Paper Example on Civil Rights Movement: Journey to Racial Equality in the US

The Civil Rights Movement is also regarded as the movement for racial equality in the United States. It commenced in the late 1950s. Racial segregation entailed the prohibition of African Americans from attending the same schools, churches, and restaurants, or using the same buses as Whites. Through several nonviolent protests, led by prominent African Americans such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the pattern of racial segregation was broken. Positive results, such as the signing of the Civil Rights Act into law, were witnessed. The Civil Rights Act, also known as the equality laws sought to outlaw discrimination or unfair treatment due to one’s race, color, religion, or place of origin in public spaces, workplaces, federal programs, etc.

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Further, the civil rights movement took a lot of discrimination cases to court seeking legal reprieve over the same. After the adoption of the Civil Rights Act, many of these cases were won. They included the right to use the same libraries, buses, supermarkets, diners, etc., that they were prohibited from using, while whites were allowed to use. While African Americans may have been granted the right to vote, it was challenging to have one of their own elected into office.

As such, many of their concerns would not be considered during policy-making as they did not have adequate representation. Many civil rights activists and leaders, therefore, pushed to attain more direct political power through their election into office. Furthermore, since emancipation was the only way to help African Americans through the shackles of bondage, the leaders pushed for increased employment opportunities, as well as education opportunities vis-à-vis affirmative action. They advocated for programs that would prioritize the minorities during employment, as well as admissions to the school.

Various scholars and researchers have shared numerous opinions regarding the civil rights movement. Ortiz, in the paper “Oral History of the Black Struggle,” focuses more on the impact of the Mississippi Freedom Project (MFP) on the right to vote by African Americans. The right to vote was a fundamental right that had been denied to African Americans, and it made it impossible for them to have any impact whatsoever on the issues or factors that affected them. The writer goes about to hail the MFP for having brought the much-coveted right onto the hands of African Americans.

While this served as a significant win for the African-Americans, critics hold a different opinion. They aver that the push for the right to vote came at a cost. While they pushed for the right to vote, they overlooked the equally fundamental issues that would go hand in hand with the right to vote—these issues revolved around poverty and economic discrimination. An allegation of there being an agreement between the then-president, Kennedy, that he would support the push for the right to vote on the condition that the housing and economic concerns were shelved, is made. This matter raises questions regarding the nature of the bargain that African Americans received.

While laws may have been passed that effectively outlawed discrimination, and opened up the doors of diners, schools, recreational facilities, etc., the poverty and economic situation that African Americans still found themselves in did not permit them to enjoy these facilities. For instance, the best healthcare facilities and schools charged exorbitant fees that could only be raised by Whites who much better places financially. Further, schools were integrated, and discrimination was outlawed. However, the neighborhoods within which such schools were to be established were not affected in any way. As such, presently, schools that are within the inner-city are found to be predominantly black and are under-funded.

By having received a lower bargain with regards to the economy, it has proved impossible for a business owned by African Americans to break into the market, mainly because they do not have the financial muscle to compete effectively within it, or are denied access by whites who dominate and control the market.

There were many disagreements among the civil rights activists and leaders. Some believed in violent ways while advocating for the rights of people of color, while others stood firmly for the use of nonviolence. When concluding prioritizing the rights to vote at the expense of all other factors, to receive crucial support from the president, some did not agree to such an arrangement and felt that they should push harder for more, while some settled for “one-win-at-a-time” agreement. These discourses proved to affect the movements negatively as Ball writes in “Why These Protests are Different” that changes are not built on subtractions, rather additions. Thus, any discourses that arose caused further split amongst the members, causing them to leave.

While efforts were made to try and breakdown the harmonious protests that sought to involve White activists, several “provocateurs” were being sent by the government to infiltrate these movements and cause animosity between African-American activists and White activists. These animosities often succeeded in breaking down these relationships. However, the fact that the civil rights movement was all-encompassing, regardless of color, was a massive win for African Americans concerning the image they presented.

However, while the civil rights movement managed to achieve non-discrimination with regards to different sectors, it failed to change the hearts and minds of a majority of Whites. These disparities are still deeply rooted even in the contemporary world. Most recently, the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which was a movement fronted by people of color, who were being mistreated and killed by the police, was witnessed. If anything, this points towards a certain level of stagnation or regression, that even the civil rights movement could not manage to uproot.

Appendix A

As to whether the civil rights movement achieved its purpose or goals is left up for discussion, however, most scholars do concur that it was the right starting point and that while not everything may have been realized, African Americans are not in a similar position as they were before the 18th Amendment which outlawed slavery.

Most recently, through the “Black Lives Matter” movement, the trend of nonviolence that was mostly adhered to during the civil rights movement, was shelved and the demonstrators resorted to acts of violence in retaliation against police brutality. Many business stalls were raided, several police officers were injured, property worth billions were destroyed, etc. such incidences beg the question whether the civil rights movement, through nonviolence, did achieve its purpose. If it did, why didn’t the Black community adhere to the same criteria that worked so well for them in the past?

With regards to questions on discrimination, the first significant win that African Americans got in their fight for equality, was the adoption of the equality laws that outlawed discrimination. However, several years later, African Americans are still voicing concerns over racial segregation despite these laws being present. As such, this begs the question of whether these laws are being enforced.

Bibliography

Ball, M. (2020). Former Obama Adviser Valerie Jarrett on Why These Protests Are Different. Time International (South Pacific Edition), 195(23/24), 36.

COBB, J. (2020). The Matter of Black Lives. New Yorker, 96(21), 18–23.

Eskew, G. T. (2020). The State in Recent Civil Rights Scholarship. Alabama Review, 73(2), 79–98. https://doi.org/10.1353/ala.2019.0000

Ortiz, P. (2020). Oral History of the Black Struggle: The Pursuit of Truth in the Delta. Against the Current, 34(6), 23–26.

Yeboah, R. M. (2018). From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter: The African Union and the African-Americans in the United States. Journal of Pan AfricanStudies, 12(1), 166–189.