Compare And Contrast The Civil Rights Movement Of The 1950s And 1960s

America has long been considered “the land of the free”, illustrated in many historic documents from around the time our country was born. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 immediately showed that freedom, as we declared ourselves independent of Britain’s rule. A little over a decade later, in 1787, the Constitution was created, after the failed attempt of the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution initiated the setup of America’s government during the Constitutional Convention, in which George Washington was selected as the first president of the United States. Another four years later, in 1791, the Bill of Rights was adopted as part of the Constitution, giving Americans their basic freedoms that are very much debated about today. In the Bill of Rights, Americans

One more well-known peaceful protest in the era was the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, led by Martin Luther King Jr., to help advance African American rights in the U.S. This protest started after Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks was peacefully protesting, as she was given the right to do from the Bill of Rights. This protest is just one of many examples that shows that civil disobedience is beneficial to society, because African Americans eventually got equal rights after more peaceful protests such as sit-ins at diners. Martin Luther King Jr. remains a famous historical figure because of his success with nonviolent protests. On the other hand, the civil rights movement spurred some African Americans to violently protest, in such groups as the Freedom Riders, which only caused the ruling white population to further deny them equality. In the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s, it is easy to see that peaceful protests were the key to African Americans getting the rights they deserved as American