The Civil Rights Act of 1964
In Alabama in 1955 it was required for African Americans to sit in the back of the bus and give up their seats to white riders if the front of the bus was full. On December 1 of the same year, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white rider. She was arrested and fined ten dollars, as well as an additional four dollars in court fees. Rosa’s act inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which began four days later and lasted for over a year (Montgomery Bus Boycott, 2010). Both of these events protested against the the racial segregation on public transportation. These protests were not the only ones that occurred during the time. There were many movements that led up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. All of the
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states there will be no discrimination, among other things, in public. However, a study was done by NORC and found that many people part of the community still face discrimination in their everyday lives (Gruberg et al., 2020). Despite there being multiple laws against inequity, people still face injustice based on the way they want to live their lives. Some people have even confessed to modifying their own lives in order to stop the hate towards them, and many face trauma from this (Gruberg et al., 2020). This is the exact thing the Civil Rights Act tried to put a stop to. People should not have to change their lives based on what society likes and dislikes. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is still active, there are some social issues surrounding this topic. Despite what laws are made to put a stop to it, people still face discrimination in their daily …show more content…
For starters, the number of black students attending schools rose 4.9 percent between 1980 and 2009 (50 Years after, 2014). This act clearly helped pave the way for more participation and opportunities for African Americans. Before the act was official, there were not a whole lot of black students attending school. This was either due to them not having enough money or merely the fact that there were no schools available for them. Without the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this may still be the case for minorities. Moreover, America had its first black President in 2008 (Wolf, 2014). Not only are more African Americans attending school, they are elected to represent the U.S. This was a huge success for America and would have been difficult to do without the Civil RightsAct of 1964. Additionally, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped to reimpose African American voting rights (Zunes et al., 2010). This removed any racial discrimination for voters. Although slavery had been abolished in 1865, many people still had racist views or tendencies towards African Americans. By allowing them their right to vote, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 displayed how there should be no discrimination based on race against any person in