Essay: Civil Rights Movement

Primary Source Analysis
Segregation is a movement that has deep roots in America’s History and is something that has transformed our society into what it is now. Racism is something that has been widely controversial in the United States for many years now. During the mid to late 1800s, African Americans fiercely fought for their freedom in an effort to try and put segregation to an end. This point in history was a time of violence and prejudices for many blacks. The Civil War had ended slavery for our country, but this did not put an end to discrimination. The idea of ‘separate but equal’ was a result of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case and it wasn’t cutting it for the blacks in the nation which ultimately led to the civil rights movement, which for lots of time was an ongoing struggle for African Americans to gain equal rights under law in the United States. This movement began with the Montgomery Bus Boycott when an African American woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus in Alabama, ultimately defying Jim Crow. The civil rights movement was fought for by many, both blacks and even some whites. Blacks wanted to experience freedom economically, politically and socially. Though many blacks desired equality, many feared to try and integrate because of the Jim Crow laws that had been put in place throughout the south. Integration and freedom became an ideal for many, but not all, nationwide.
African Americans were not given basic human rights like whites were privileged to.  Many whites were privileged with good jobs and believed that their opinion was the only opinion that mattered, blacks’ opinions were not taken into account on any matter. Throughout the book, “Warriors Don’t Cry” by Melba Patillo, she elaborates on being a young girl as a part of the nine black students who desired to integrate as a result of the Brown v. Board of Education case and how brutally she was treated by whites. The blacks who fought for the civil rights movement wanted to have equal opportunity in employment. Often, blacks were given jobs whites didn’t want to do and were normally the last to be hired and the first to be fired, they were also usually paid significantly less than whites were. One goal of the civil rights movement was freedom from discrimination. Blacks were often called terrible names, were treated inhumanely both physically and mentally. Melba Patillo wrote in her journal, “Freedom is not integration. Freedom is being able to go with Grandma to the wrestling matches.” (Beals 83). Melba was not able to go to the wrestling match with her grandmother due to the fears of it being too dangerous with all the whites steamed up about integration. They would threaten her constantly and try hurting her in any way they could. Melba and her family were constantly in fear of their lives because whites didn’t want a black in their school or going to school with their child. Another goal was equal opportunity in education, many blacks were put in separate schools from the whites which were usually not as prestige, which limited them when it came to opportunity.  One in an impoverished school will not get the same education as one in a prestigious school. Blacks were also faced with unequal opportunities in housing, many people of color were denied low-interest loans for homeownership even if they were just as eligible for a loan as a white person. Also, blacks were zoned to specific areas and were not allowed to have land outside of those areas. Other goals were the right to vote, blacks were not given the right to vote like any other basic citizen was and equal access to public facilities, many of the whites had access to much nicer and cleaner bathrooms, schools, etc. and blacks wanted the same privilege. Blacks saw freedom as being treated the same and having the same privileges and opportunities that whites did.
People who were in favor of the civil rights movement formed a widely known organization called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, also commonly known as the NAACP. Also, someone widely known being Martin Luther King Jr, a highly respectable leader, came up with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1958. Then in 1960, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee would reject unifying with MLK, this committee was the youthful grassroots base of the civil rights. One more group supporting the civil rights movement was the Freedom Riders, they were an integrated group which forced many politicians to embrace civil rights. People opposing civil rights included many white southerners. The Southern Manifesto of 1956 was a group that “resisted integration by any lawful means” (Foner 259). This group was produced by congress. They wanted the decision of integration made by the court to be reverse. One group commonly known opposing the movement was the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist organization in favor of white supremacy. Another group that was formed in efforts to oppose the movement was the White Citizens Council, these people were a group that favored white supremacy and would get a list of names of blacks that imposed on integration. Another group was the Mother’s League within “Warriors Don’t Cry” which was a group that protested integration constantly. Many of the people who were proponents of the civil rights movement included blacks and very minimal whites and many of those who were opponents of the movement were mainly white supremacy groups.
Whites did opposed integration mainly because they did not want whites and black to be intermix and change from the norm during this time which was keeping the two races separate. Many whites believed that they were better than the blacks simply because of their skin color and oppressed the idea of African Americans and belittled them in any way they could. Boiling down to white supremacy which was the idea that whites believed their race in particular was superior when it came to people of color. Whites believed that blacks didn’t deserve the same opportunity, entitlement or treatment that they were privileged with. Many groups resisted the Civil Rights Movement and simply would not have it by any means. Resistance groups would protest very violently to try and scare blacks out of integration at the time. Some blacks opposed integration because they did not want to challenge the violence that came with integration and felt like it was just asking for trouble. Blacks were made to feel inferior to whites based on the culture during this period of time. In “Warriors Don’t Cry”, Melba is upset because her friends wouldn’t come to her Sweet Sixteenth party because they were afraid to be at her house and were afraid, that they too would be targeted just for associating with Melba.
Sex and gender both played roles throughout the civil rights movement. During the time, “African Americans faced sexual and racial violence functioned as a tool of coercion, control and harassment” (McGuire 18). Many blacks were victimized by whites in order to instill fear and intimidation and as a way for whites to show blacks that they were superior to them, white supremacy and as a way to scare blacks out of integration. Also, many white men would lure black women into getting them to work for them, promising good pay and steady work and would then attack them on the job. Many black women would be raped, and nothing would be done, there would be no justice. Most of the cases of white men assaulting black women would remain unpunished throughout the Jim Crow Era. Also, with the integration of schools, many blacks and whites would begin to date or participate in sexual relationships and this was seen as undermining American values.
America has come a long way over time, many people now choose to respect and honor differences rather than be hateful over them. The long road of the Civil Rights Movement lead to the society we live in now where everyone is considered equal and no race is considered superior. All races are granted equal economic, social and political freedom. We no longer remain in a society where it is acceptable to be racist. School integration today has come further than it’s ever been. All of the goals of The Civil Rights Movement were met and are still in play today, shaping our society into what it is now. Without all of the combined efforts, we may still be in the same place we were in the mid to late 1800s, but today we have progressed, and everyone is given equal rights and there is no worry of people lacking any basic human rights.
Works Cited
Beals, Melba. Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High. New York: Pocket Books, 1994. Print.
McGuire, Danielle L. At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance: a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print.
Powers, Michael S. Lecture Notes. History of the American People, 1877 – Present. University of Arkansas. Lecture.