Social Movement: Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s Essay

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Social Movement: The Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s

The civil rights struggle in American history is one which is littered with numerous famous events and rulings and which marked the fierce battle of African-Americans to fight for equality. One of the most famous protagonists of the civil rights era was Rosa Parks, the tired seamstress who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. However, the civil rights struggle had long been in affect before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. However, Parks was selected by African-American civil rights leaders to act as a symbol of the movement and to inspire others to fight the good fight.

While the civil rights struggle is largely credited to have occurred during the 1950s and the 1960s, one can trace its origins to American slavery and the plantation system. However, for the purposes of this paper, we will just examine the decade prior to this movement. In the 1940s, "a public opinion survey revealed that the vast majority of white Americans believed blacks were content with their social and economic conditions" (shmoop, 2014). This was an America were 90% of the black population lived in the south and Jim Crows were alive and well there which limited the interaction between whites and blacks in parks, libraries, schools, bathrooms, hotels, pools and bus stations (shmoop, 2014).

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This was an America where white supremacy was alive and well, and it depended on the ability to suppress black ambition via economic reprisals, terror, and ritual lynchings, so that blacks were unable to vote, unable to own property, and unable to express their desires to change the system (shmoop). The North was only slightly better, as discriminate was still active in places like employment and housing, police harassment and it focused on a judicial system that favored whites. Thus, the civil rights era was one which fought for equality for African-Americans: so that their children could still go to good schools, and so that adults could have access to jobs, and so that they could enjoy better housing. African-Americans were being forced to live second-class lives on the basis of their race and white society asserted that they were content with such rampant, social injustice. Thus, African-Americans were in a position where they were forced to fight for equality: they essentially had no choice.

The tactics that educated African-Americans used during this struggle were numerous. As stated earlier, singling out the actions of Rosa Parks was one technique which was very effective and which helped to shape the movement and inspire others. Organizing and using the most educated leaders in this movement along with their abilities and experience was another way in which the struggle was able to gain momentum......

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"Social Movement Civil Rights Struggle Of The 1950s And 1960s", 08 July 2014, Accessed.17 May. 2025,
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