World History - 1964 Civil Rights Act - Essay Example

World History The 1960s was the most significant decade of the twentieth century. No other ten year span in the past century witnessed the massive social upheaval present during the entirety of the 1960s. Reflecting on the 1960’s, one’s thoughts are immediately diverted to the large-scale war and civil rights protests. It was a time of a great awakening among the collected consciousness of the nation in terms of activism, sex, drugs, rock and roll, art and, perhaps most importantly, the way society views patriotism and prejudice. All this while a war was raging and men first landed on the moon. The country was divided as never before or since and it was seemingly the last time civilians bravely sacrificed themselves for a cause. The Vietnam War divided the nation along ideological battle lines. The older generation, the ‘establishment’, was of the WWII period and operated under a nationalistic perspective. They believed that to be a true patriot was to blindly follow the authority of the governmental powers that be, to support your ‘country’ even when you thought it was wrong. The young college protesters, the ‘new generation’, the counter-culture redefined this notion of patriotism. They believed that to be truly patriotic was to question the decisions of government and openly dissent when it was judged to be wrong. The philosophical chasm was wide and emotions ran deep on both sides. Those that protested sacrificed much. They suffered the scorn of their parents who couldn’t understand why their children were rebelling against the very foundation of their parents’ beliefs thus causing what was referred to as the ‘generation gap.’ Some war protesters were killed by soldiers of the National Guard as was the case at Kent State and South Carolina State. The protesters and draft-dodgers were thought of as anti-American by the mainstream citizenry who regarded their actions as nothing short of treasonous. This attitude makes one wonder what the ‘greatest generation’ thought they were fighting for during WWII. They fought to defend freedom on foreign soil but were very much opposed to the constitutionally guaranteed right to peacefully assemble in their own country (Bexte, 2002). The war protesters of the 1960’s had the courage to act upon their political and philosophical convictions unlike those who are opposed to the Iraq War today. The two conflicts are eerily similar on many fronts yet the public reaction has been very dissimilar. Then as now, those opposed to the war are characterized as unpatriotic or as not supporting the troops, both of which, of course, are patently ridiculous concepts. The major difference is that the draft personalized the conflict for many more Americans. More families had a personal stake in the Vietnam War as opposed to the war in Iraq which only affects a small segment of the population. Today, the incentives to protest are less while the consequences are the same. Being scorned and spit at on campus is easier to confront than are bullets and bombs in a snake infested marshy jungle thousands of miles from home. The Civil Rights Movement had its beginnings during the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and divided the nation down racial lines.  Jim Crow segregation laws were banned by the 1964 Civil Rights Act causing segregation to become a thing of the dark past. Blacks now had social equality, at least in legal terms. The Civil Rights Act also prohibited discrimination in employment practices and the 1965 Voting Rights Act made the process to register to vote more accessible for blacks. In the South, ‘literacy tests’, poll taxes and other methods were used to restrict black voting. These were made illegal allowing all adult blacks the right and means to vote thereby giving them political equality. All other discriminatory laws were also banned in the 1960’s such as laws prohibiting inter-racial marriages and racist housing practices. By the end of the 1960s, the “Civil Rights Movement had achieved both social and political equality for blacks. This was a significant success” (“Civil Rights”, 1998). The Civil Rights Movement was an important chapter in American history which led to the establishment of human rights around the world. This high-profile and historic quest for human rights achieved world notice thanks to its unusual approach and also brought to light America’s racist segregation of non-white immigrants. Energized and encouraged by the successes of the civil rights movement, activists worked to reverse the discriminatory laws restricting the influx of darker-skinned peoples into the U.S. Through these actions, the Civil Rights Movement became a ‘stencil’ for human rights worldwide and revolution worldwide. Again, unlike today, the people of the 1960’s were unafraid to protest and were prepared for the consequences of their actions. This was as true of the anti-war protestors as it was the civil rights protestors. The now famous first sit-in occurred at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina when four black students sat down at a ‘whites only’ establishment and requested service. The strategy quickly spread to ‘wade-ins’ at segregated city swimming pools and beaches, ‘pray-ins’ at segregated churches and ‘stand-ins’ at all-white theatres. These activists that braved the threat of being beaten and jailed in order to advance their cause of racial justice were inspired by the illustration of courage by those who participated in the Montgomery bus boycott. In 1962, James Meredith became the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but only after President Kennedy used 600 U.S. Marshals and 15,000 federal national guardsmen to restore order. Meredith was later murdered by a white sniper. Many other instances of bravery too numerous to mention characterize the civil rights movement. Acts of disobedience were commonplace during the 1960’s and all too uncommon in past and future decades (Viorst, 1979, p. 374). Today’s parents are asking themselves what their parents asked a generation ago, where did we go wrong? Why don’t our children have the courage to stand up for their beliefs as we did? People are dying for an illegal, immoral war, again, but few are marching in the street. A supplemental theory as to why anti-government activism isn’t as widespread is that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 brought about a fresh wave of patriotism across the nation and a ‘with us or against us’ mentality which has been constantly reinforced by the Bush administration. Still, it can be argued that there is more reason to protest today than during the 1960’s. The eradication of habeas corpus, justifications for the use of torture tactics and illegal wiretapping are but a few of the erosion of freedoms that has occurred in this country during the past six years yet freedom-loving Americans sit on their hands and close their collective eyes to this abhorrent violation of the precepts of a free democracy laid down by the Founding Fathers. Now, more than ever, throngs of angry citizens should be marching in the streets demanding an end to the war and restoration of constitutionally guaranteed rights. To paraphrase a 60’s saying, though, ‘what if they gave a protest and nobody showed up.’ Today, we write about our frustrations on a blog but this just doesn’t have the same impact as marching with signs and bullhorns in defiance of decidedly unpatriotic actions by the powers that be. Still, I, like so many others, shamefully are not infected with the activist spirit of those in the 60’s who deserve to be classified as another ‘greatest generation’ and praised for their demonstration of real patriotism. Works Cited Bexte, Martina. “The Vietnam War Protests.” Essortment. (2002). July 28, 2007 “Civil Rights Movement, The.” (1998). Theale Green Community School. Berkshire. July 28, 2007 Viorst, Milton. Fire in the Streets: America in the 1960s. New York: Simon and Schuster, (1979). Read More