Changes In The Civil Rights Movement Of The 1960's

In the history of the United States there have been many social changes that have occurred. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s was one of the most significant and important movements that fought for the equality of all people. Even before the abolition of slavery in 1863, race was a contentious issue for the people of the United States. The rights of people were violated purely on the basis of skin tone, and this discrimination was more or less tolerated. Unfortunately many of the changes that the movement fought for received a response of bitter violence from many white southerners. This racist opposition led to the violent deaths of some of the famous leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, but it also birthed two distinct groups of black

The Black Panthers were a great example of this type of organization, as they felt that they had been passive long enough and needed to fight. They felt that standing down in the face of murders, lynchings, and violence was submission, and saw fighting back as a logical response. However, this organization also provided many community service programs to improve their communities from within. These programs are often not mentioned, overshadowed by their call to fight which was insignificant in comparison to the violence that they themselves faced. Many Black Panthers provided free breakfast to children in order for them to learn better and live healthier, a practice we see today in the National School Breakfast Program and Head Start programs. President Hoover even condemned the Black Panther’s Breakfast for Children Program, accusing it of being a front to “promote at least tacit support for the Black Panther Party among naive individuals”, and wanted to end it at all costs. Black Muslim groups were also perceived as posing a violent threat, as leaders like Malcolm X, stated consistently that blacks deserve change and equality and if they aren’t given it, they should take it. Although toward the end of his life he worked with Martin Luther King Jr and was more reconcilable, he was murdered. His death came not at the hands of white opposition, but from fundamental

By no means did his death kill the fight for freedom and equality. All human beings should be treated with equity, judged by character and not by color. This is a message that is still being fought for today, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s is largely responsible for that fact. There is still debate today over what is more effective, violence versus resistance, and there is no clear answer. People are still getting arrested for civil disobedience, condemned for being too loud and too violent, and dismissed as “angry”, as if this excuses discriminatory