The Civil Rights in the 1950's and 60's

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(1) Trumans civil rights committee: In 1947 Trumans Civil Rights Committee

recommended laws protecting the right of African Americans to vote and banning

segregation on railroads and buses. It also called for a federal law punishing lynching.

He issued executive orders ending segregation in the armed forces and prohibiting job

discrimination in all government agencies.

(2) Brown V. the Board of Education (1954): In 1954 the Supreme Court made one of

the most important decisions in its long history. It decided in the case of Brown v.

Board Of Education of Topeka that it was unconstitutional for states to maintain

separate schools for African American and white children. This case over turned the

"Separate but equal" doctrine established in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson back in

1896.

(3) Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955): After the supreme court decided to end

segregation, African Americans started to speak out more about their racial opinions. In

Montgomery, Alabama, a bus boycott ended with a victory for the African Americans.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Alabama segregation laws were unconstitutional.

During the boycott a young African American Baptist minister, Martin Luther King, Jr.

became well known. Throughout the long contest he advised African Americans to

avoid violence no matter had badly provoked by whites. Rosa Parks tired of sitting in

the back of the bus, and giving up her seat to white men. One weary day she refused

to move from the front of the bus, and she became one of history's heroes in the Civil

Rights Act movement.

(4) The Civil Rights Act: In 1964 congress passed a Civil Rights Act prohibiting racial

discrimination in restaurants, theaters, hotels, hospitals, and public facilities of all sorts.

This civil rights act also made it easier and safer for Southern Blacks to register and

vote. Laws were passed to help poor people improve their ability to earn money, a

program to give extra help to children at risk even before they were old enough to go

to school, and a program to train school dropouts.

(5) The Great Society: These actions were very popular. Johnson easily won the 1964

presidential election and then proposed what he called the Great Society program. This

was Johnson's plan. He would work to improve the lives of all people, but especially the

poor and the powerless. Programs were aimed at helping every segment in society.

(6) Passive Resistance: After Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully led the African

Americans through the bus boycott, he became a national figure. Every where he

preached the idea of non- violence or passive resistance as the best way to achieve

racial equality. " Nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards" he said. One must

"accept blows from the opponent without striking back". Love, not hate or force, was

the way to change people's minds.

(7) "I have a dream":

1. " Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the

sunlit path of racial justice".

2. " Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!"

3. " I have a dream that one day this great nation will rise up and live out the true

meaning of its creed: ' We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are

created equal."