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Charles Perkins Contribution To The Civil Rights Movement

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In today’s society, everyone has the equal rights and freedom to do certain things without being discriminated due to their race. These includes, the rights to vote, to drive, to be educated, to rest and leisure, to own a property, to be free from discrimination and much more. However, society back then was different. Indigenous people didn’t have the same rights as others had during the time. Aboriginals were victimised due to their race and experienced great inequality through segregation. As a result, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were outliers and local authorities denied their access to community facilities such as swimming pools , hotels, clubs, shops and movie theatres.

But a man named Charles Perkins, wanted to change this. …show more content…

Keen to spread awareness, Charles Perkins followed in Martin Luther King’s footsteps and organised a campaign. This led to the formation of 'Student Action for Aborigines' (SAFA) on the 12th of February 1965, where he invited a big group of students (approximately 30 students) to set off with him on a bus trip across New South Wales for 2 weeks to discover how aboriginal people were actually being treated. This is known as the freedom ride. The main aim of this bus ride was to better the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia and to confront without violence and racial …show more content…

In Walgett, the Walgett RSL excluded Aboriginal ex-servicemen and in order to achieve great success, the group of students raised awareness to help bring justice to the Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islanders by conducting a protest and targeted racial discrimination. This was a great beginning for them as it was the place where they gained good media coverage. After that they conducted another protests in the next town, Moree, for 2 days to desegregate the council-owned artesian bore baths and swimming pool.

Due to the ban in Moree, Aboriginal people were not allowed into the pools and when they first tried to get in, they were told, ‘Sorry, no darkies allowed’. From the primary source, it clearly conveys the segregation between indigenous people and the white community as Aboriginal people were prohibited from entering the swimming pools. As seen in the cartoon, Charles Perkins is painting the Aboriginal children white so they could enter the swimming pool. This cartoon shows how Charles Perkins wanted the Aboriginal people to fit into the white society without having to change

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