Backdrop For The Civil Rights Movement

Historically, the Civil Rights Movement was a time during the 1950’s and 1960’s to eliminate segregation and gain equal rights. Looking back on all the events, and vital figures it produced, this explanation is very unclear. In order to fully understand the Civil Rights Movement, you have to go back to its beginning. Most people believe that Rosa Parks began the whole civil rights movement. She did in fact move the Civil Rights Movement to groundbreaking heights but its origin began in 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka was the foundation for change in American History as a whole. Some may argue that Plessy vs. Ferguson is in fact backdrop for the Civil Rights Movement, but I disagree. Plessy

Citizens of Montgomery, Alabama were fuelled with intention to fight oppression and start a boycott against desegregation. In order for the boycott to make a difference, African Americans chose to walk to work or travel by taxi, no matter what physical health condition they were in. Throughout the boycott the NAACP consistently challenged the courts because of complete desegregation. However, before this problem occurred, Rosa Parks was arrested in Alabama for boycotting the city bus rules, which caused an outcry to end discrimination against African Americans and their rights. “The Supreme Court's decision laid the legal groundwork for a more concerted nationwide effort to eliminate racial barriers in other aspects of life. In December 1955 Rosa Parks, the secretary of the Alabama NAACP, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white man as was required by city law. In reaction to this arrest a group of black women called for an economic strike against the city buses in the form of a boycott. The decision to pursue the boycott followed an inspirational speech by Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–68), a young preacher who encouraged acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. The boycott lasted almost a year until the Supreme Court ruled the Montgomery bus law unconstitutional in late 1956”(Riggs). This solemnly paved the way for Martin Luther King to explain his

The March corresponded with the Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, which was in relation to the abolition of slavery. The march was used to address many growing problems under which many black Americans were living at the time such as a federal works program, fair employment, housing, the right to vote, strong education. Also before this gathering Martin Luther King Jr. gave his significant “I have a dream speech.” This speech was delivered to several thousands of white and black Americans and summarized the importance of the civil rights movement. A couple years later there was another march held at the Lincoln Memorial that included whites and blacks from around the country. In addition, the SDS held this march, and they were growing hostile because of growing concerns of college students being drafted into the Vietnam War. “Growing numbers of whites, especially white college students outside the South, expressed their solidarity with blacks. Whites joined African Americans in the sit-ins of 1960, the freedom rides of 1961, and marches in the South. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), founded in 1961, declared its opposition to racism in its manifesto. Black activists allowed non-blacks to join their organizations to demonstrate multiracial commitment to an integrated society and because the presence of whites