The Civil Rights Era: Timeline, Facts & Figures

Introduction

The struggle towards civil rights in the United States of America began with the Supreme Court verdict in Brown v. Board of Education of 1954. Since then the Americans think of this verdict any time they remember the civil rights movements. This verdict was very fundamental since it outlawed the segregated education between the whites and blacks in the United States of America. Several events took place in the United States of America which aimed at achieving maximum equality between the whites and the blacks. Among these occurrences were the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the culminated which took place during the late 1960s and at the beginning of the early 1970s. Moreover, to counter segregation that existed in the U.S by that time, many organizations emerged with a common agenda of achieving the civil rights. These organizations were the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). However, these groups experienced a couple of quarrels which made them unable to champion their agenda effectively. Nevertheless, these organizations managed to cohere around their primary goal of eliminating the discriminative system of Jim Crow and the reform of some inhuman racism which existed in the American schools, hospitals, and other institutions. These organizations drew people from all different classes and backgrounds. In fact, some of the American memories of the civil rights movement during the years the 1950s and 1960s can be observed in dramas and films which were captured during those days. The news articles and scholarly journals are also primary sources of this struggle.

During the movements, the American nation realized the potential of the younger generation who fought tirelessly to achieve their civil rights, in fact, many young people got killed during this movement. The civil right activists like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X met several hostilities, federal ambivalence, and indifferences. Moreover, to make it worse was the police brutality against them. However, in spite of all these brutalities, the black Americans fought back in the form of riots and formation of political platforms like the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and voter registration drives where they could channel their grievances. After all these activities, the crowning achievements started being seen with civil rights of the years 1964 and 1965 when the blacks were allowed to participate in voting processes 1 . In fact, having a look at some of these activities that characterized the civil rights movement in the United States of America, an individual would realize that these images are angering and inspiring since they contain powerful and iconic personalities. The paradox in the civil rights movement in history in America is that the Americans do not know much about it and they need to be contextualized. Apparently, the vast gains of the civil rights movement set to last for a long time.

Brown v. Board of Education of the year 1954 was seen as one of the most important decisions of the America Supreme Court during the 20th Century 2 . The Supreme Court unanimously delivered a verdict that racial discrimination of learners in public institutions infringed on the rights of Equal Protection Clause which formed the Fourteenth Amendment. However, even if this constitution did not fully succeed in eliminating racial discrimination in America, it tried introducing racial equality which was previously lacking. This resulted into galvanizing the move for civil rights activism in the US. In fact, in the year 1954 going downwards, many schools were segregated in the United States of America which were legally made public by leaders like in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896. The leaders argued that there was nothing wrong with segregating public facilities as long as both the whites and blacks were able to access the same facility 3 . Following this, in the mid of 20th Century, the blacks and the civil rights activists groups started a fight against racial segregation. Due to this, in the year 1950, the lawyer filed a lawsuit on behalf of the black school children at Kansas situated south of California aiming at seeking the court order to allow the black Americans to attend the same white schools.

Besides, these school actions characterized the Brown v. Board of Education which was filed to counter the Topeka, a school board in Kansas whose had also lounged a complainant, Oliver Brown was a parent of one of the children who had been denied access to this white school. The plaintiff argued to the court that the Topeka school had violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by denying his kid an opportunity to join the school. However, the federal court dismisses this case arguing that the segregated public schools were as well equal enough to be constitutional with regards to the Plessy doctrine. This was what prompted Brown to move to Supreme Court to appeal the case. The Supreme Court soberly reviewed all the school segregation actions. Following this decision, actually, the majority of the blacks applauded both the judge and his ruling under the leadership of chief justice Earl Warren whom they applaud the most for admitting such decision 4 . The Supreme Court actually spoke in a unanimous voice as was written by the chief justice, Warren. The supreme court's decision established that the ethnic exclusion in the public learning institutions was violating the equal protection rights of the clause of the 14th amendments that prohibits all state from making or enforcing any law which denies any individual, irrespective of race within its jurisdiction, equity rights before the law. The judge noted that the Congress did not have any intention of amalgamating the public schools when they were enacting that law. In fact, the Supreme Court further pointed out that that fourteenth amendment did not prohibit integration 5 . In other words, the court access to education in the twentieth century was now a compulsory constituent of every child’s life. Furthermore, this forms the foundation of democratic nationality, professional training, and customary socialization. On this background, the court noted that any youngster who was deprived of a good education was improbable to succeeding in life. This means that the central government of the United States of America had an obligation to provide universal education which was a right to every child and had to be dispensed equally to both whites and blacks.

During the presidency of Eisenhower in the year 1957, the Civil Act was introduced and then kicked-off the civil rights legislation enactments which included the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 voting rights act. The president was a popular proponent and champion of civil rights act came out clearly and strongly supported this move. In fact, instead of representing the country on more weighty issues 6 , Eisenhower responded to the civil rights problems like the Little Rock. Previously, Eisenhower was not advocating for the civil rights movements publicly since he believed that it was not easy to change people's perceptions about changing their beliefs. Furthermore, he believed that such changes could only come from an individual's heart but not as a result of the Washington legislation. However, during his presidency in the year 1957, Eisenhower tried very hard and enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Some people argued that Eisenhower only made this move with the intention of winning the black person's vote, a reason that was later discounted because, in the subsequent election, only 205 blacks were registered as voters.

