laws. The made sure that it was illegal to restrict a citizen from voting and created a committee to watch over the state voting records to make sure that nothing fishy was going on. With the voting situation more or less delt with, Influential leaders and groups aimed towards segregation. MLK's March on Washington and Malcolm X's threat to use violence to make change eventually pressured the government to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This legislation outlawed segregation, ensured equal employment for all, and outlawed literacy tests. While this was a great step towards equality for African Americans, there were still many problems left that needed to be delt with. For example, poll taxes were still able to be used to discriminate against African Americans. Another issue was that African Americans were systematically poor in the nation. This was due to the lack of support from the federal government after World War II, mainly their exclusion from the benefits of the G.I. Bill. LBJ made lots of changes with his Great Society Program to help the poor and better education. This program, pretty much being an extension