https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement/images-videos#/media/1/119368/155051
Title: History ORT 2020
Name: Khelan Mooloo
School: St Albans College
Research Question: To what extent did the Civil Rights Movement enjoy far larger
successes in fighting racial segregation in America compared to the Black Power
Movement? (1955-1975)
Table of Contents
1
, Page
Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………........ 3
Literature Review……………………………………………………………………………….6
Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………19
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...27
Reflection……………………………………………………………………………………….29
Reference List………………………………………………………………………………….30
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………………..31
INTRODUCTION
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,Throughout the 20th century, African Americans were constantly treated as inferior within a
country where they were forced to enter. A system that promoted racism and slavery was set in
place and this system constantly left Black people in fear, pain and suffering. The African
Americans needed someone or something to get them out of this hole that kept getting deeper.
This saw the emergence of the Black Power Movement and the US Civil Rights Movement.
In the Southern States of America, a Black Code was instituted between 1887 and 1892 that
essentially set up laws with the aim to segregate and discriminate against African Americans in
the country. This later became known as the Jim Crow Laws and it aimed at segregating all
public facilities so that white people and black people were kept seperate. The American
Government and the systematic structures set in place contained a large number of white
supremacists who promoted this violent behaviour towards Black People. This violence was
further reinforced through the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and they purposefully attacked African
Americans as they did not fit their ‘white is pure’ ideology. The Government made it extremely
difficult for black people to vote in the country through the implementation of the literacy tests
which ultimately decided which Black people were ‘worthy enough’ to vote. Additionally, they
promoted and accepted the thousands of white racists who gathered to spread hate towards
these black people when they came to register for the voting. All of this hatred and segregation
that the Government encouraged was said to be valid under the Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment in the Plessy v Ferguson decision of 1896 which stated in writing that
facilities were to be kept seperate as long as Black people and White people were kept equal.
They were most definitely not equal however. (Pillay, et al, pg. 172, 2017)
In this, a change needed to be made. Black people were constantly discriminated against and it
started as early as 1619 where slavery had officially started within the United States (US).
Hundreds of years had passed by and the mistreatment and discrimination of Black people still
continued. Slavery had officially been abolished after the establishment of the Thirteenth
Amendment (1862) following the American Civil War(Caryl-Sue, n.d). The coming of this
decision was not as easy coming as seemed, for hundreds of years, black people had
established abolition movements with the aim to ultimately abolish slavery and finally allow them
to be equal. Eventually, their cries were heard and although, Black people were written to be
equal, through the Jim Crow Laws and the ‘Separate but Equal” ideology; this sense of equality
was a myth. There were barely any civil rights granted to the Black People of the US. Thus,
the Black People needed to be handed their civil rights back and this came in the form of the
newly created US Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement targeted the racial
discrimination and inequalities that existed in the USA and they aimed to bring a change to this
and help African Americans gain the civil rights that they deserved. In 1955, the modern Civil
Rights Movement began after a simple act of defiance which took place on a Montgomery Bus
by Rosa Parks. This act of defiance was the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement because it
was this moment that led to the increased popularity of the movement. After the summer of
1955, the murder and kidnapping of Emmett Till led to widespread protests around the US.
Thus, this incident by Rosa Parks in December of 1955 further sparked more protests around
the South. This event inspired thousands of Black people to defy against the oppressive
structures set in place and this officially initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956.
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, This act of defiance against the Jim Crow Laws, specifically the racist Montgomery Bus Laws
was not treated lightly and Rosa Parks was eventually arrested. The arrest, however, did spark
the first mass protest and boycott put together by the Civil Rights Movement. (Onion, et al,
2019)
Furthermore, one cannot neglect the main leaders within these movements and it is their
leadership that led so many African Americans out of poverty, hunger and suffering into a
position where they are able to vote freely and represent the rights the rights they deserve.
Martin Luther King Jr had joined the civil rights movement and he took it upon himself to help
lead a lot of the movements and boycotts during the time (Montgomery Bus Boycott, for
example). He had managed to influence thousands of Black people around the country and the
world. His method of action in the struggle for freedom was through non-violent protests and
civil disobedience. He was largely influenced by the Christian faith and this was the main reason
for his peaceful approach for tackling of this issue. In this, the Civil Rights Movement took a very
peacheful, non-violent stance to tackle racial discrimination within the America. They
emphasised forms of protests through civil disobedience through the use of sit-ins, freedom
rides, protest campaigns and demonstrations. Alongside, the peaceful approach Martin Luther
King Jr encouraged, he also stood for a multi-racial approach that aimed to please both White
people and Black people. Throughout this period of civil disobedience, the aims of the Civil
Rights Movement remained the same. They dedicated themselves to fighting for equal rights
and improved treatment towards Black Americans with th ultimate goal of removing the racial
discrimination and segregation within America. (Lewis and Carson, 2020)
However, the 1960s saw a very different process in the struggle for freedom. Unfortunately , the
Civil Rights Movement did not completely benefit Black people as African Americans continued
to face problems such as poverty and racial discrimination. Seemingly, the use of non-violent
protests did not work and many argued that Martin Luther King Junior was too moderate and too
peaceful. Thus, this saw the beginning of the Black Power Movement which believed that force
was the only means necessary that would allow the Black people to gain social, political and
economic power. The Black Power Movement promoted an idea that created a feeling of pride
and honour within the Black skin colour. This ideology of self-worth and empowerment has
developed tremendously into modern culture and it has played an immense role in the defeating
of racial discrimination in countries around the world. (Taylor, 2019)
Differing from the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement did not contain one main
leader as the party had no central leadership. However, Malcolm X was a profound advocate for
the Movement and his ideas and methods ran throughout the movement. The Black Power
Movement ultimately led to the forming of a variety of movements that emphasised the use of
violence to fight for their common aim, equal rights and a sense of Black power and
consciousness amongst the African Americans within America. The successes of these
individual movements will be investigated throughout the researching process. (Getchell, n.d)
It can be argued that although, both movements used different methods to fight racial
segregation, they both shared a common goal which was ultimately the civil rights for all Black
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