The primary aim of the 1957 Civil Rights Act was to ensure that all the black Americans got registered as voters and exercised their democratic rights in the ballot during an election. The Act also aimed at compelling the federal justice department to trace all the cases of civil rights injustices and compile a joint report on the same. Eisenhower was shocked by the Little Rock news which also publicly supported the bill. However, the final draft of the bill was a little bit thwarted since it did not receive enough support from the Congress as was thought by the president, Eisenhower. Among the Democrats who failed to vote for the bill, at last, was the Senate leader, Lyndon Baines Johnson. He felt that the bill and its progress via the Congress faced the peril of getting thwarted since his party was home to many right-wing Southern senators and several liberal west coast senators, the people who were against the bill 7 . In fact, for him to keep with the Congressional procedure, Johnson directed the bill through a judiciary committee that he felt had the ability scrutinize the bill for further directions, imperfections, controversial issues and unconstitutional points. The committee in charge of the constitution was chaired by the Senator for Mississippi, James Eastland. The committee had sufficient powers to change the bill and alter it nearly beyond recognition.

However, irrespective of all these challenges the bill encountered during its enactments, the Civil rights Act of the year 1957 inspired the black people to continue registering as voters in the United States of America 8 . The Act stiffened the people’s rights, and anyone found culpable of obstructing anyone from exercise his/her rights as enshrined in this Act was to be charged and if found guilty punished heavily by the jury in the South. However, later on, the political goodwill and civic confidence towards the act became contaminated after Eisenhower suddenly changed against the Act claiming that he did not understand some parts of the act. In fact, even the Blacks themselves got divided with regards to this bill since some like the Ralph Bunche, a University Professor, argued that the bill was a mock and declared it useless. Nevertheless, some blacks like Bayard Rustin believed that the bill was important because it was a symbol of the first civil rights legislation since in the history of America.

On the other hand, the Civil rights Act of 1964 was characterized by equivalent admittance to public places, and it made segregation in employment sector illegal. In fact, this Act marked the freedom struggle for the blacks. However, the bill achieved the voting rights which were part of the civil right Act of 1957. Moreover, the civil rights of the year 1965 suspended the literacy tests and other several voting tests which used to block Blacks from voting. The Bill authorized the federal government to supervise voter registration process and initiatives in the states as well as the various voting districts. The Blacks who were previously banned from voting got their freedom back, and the court allowed them now to vote. The 1965 civil rights act gave the attorney general powers to immediately replace the local registrars of the election in case of an election infringement 9 . In fact, the Civil rights of the year 1965 created a significant impact immediately it was enacted on August 6, 1965 10 , by ensuring that nearly a quarter of a million of the black Americans registered as voters. In fact, four years later the voter registration in the South had gone up twice. The year 1965, the Mississippi region had the highest number of black Americans who had registered as voters. This number was estimated to be 74% of the total black Americans voters, and in the year 1969, the Tennessee registered nearly 92.1% black voters, Arkansas 77.9% and Texas registering 73.1%.

Indeed achieving voting rights among the blacks nearly changed the political landscape of the southern America. It was noted that only 100 blacks held political positions before civil rights activism, a situation which turned around all of a sudden after the achievement of the voting rights. In fact, by the year 1989, nearly 7200 more blacks in the south got political seats. In the county of Alabama, almost every Black Belt had a black sheriff 11 . The southern blacks as well held top political positions within the cities, states, and counties. The Atlanta and New Orleans regions had the back majors who were Andrew Young and Ernest Morial respectively. There were many African-Americans national politicians who were the Texas representative to the Congress, Barbara Jordan and the U.S ambassador to the United Nations, the former mayor of New Orleans. Another African American who held a senior position was Juliana Bond who was elected to the Georgia Legislative Council in the year 1965 12 . However, Juliana Bond's involvement into the Vietnam spoilt his political career blocking him from being re-elected in the year 1967. Some black Americans like John Lewis represented Georgia's 5th Congressional District in the Congress House of the Representatives since the year 1987.

Indeed the massive benefits of the civil rights movements in the United States of America can still see up to today 13 . Moreover, the full benefits of the civil rights shall still continue being seen. Nowadays, the civil rights have taken another dimension with multiple races, the issues of gender and sexual orientation are the dominant issues. Fortunately, racism has lost its social, political grounds, however, the legacy that it has left behind include poverty, ignorance, and disease among the African Americans in the United States of America 14 . One of the American presidents, Johnson argued ignorance, poverty, and diseases are the enemies and not their fellow man nor their neighbor. He used to describe poverty, diseases, and ignorance as the enemies.

