This project will display the different tactics, and demonstrations Americans have taken for fighting for equality and justice from 1910-1995. Specifically, this project will depict the various ways African Americans fought for justice during this time period, because of the influence and prevalence of African American protests during this time. Fighting for justice has consistently been significant throughout American history, with the founding of America spurring from protests against the British. This project will focus on African American efforts because of the major impact the Civil Rights Movement left on America and the ways of protesting that African Americans influenced for other minority groups to use for future efforts.
Before the Civil Rights Movement in the mid 20th century, which will be one of the main focuses because of its prominent protests, fights for justice by African Americans in the 20th century existed as well. The National Association of Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in 1909, which would help kickstart the fight for justice for African Americans [1]. Formed over the high rates of lynching, the NAACP formed to have a unified organization to fight back against the discrimination and segregation African Americans were facing [1]. The group was organized by prevalent Civil Rights Activists, W.E.B Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and others [2]. The NAACP would prove to be significant with its campaigns and legal work. In the early 1900s, the NAACP started an anti-lynching campaign [1]. This campaign would lead to laws created against lynching, because of works written by the NAACP [1]. The usage of written works instead of public protests would be later used by most activists during the Civil Rights Movement. The NAACP continued its fight with the desegregation of public schools [1]. This campaign was led by lawsuits, specifically by Charles Houston, against boards of education to allow African Americans into the better funded, all-white public schools [1]. This campaign would lead to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and provide insight into the effectiveness of utilizing legal matters for the gaining of rights. Although most of the cases were unsuccessful, the indication of legal work as a way for obtaining civil rights would prove to be valuable as boards of education and governments continued to be sued [1]. Specifically, the pursing of legal action would lead to Oliver Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas, which is recognized as the kickstart of the Civil Rights Movement [3].
The project then moves to the protests that were seen during the Civil Rights Movement, starting with the bus boycotts of Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks. In the mid-1900s, the bus system was extremely segregated with African Americans forced to sit in the back of the bus if a white person wanted a seat in the front [3]. Colvin the originator, refused to move from her seat in 1955, which resulted in the 15-year-old Colvin, to be arrested [2]. Parks grew inspiration from this boycott and would do the same as well months later [2]. These initial boycotts would result in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. African Americans refusing to take the Montgomery public buses, which would result in the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional [2]. The boycotts are seen as the initial public fights for justice from African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement. These boycotts would influence the sit-ins, marches, and other forms of protest following.
Following the bus boycotts, four African American students from North Carolina A&T refused to leave a “whites only” lunch counter without being served [3]. The students at Woolworths were refused service because of the restaurant’s “white only” policy. In turn, the students beforehand had planned with a local white businessman to wait at the counter until the restaurant closed or until being served [4]. The police arrived but were unable to arrest anyone, because of the objection to serving African Americans being the stated rule. The local businessman called local news teams about the situation, which would be nationally reported [4]. Known as the “Greensboro Four”, these students’ actions would spark sit-ins nationwide in the south with sit-ins in over 55 cities [4].
Marches are one of the most prominent forms of protest used during the Civil Rights Movement. The first major march would be known as the “March on Washington”. Orchestrated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the march was heavily publicized by the NAACP, invoking all African Americans to join the march [5]. The march’s purpose was to voice the need for equal jobs and freedom for African Americans. Over 250,000 people would join Martin Luther King Jr on August 25th, 1963 [5]. The march helps create Martin Luther King Jr as the main figure of the Civil Rights Movement after his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial [5]. The unity of the March on Washington would help provoke President Lyndon B. Johnson to enact The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prevented employment discrimination [3]. This march’s effectiveness would also help invoke the Selma-Montgomery March [6]. Also helped started by Martin Luther King Jr, 600 civil rights activists would walk from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery Alabama in protest of African American voter suppression [6]. The 18-day marches were contested by local police, but the message was displayed and would be heard nationwide. The Selma-Montgomery March would help lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which prevented the use of literacy tests to deter African American voting, and it also allowed federal examiners to prevent local discrimination [6].
The last topic this project will detail is the riots in the 1990s. The Los Angeles Riots will be the primary focus because of the significance of the riots. In 1991, Rodney King was brutally beaten by police officers after a high-speed chase [7]. A videotape that would be shown nationally would reveal police officers using racial slurs and excessively beating King [7]. King, an African American, was released on charges, but the four police officers who brutalized King were not charged either for beating King [7]. This would cause a six-day riot in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Thousands of people damaged property, assaulted police and citizens, and burned things to the ground. Over 60 people were killed and more than 2,000 people were injured [7]. The riot would demonstrate the frustration African Americans had with the discrimination they still faced.
Notes
- Davis, Thomas. History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO, 2016.
- Wallenfeldt, Jeffrey H. Black American Biographies: The Journey of Achievement. New York, NY: Britannica Educational Pub. in Association with Rosen Educational Services, 2011.
- Foner, Eric, Give Me Liberty! An American History, (W. W. Norton & Company, 2017)
- Thurber, T. N. “February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four.” OAH Magazine of History 20, no. 1 (February 01, 2006): 30-44. Accessed April 25, 2019.
- Mazzari, Louis. “Winning the War for Democracy: The March on Washington Movement, 1941-1946.” Accessed April 18, 2019. America: History and Life.
- Smolan, Rick, Jennifer Erwitt, Bret Stephens, and Todd Brewster. The Good Fight: Americas Ongoing Struggle for Justice. Sausalito, CA: Against All Odds Productions, 2017
- Maurantonio, Nicole. “Remembering Rodney King: Myth, Racial Reconciliation, and Civil Rights History.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 92, no. 3 (December 2005): 740-55. Accessed April 1, 2019. America: History and Life