Civil Rights Movements since 1945 - Essay Example

During 1955 blacks were tired of the slowness shown by policymakers in conducting the act of desegregation and they were even angry due to the obstacles created by the whites. During that period they started a movement regarded as civil disobedience in which they resorted to protests that were nonviolent in nature. Several methods of protest were used in these movements, such as boycotts of the Montgomery Bus. Another major protest conducted by the blacks for civil rights was the march recognized as the march for autonomy and jobs conducted on Washington. In this march, Martin Luther King, Jr. presented his most famous speech which was regarded as “I have a dream” (Norton, 2012, p.755). During the period of 1965, there experienced a tremendous change in the movement for Black Power.

Those who were fighting in the favor of Black Power argued in the favor of the autonomy of the blacks and believed that the African Americans of that time were not being provided with dignity and were being kept away from their heritage. For example, Omali Yeshitela argued that the blacks have fought hard to safeguard their homes, autonomy and culture against colonialists of Europe. Yeshitela further stated that actions such as stealing another individual's wealth and freedom are denoted as treason.

One of the great outcomes of this movement was the victory achieved in the Brown v. Board of education case that helped in eliminating the legal issue of separate but equal. Another major Civil Rights Movement in the US was the Chicano Movement. This movement was led by the Mexicans that were living in America. The purpose of this movement was to gain a say for the Mexicans in the political arena of the US. According to those who were in favor of this movement, the US had failed to comply with the promises they made during the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty.

The movement did not concentrate on the issues that were experienced by the early Mexicans who migrated to the US; it did not even address the issue of political rights for Mexicans as at that time immigrants had no political significance. The activities of this movement were involved in various issues such as unequal educational and job opportunities for Mexicans and the ill-treatment they faced at the hands of the police. Students who were associated with this movement conducted activities such as walkouts, one of such activities was a walkout conducted by students in the state of Denver.

The African American right for equal rights was quite peaceful in nature and only conducted activities such as marches and sit-ins, on the other hand, the civil rights movement conducted by American Indians was quite violent in nature. The actions ranged from huge gatherings with the purpose of protest to the hijacking of governmental facilities with the aid of arms and ammunition. During the period of 1971, the movement took over an obsolete, left alone property of the Naval Air Station located in the region of Minnesota.

During the period of 1972, they even took over the Headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs located in Washington and they arrested 24 individuals. The Courthouse of Custer County was even abducted by the activities of this group; later police were able to handle the situation after a severe right arose. A confrontation even took place between the military and the activists of the movement and after the death of two individuals and passage of seventy-one days, the violent activity came to an end.