In considering the administrations of the Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson, it is evident that Johnson was the most effective leader with regards to civil rights in the United States of America since during his presidency and this started during the time when a good number of black Americans got sufficient representation in the Congress. In fact, during the time of President Johnson, the majority of black Americans got equal opportunities regarding gender, race, political and social freedoms 15 . He signed the Secondary, Elementary and Higher Education Act which improved the quality of education especially through funding the poor school which were found in the districts of the black Americans. President Johnson also created the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities which were meant to support the African-American humanists and artists 16 . Moreover, Jonson started some useful programs among the blacks aiming at tackling poverty. These programs included the Work Study, Head Start, food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid. These programs supervised the initial manned flight that the country conducted to the Moon through the Apollo 8 program.

However, during President Eisenhower might have done little in fighting for the civil rights. Eisenhower initially gives in to the fight for civil rights, but he late acquitted his stand for the civil rights Act by arguing that there are some sections in that clause which were not clear to him. President Eisenhower only concentrated in bringing stature as the commanding general of the triumphant forces in Europe through the World War II. He used American blacks and the Koreans to work incessantly during his two terms of 1953 and 1961 to reduce the hostilities of the Cold War.

President J.F Kennedy also made some civil rights accomplishments by appointing the Negros as the housing administrators. Among the blacks who he recognized include Robert Weaver whom he appointed to the highest federal post ever held by a Negro. He also appointed George Weaver as the assistant secretary of Labor. J.F Kennedy made several efforts to secure the Negro participations in the organization's middle and upper management levels. In fact, during his presidency, the number of Negro’s jobs was paying very well; however, he was assassinated before doing much in terms of civil rights goals.

Bibliography

Cascio, Elizabeth U., and Ebonya Washington."Valuing the Vote: The Redistribution of Voting Rights and State Funds Following the Voting Rights Act of 1965." The Quarterly Journal of Economics (2013): qjt028.

Cunningham, David. Klansville, USA: The rise and fall of the civil rights-era Ku Klux Klan . Oxford University Press, 2013.

Epstein, Richard A. "Public Accommodations under Civil Rights Act of 1964: Why Freedom of Association Counts as a Human Right." Stan. L. Rev . 66 (2014): 1241.

López, Gerardo R., and Rebeca Burciaga."The troublesome legacy of Brown v. Board of Education." Educational Administration Quarterly 50, no. 5 (2014): 796-811.

McCrone, Donald J., and Richard J. Hardy. "Civil rights policies and the achievement of racial, economic equality, 1948-1975." American journal of political science (1978): 1-17.

McGuire, Danielle L. Race, Rape, and Injustice: Documenting and Challenging Death Penalty Cases in the Civil Rights Era . Univ Tennessee Press (2015): 167-170.

Purdum, Todd S. An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Henry Holt and Company, 2011.

1 Cascio, Elizabeth U., and Ebonya Washington."Valuing the Vote: The Redistribution of Voting Rights and State Funds Following the Voting Rights Act of 1965." The Quarterly Journal of Economics (2013): qjt028. 

2 Cunningham, David. Klansville, USA: The rise and fall of the civil rights-era Ku Klux Klan. Oxford University Press, 2013. 

3 Epstein, Richard A. "Public Accommodations under Civil Rights Act of 1964: Why Freedom of Association Counts as a Human Right." Stan. L. Rev. 66 (2014): 1241. 

4 Epstein, Richard A. "Public Accommodations under Civil Rights Act of 1964: Why Freedom of Association Counts as a Human Right." Stan. L. Rev. 66 (2014): 1241. 

5 Purdum, Todd S. An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Henry Holt and Company, 2011. 

6 López, Gerardo R., and Rebeca Burciaga."The troublesome legacy of Brown v. Board of Education." Educational Administration Quarterly 50, no. 5 (2014): 796-811. 

7 McGuire, Danielle L. "Race, Rape, and Injustice: Documenting and Challenging Death Penalty Cases in the Civil Rights Era." (2015): 167-170. 

8 Epstein, Richard A. "Public Accommodations under Civil Rights Act of 1964: Why Freedom of Association Counts as a Human Right." Stan. L. Rev. 66 (2014): 1241. 

9 Cascio, Elizabeth U., and Ebonya Washington."Valuing the Vote: The Redistribution of Voting Rights and State Funds Following the Voting Rights Act of 1965." The Quarterly Journal of Economics (2013): qjt028. 

10 Purdum, Todd S. An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Henry Holt and Company, 2014. 

11 Cunningham, David. Klansville, USA: The rise and fall of the civil rights-era Ku Klux Klan. Oxford University Press, 2013. 

12 Cascio, Elizabeth U., and Ebonya Washington."Valuing the Vote: The Redistribution of Voting Rights and State Funds Following the Voting Rights Act of 1965." The Quarterly Journal of Economics (2013): qjt028. 

13 McGuire, Danielle L. "Race, Rape, and Injustice: Documenting and Challenging Death Penalty Cases in the Civil Rights Era." (2015): 167-170. 

14 Purdum, Todd S. An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Henry Holt and Company, 2011. 

15 McCrone, Donald J., and Richard J. Hardy. "Civil rights policies and the achievement of racial, economic equality, 1948-1975." American journal of political science (1978): 1-17. 

16 López, Gerardo R., and Rebeca Burciaga."The troublesome legacy of Brown v. Board of Education." Educational Administration Quarterly 50, no. 5 (2014): 796-811.