Civil Rights Movement
By Jason Barnes
To what degree has the civil rights movement contributed to making the United States a more equal and just society?
Malcolm X
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks
Tactics and Strategies Used in the Civil Rights Movement
Another one of the strategies used in the civil rights movement was marches. That's right, thousands of African Amricans would gather and march from one place to another for certain causes. One of these marches was the Selma to Montgomery march. In this march the purpose was to help blacks register to vote. This march was stopped by police when the marchers tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. This march was attempted three times before it was completed successfully. Another one of these marches was the March on Washington. This was probably the most well known of them all. About 200,000 blacks and whites showed up and this is where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Finally, there was the attempt of desegregation of public schools. One of these schools was Little Rock Central High School. Nine African American students who had sued for the rights to attend an integrated school. These students had been chosen for this school because of their excellent grades. The students had to be escorted to school by the military, and had to be escorted between classes because of harsh conditions. The white students would harass the nine students and they were even attacked when the military personnel were not around. Only one of the nine students graduated from central high school, then the school closed so they wouldn't have to integrate.
Top Five Events of the Civil Rigths Movement
The second most important event in the movement is probably the Montgomery bus boycott. This year long event in Montgomery, Alabama involved African Americans finding other means of transportation than the bus system. African Americans took up 75% of the people who rode the bus, so the bus systems lost a lot of money because of this.
The third most important event was the Selma to Montgomery march. Thousands of African Americans made 3 attempts to make a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery. Only on their third attempt did they complete the march due to law enforcement.
The fourth event is the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. National guard prevents black 9 black children from attending the school. Federal paratroopers have to escort the children to and from school and between classes for them too attend.
The fifth but not least is the bombing of Birmingham Church. 4 girls are murdered vy a bomb that was planted inside of the church.
Important groups in the Civil Rights Movement
Another important group in the Civil Rights Movement was the Congress of Racial equality (CORE). Only a third of the founders were black, the other were white. CORE was founded in Chicago in March 1942. This group focused on nonviolent actions against segregation. They had a total of 53 chapters by 1961 throughout the US.