Civil Rights Movement

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT 4

Civil Rights Movement

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Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement is also identified as the African-American Civil Rights Movement. It started in the 1950s where the movement was aiming at ending racial discrimination and segregation against the African Americans who were the victims. It aimed at ensuring that, just like the rest of the American citizens, the African Americans had legal recognition and were protected by the federal laws of the United States and granted all immigrant rights according to the constitution (Chong, 2014). Racial discrimination has been in the United States for decades, and this movement was seen to be evolutional, it could at least minimize the rate at which the Africans Americans were discriminated with. The main reason for choosing this topic is to review some steps that have been involved in fighting racial discrimination in the United States in the historical times and evaluating the proceedings which have been made in the recent times.

Civil Rights movement involved several activists risking and some losing their lives over time. In the process, they were risking, and even others lost their lives. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are some of the people who fought hard to have the African Americans granted rights equal to those of other U.S. citizens (Morris, 1986). During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, the African Americans achieved two significant aspects where the constitution was amended. Slavery was abolished, they were granted rights to citizenship in 1954 through the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. Also, in 1964, the Voting Rights Act was changed, and African Americans could vote just like other citizens. These changes affected not only the African Americans but also disabled individuals, women and others who were victims of discrimination (Utsey, 2000).

More things can be learned about this movement, the most important being knowing other achievements that accomplished by this movement over time and having a deeper understanding of discrimination and the steps that the U.S. government has taken to come with them.

Chong, D. (2014). Collective action and the civil rights movement. University of Chicago Press.

Morris, A. D. (1986). The origins of the civil rights movement. Simon and Schuster.

Utsey, S. O., Ponterotto, J. G., Reynolds, A. L., & Cancelli, A. A. (2000). Racial discrimination, coping, life satisfaction, and self-esteem among African Americans. Journal of Counseling and Development: JCD, 78(1), 72.