Civil Rights Movement (jan 1, 1954 – jan 1, 1968)

Description:

The civil rights movement was over a decade long struggle for African Americans against the unequal laws and systems set in place by the United States. The civil rights movement was a nonviolent political campaign to abolish systemic racism, segregation, socio economic imbalance, and the Jim Crow laws. Apart from the centuries worth of discrimination, the fact that minorities up until this movement have had their voices suppressed and ignored. A democracy is supposed to welcome the ideas and input of their people rather than suppress and disregard them. Laws and practices, such as literacy tests as a requirement for minorities to vote were still in place until the voting rights act was signed into law on August 6th, 1965. This act was established to enforce the 15th amendment which was ratified just under a century before this. While federal law stated that African Americans were allowed to vote, certain southern states put in their own obstacles to prevent them from voting. Literacy tests and poll taxes as well as harassment, intimidation, and even physical violence whenever they entered a place to register or vote. Therefore African Americans registration and voices were limited as well as their political power. Consequently a nation that doesn't give people their basic human rights because of their race cannot be considered a democracy. Instead this slowly was the turning point in when America developed into a democratic republic based on the relationship between the power and input the people and government have.

Works Cited

“Civil Rights Movement.” Civil Rights Movement: Timeline, Key Events & Leaders - HISTORY, 18 January 2022, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement. Accessed 20 December 2022.

“15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Voting Rights (1870).” National Archives |, 8 February 2022, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/15th-amendment. Accessed 17 December 2022.

“15th Amendment - Right to Vote Not Denied by Race | Constitution Center.” The National Constitution Center, https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xv. Accessed 17 December 2022.

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