Civil Rights are those rights that guarantee to all individuals by the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments of the U.S Constitution, as the right to vote and the right to equal treatment under the law (Agnes 121). The Civil Rights Era (1954-1973) was a time of racism, discrimination, protests for equality, and gained momentum to overcome horrific obstacles. This time period was inspired by African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and any other citizen that was against what forms of discrimination there was at the time (Appleby 820). The teaching of Civil Rights to students is imperative, especially to African-American Students.
Segregation is the policy of compelling racial groups to live apart and use separate schools, facilities, and so much more (Agnes 582). Segregation played a huge role in the mid 1950’s through the mid 1960’S; which leads to the next summit, Emmet Till. In 1955, Emmet Till was a fourteen year old African-American boy who lived up North and knew nothing of segregation. When Emmet came down South, where segregation was heavy, to visit his family he was dared by his peers to speak to a white woman, since he claimed to be dating one. As Emmet spoke or gestured to the white woman, later on that night he was lynched by the woman’s husband and brother in-law. As the case was solved in the Supreme Court, the two was liberated scotch free. (Eyes on the Prize DVD)
Three to four years before the Emmet Tills’ case was the class act case Brown V. Board of Education. The Brown v. Board of Education was five cases in one that fought for young black African-Americans to attend the same schools as the whites (Eyes on the Prize DVD). The case was fought by Thurgood Marshall, an African-American attorney that grew up in the south around racism. While attending Howard University School of Law in Washington D.C., Marshall was hand-picked by Charles Hamilton Houston to join the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Later on, he became the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967. Through this lead, the NAACP is how “Mr. Civil Rights” as they call him won over the class act Brown v. Board of Education (Sharp 91-96). Even though he won the case the fight for education did not stop there.
Now that segregated education was supposedly won, there were still some deep blemishes in this action. On December 1, 1955, a seamstress of the NAACP, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move out of her seat for a white person when asked. She was later arrested for not doing so. After arrested and set free the issue could have ended there; however, it did not. Rosa Parks’ arrest led to a history making movement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This movement was put in place to put a dent in the cities financial policies. As significance, all African-Americans pulled together and stopped using the city buses; as well as, car pulling and walking. (Appleby 824)
With the victory of the Montgomery Boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became a...
