Description
Throughout the 1950s African Americans in northern cities grew increasingly active in opposing discrimination and in protesting white resistance to black progress in housing, education, and employment. Martin Luther King and others embarked on a campaign of nonviolent resistance and demonstrations, which spread to the south. Some of the leadership in the Deep South responded with brutal force, taking a militant stand against change, and in defiance of federal legislation to grant African Americans their civil rights.
In order to prepare for this discussion forum:
Review and identify the relevant sections of Chapter 29 that support your discussion.
Read the linked essay DEBATING THE PAST: The Civil Rights Movement
Review the material contained in the site Responses Coming from the Civil Rights Movement. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/featur…
After you have completed your readings post your response to only one of the following questions:
Identify and list some of the factors that contributed to the success of the Civil Rights movement. Choose one, and discuss its significance to the movement, and explain why you made this particular choice.
- “Ironically, the reaction of many southern whites to the civil rights activities may have actually served to help the blacks’ cause.” Agree or Disagree with this statement. Make sure that you provide evidence to support your argument.
- Directly and completely answer at least ONE question. Please make sure that you clearly indicate which question you have chosen to discuss. Clearly and accurately explain your answer based on factual information contained in the assigned readings
PART 2 respond to a classmate with 3-4 sentences explaining agreement or disagreement found below.
During the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans fought for equal rights. Civil Rights activists engaged in peaceful protests and civil disobedience to overcome racial barriers and establish legal equality. Dr. Martin Luther King, the face of the Civil Rights Movement, was arrested and jailed for protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. One of the main reasons for his arrest was parading without a permit and because of this law, Kings was arrested and put in Birmingham Jail. It was also Malcolm X and the Black Panthers that created awareness. The growing literature on northern, urban, and relatively radical activists has suggested that focusing too much on the mainstream leaders and celebrated efforts in the South of the 1960s tends to divert our attention from the equally important challenges northern African Americans face and their very different strategies and tactics (Brinkley, 2010). A number of civil rights laws were passed between 1954 and 1968 such as Brown v Board of Education, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Fair Housing Act. During this relatively short period of time, fundamental and lasting changes were made and their impact can be seen in multiple ways in our society today. However, issues of civil rights such as immigration, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and perpetual segregation in our nation’s schools—to name just a few—remain and are in need of ongoing work.
