Contributions of Civil Rights Movement in Post-world War America to the Political Development - Essay Example

Contributions of Civil rights Movement in post-world war America to the Political and Social Development of the United States Introduction Following the education case of the Brown v Board, the united state movement of civil rights propped up among white Americans being confronted for justice and equality contradiction. This paper will analyze the contributions of the civil rights movement of America in the post world war to the United State’s social and political developments. It all started when the foremost slaves were taken into America in the year 1619. Following the civil war, the thirteenth amendment eradicated slavery and the blacks gained their freedom. The freed blacks were mostly illiterate and were property or money bereft (Matusow 66). In the south where there was slavery predominance, inequality and racism were rampant. The state and federal governments facilitated many democratic reforms in the 1860s and 1870s to support black assimilation into the white people. The 14th amendment guaranteed the blacks equal rights which were federally protected. The 15th amendment provided approval rights for every black man to vote. Throughout the construction era, new found rights were short lived. The southern whites employed various means to bar the blacks from enjoying any citizenship benefits. They kept the blacks totally disenfranchised through intimidation and harassment. A Cold War rose up in America as the World War II came to an end. Momentous changes in America pertinent to nationalization emerged. The changes enhanced support for an emergent Civil Rights Movement that chiefly aimed at doing away with southern segregation rules and overturning the 1896 ramifications of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case at the Supreme Court. Both the congress and the court in 1954 affirmed what individuals like Martin Luther King were preaching to both white Americans and the black. The black Americans had courageously served in the Second World War which was celebrated for its outstanding contributions even though segregation still continued in the armed forces. While the black Americans were roughly 10% of the whole population, they were approximately 11% of all registered in the military service. American Civil rights were strongly aided by the augmentation of Liberal Democrats in the northern part of America that were firmly in desegregation support (Cashman 82). On the other hand, Republicans were moving towards the southern part where segregation took the fore front. The “I have a Dream” words of Martin Luther King Junior at the nation’s capital were probed up by the civil rights words. In collaboration with other black activists, they were main partakers in the Civil Rights Movement. In the first place, this movement was to abolish slavery and weighty intimidations and harassments of the black. Segregation in the communal schools was not constitutional. Earl Warren the chief justice presented the separate but equal decision by the court was a violation of the Africa American’s rights. An incident that attracted the public eye was unfolded in Montgomery where there was segregation of the black Africans at the buses. The blacks were to reserve seats for the whites whenever the whites have filled the front seats. This law was defied by Park who was a black and was later arrested. The black community responded to the arrest by a one day boycott of the public buses of Montgomery. A lead massive movement organized by preacher Martin King Luther Jr., NAACP and other African leaders challenged the racist laws of Montgomery. The boycotts went on for more than one year despite harassment and taunting from the white community. The federal courts then intervened by desegregating the buses on 21st December the year 1956. As the pace quickened, the blacks made an effort to attentively pass an Act of Civil Rights that would enforce other rights including voting rights. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee i.e. SNCC was formed by the black students to offer campaign in southern lunch counters desegregation. Many black youths participated in the movement. They even extensively spurred media coverage, bringing forth the black stipulations before the eye of the public. Consequently, in 1961, CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), harnessed the student activism which was on the rise. They sent young volunteers to form a freedom ride. They demonstrated with open hostility campaigning against public places segregations especially in interstate travel (Collier & Bettye 44). The violence reached the peak until John F Kennedy the president by then intervened and enforced regulations exempting segregations in interstate travel. As the protest movements accelerated, the whites used other strategies and tactics by establishing projects that were community based that denied the blacks the rights for voting. King and other black leaders launched a campaign that massively brought thousands of Africans together in Birmingham. King was jailed, but after cell, he became famous and even found support from sympathetic whites. The blacks did not stop in their campaigns. The war probed up which caused water forces crash children and women to the ground and others hurling in the air. These were brutal assaults that shocked the nation and the viewers around the globe. After this highly publicized violence, municipal officials revoked the segregation laws of Birmingham (Dudziak 72). As the mass demonstrations continued in Birmingham, on 12th of June, 1963, the governor of Alabama Wallace George attempted to obstruct the entrance of some black students into the university, this flared the black community tempers. President Kennedy televised a speech addressing the nation that, his presidency would be in line with civil rights. He called for legislation that was to disallow segregation and widen the federal shield for every American’s civil rights. In 1965, the campaign for voting transferred to Selma, in Alabama under Martin Luther leadership, many demonstrators began a Montgomery fifty mile trek. As they moved towards edmund Pettis Bridge, the state police halted their progress and resulted into a bloody day. This event was publicized, and President Johnson enacted the Voting Rights Act into law. The law opened up the polls effectively to the black in the south. The 1965 voting rights Act marked a period of watershed that accomplished a lot more than abolishment of racial barriers. It gave rise to the overwhelming revolution of the American cultural, political and social life (Fairclough 55). The adjustments to the prevailing notions concerning the blacks’ rights of citizenship went on to bolster every individual’s rights to the entire Americans, despite their skin color. The movement of the American civil rights left a legacy on American society. The racial violence and discrimination was brought to an end. Today, the Africans Americans can exercise their rights freely like the voting rights, in societies where they were once banned from polls. Millions of Africans in America have been immensely lifted up from poverty. Above all, at this moment, blacks in America can hold public offices including even that of the president. Works Cited: Cashman, Dennis. African Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights, 1900-1990. New York: New York University Press, 1991. Print. Collier, Thomas & Bettye, Franklin. Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. New York: New York University Press, 2001. Print. Dudziak, Mary. Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. Print. Fairclough, Adam. Better Day Coming: Blacks and Equality, 1890-2000. New York: Viking, 2001. Print. Matusow, Allen. The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960s. New York: Harper Torch books, 1984. Print. Read More