The Civil Rights Movement in the United States started to become prominent in the late 1940s after which President Truman signed a mandate to declare equality among all people in the armed services regardless their differences in race and color as the first step towards achieving a nation filled with justice. In the King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement, Taylor Branch analyzes the various Civil Rights Movements events that took place in the history of America. The activities that were milestones in the Civil Right Movements thus helping to shape American history. The essay discusses three events of the civil rights movement focusing on the participation of the citizens, the protesting methods applied, and the response of the white, black, as well as the federal government towards the activities.
Brown vs. Board of Education
In 1954, the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka became a momentous Supreme Court case in which there was unanimously ruling by the judges that racial segregation of children in public school was against the 14th amendment of the American constitution. As one of the primary foundations of the civil rights movement, it aided in the establishment that the previously known as the separate-but-equal rule was not justice at all. Brown vs. Board of Education comprised of five different segregation cases that were presented in the court by the African-American parents. Special counsel Thurgood Marshall who represented the plaintiffs argued that separate school caused stigmatization to the black children. It was against the equal protection of the 14 amendments of the constitution. Again, they stated that their children were forced to board buses and walk across long distances to reach the schools meant for Blacks.
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The decision led to the intensified resistance by the white supremacist group together with the government officials who sympathized with the segregationists. On the other hand, it encouraged and empowered the African Americans who for the very first time they felt that they had someone who cared about then in the Supreme Court.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, African American protested against segregation by refusing to ride in the Montgomery Bus in Alabama after the arrest of Rosa Parks. The Black woman was arrested for refusal to surrender her seat to a white man. African leaders including Martin Luther King mobilized black people to boycott in church on Sunday, December 4th, 1955. About 40,000 African Americans boycotted the use of the bus systems for changes in the segregation system.
African Americans wanted the bus association to allow African Americans to be drivers, and also adopt the first-come-first-serve policy. The city did resist the demands of the Protestants thus leading to the organization of carpools where the African Americans rode together at the same cost of riding a bus. Majority of them preferred to walk to and from work and other destination. Despite attaining integration, Montgomery continued with segregated bus stops. Therefore, snippers started firing into buses leading to the death of a pregnant African American woman. The shooting led to shattered. Members of Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacists group, bombed four black churches and the homes of prominent African Americans. The immense arrest of seven white bombers ended the bussing-related violence
Desegregation at little rock. A group of nine students was enrolled in the formerly all-white school as a test for the Brown v. Board of Education that led to integration in public schools. However, the students were not allowed to enter the school as it was supposed. Governor Orval Faubus used the National guards to close the gate and ensure that the students did not enter the school. As a result, the national government ordered the federal troop to escort the students to the school as segregation was unconstitutional. According to the governor, the prevention of the students from accessing Central High School was for the good of the students. Integration would have led to violence and bloodshed as the whites did not like the idea of sharing the education facilities and equipment with blacks.
In the school, Mother’s League held a sunrise service as a demonstration against integration. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the nine black students, was attacked by the white students and adults as they protest the idea of integration again. Even though the army offered the students protection from the angry mob of whites, they continued to experience harassment and mistreatments in the school. Some were thrown acid on their faces while the nine were barred from taking part in the extra curriculum activities. Besides, white students threw some African American students over the stairs and other into the fire. The citizens in the areas continued to vote against the idea of integration thus the closure of the institution. Eight of the nine students had to complete their studies in other schools before the reopening of the Little Rock Central High School.
Conclusively, the American civil rights movement which was the mass demonstration movement against racial isolation and bias is crucial in American history. Various activities and events that took place during the era like Brown V. Board of Education, Montgomery Bus Boycott and the integration at little rock were critical milestones of the civil rights movement that contributed in the history of America as a country. They were all geared towards enhancing integration and equality among all citizens despite color and race.
