FREE Civil Rights Movement: The Agony and the Ecstasy Essay (original) (raw)

The Agony and the Ecstasy: The Civil Rights Movement.
Throughout its history the United States has wrestled with civil rights issues. Even at this country's birth, its Founding Fathers incorporated the Three-Fifths Compromise, ending a dispute over slaves" votes, into the United States" very Constitution. Since 1863, at least fifty-eight riots in America have been related to racism (Duncan 6). Winona LaDuke tells of more than 1,000 tailings and slag piles from uranium mines dumped in Native American Din land (3). "Nearby the land is the largest coal strip mine in the world, and some Din teenagers have a cancer rate seventeen times the national average (3)." These crises and struggles for civil rights in the United States culminate in the 1960s, producing the Civil Rights Movement. Although it is called "The Civil Rights Movement," it is only a section of a greater American struggle for civil rights. This struggle occurred before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement, and it has impacted history through its events, its ideas, and its people.
Before the Civil Rights Movement culminated in the 1960s, its events unfolded against apathy and racism. At the end of the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery (Boyer, et al. 502). Black codes, however, impeded freedmen's economic and social development. For example, blacks could not employ whites; they had to work under whites (P. McKissack and F. McKissack 27). Sharecropping, too, put blacks (and whites) into a cycle of poverty. Sharecropping was a feudal system in which landlords (whites) granted sharecroppers (blacks) land. The sharecroppers used this land to farm, and the crops paid for their landlords rent. However, the landlords were poor and had to charge exaggerated rents, and the sharecroppers had debts beyond possible recompense. The sharecroppers could not pay the rents, thus the becoming further in debt with landlords, and the landlords lost money, creating the cycle of poverty (29).

1. The Civil Rights Movement

The progression of the civil rights movement for African Americans advanced through many important events. ... Arguably a very significant turning point for the civil rights movement was the Montgomery bus boycott. ... Philip A Randolph was undoubtedly n important figure as is actions helped boost the civil rights movement. However the impact that he made didn't cause a turning point in the civil rights movement, as there were other factors like the little rock movement, that arguably made a bigger impact towards discrimination towards black Americans and getting the civil rights act pass...

2. History and the Civil Rights Movement

Introduction In the 1950's and 1960's the Civil Rights Movement was a popular movement to end segregation amongst blacks and whites and for the black population to earn equal rights. ... This paper will discuss the roots of the Civil Rights Movement, leaders that affected the Civil Rights Movement, and laws that influenced the Civil Rights Movement. ... Civil Rights Leaders Leaders such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X all contributed to the Civil Rights Movement. ... Board of Education, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and The Voting Rights Act of 1965 all c...

3. The American Civil Rights Movement

Racial and social justice was the root factor to start the American Civil Rights Movement, due to years of racial segregation such as the Jim Crow Segregation. The civil rights movement was like a war conducted on many fronts. ... During the 1960s, great judicial and legislative reform was made such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.The civil rights movement was adopted to never allow systemic oppression for any human being and aimed to transform a tragic past and move towards a greater future. Martin Luther King was a key player in the civil rights movement. .....

4. Civil disobedience in the civil rights movement

Without Civil Disobedience, the Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have gotten very far in the 60's. ... The Civil Rights Movement is the movement of the 1950's and 1960's to win equal rights for all African Americans. ... It was around the time that Martin Luther King Jr. became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. ... The Civil Rights Movement in the United States has been a long, primarly nonviolent struggle to bring full Civil Rights and equality under the law of Americans. ... The Civil Rights Movement had a big and lasting impact on the U.S societ...

5. The Modern Civil Rights Movement

Ralph Abernathy formed the SCLC, which was a key element in the modern Civil Rights Movement. ... The abuse that participants of arranged "sit-ins" and "freedom rides" endured further displayed the necessity of the Civil Rights Movement. ... They hoped to draw a crowd of 100,000, but instead more than 250,000 people showed up to support this monumental milestone in the Civil Rights Movement, which showed America the extent of the Movement and helped to gain more supporters. ... King was a tragic loss to the Civil Rights Movement, it was a powerful statement to the black community and the wh...

6. Civil Rights Movement

Most historians agree that the civil rights movement began with either the Brown v. ... After two world wars and a nationwide depression the civil rights movement that most Americans are familiar with began to emerge. ... With all these factors in place, the civil rights movement in America emerged around the mid 1950s. ... The civil rights movement quickly moved beyond school desegregation to challenge other unjust institutions in the South. ... The Montgomery bus boycott was one of the milestones of the civil rights movement because it established a national civil rights movement that re...

7. Civil Rights Movement in Miami

The Civil Rights Movement in Miami The Truly Prolonged African American Experience in Miami How strange it all seems now equality. ... Topeka Board of Education decision all played key roles in our American Civil Rights Movement. ... It is important to realize that the Civil Rights Movement did not happen overnight. Prior to the civil rights movement in Dade County, black people were essentially second-class citizens. ... A social and economic struggle inevitably accompanied African Americans during and after the Civil Rights Movement in Miami. ...

8. Successes of the Civil Rights Movement

President Truman became the first president to try to end segregation by trying to reinstate the Fair Employment Practices Committee, to establish a civil rights commission, and to deny federal aid to states that participated in racial segregation of any kind. ... Board of Education of Topeka case along with influential leaders such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., emphasized the need for civil liberties, while events such as Rosa Park's seat refusal, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Women's Political Caucus, and the establishment of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee spar...

9. The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement in the United States was a political, legal, and social struggle by black Americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve racial equality. The Civil Rights movement was first and foremost a challenge to segregation. ... The Civil Rights Movement has also been called the Black Freedom Movement, the Negro Revolution, and the Second Reconstruction. There were three main tenets to the Civil Rights Movement, the Post Civil War Period, the Educational Period, and the Social Movement. ... The third tenet of the Civil Rights Moveme...

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