No Success Without Struggle During The Civil Rights Movement

Ava Hood Mr. Wilder US History 10 June 2024 No Success Without Struggle When someone decides to get their life together, go to the gym, eat healthy, and study hard, they know for there to be any sort of progress or improvement, they will have to struggle for it. This is true in any situation, especially during the Civil Rights Movement. Frederick Douglass said, “Without struggle, there can be no progress.” I agree with this statement. There are numerous examples of civil rights activists and movements gaining success for the betterment of their people, but with that success came challenge after challenge. There are three significant examples of this. The first example is in 1865, when slavery was abolished. African Americans were free citizens,

This also allowed for the black population to be arrested and sentenced to - you’ll never believe it- hard labor or slavery; it seemed like every time the black community improved with something, the government attacked them with something else. These were significantly restricted to the Black folks of America at the time, but they overcame these cage-like codes. Finally, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, or the 14th Amendment. This amendment ensured that all born in the United States were protected equally under the law. The second example of no success without struggle is 1870, when Black men gained the right to vote. After the 15th Amendment was passed, Black men were officially able to vote, but of course, White folk didn’t quite like this, so they built up another roadblock in front of freedom. This time, it was called disenfranchisement. Disenfranchisement made it very challenging for Black men to vote by creating extremely unattainable requirements for them. One example of one of these restrictions is the grandfather

There were many protests against disenfranchisement; the demonstrations were bloody and sickening. Little girls were blown with fire hoses and bitten by dogs, and men and women were beaten by police officers. In August of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act (1965). This Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices introduced in many southern states after the Civil War, such as grandfather clauses and literacy tests as prerequisites to voting. The last example includes the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks. In Alabama, a law required African Americans to move to the back of the bus when white passengers wanted to find a seat on a packed bus. The MIA, or the Montgomery Improvement Association, wants to fight this. They asked Mrs. Rosa Parks to rebel against this specific law, so she did. She was sent to jail, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott began after she was released. During this boycott, black Americans refrained from riding the bus at all costs. This boycott came with many challenges, economic hardships, violence, and racial discrimination, but of course, they kept on