the early days of the civil rights movement arguably the most important historical event of the last fifty years dunn 455 , the civil right movement has not only revolutionized race relations in the u.s. But also set a working model that still inspires political movements, leaders and discourses worldwide. It has been neither the first nor the last attempt to root out racial discrimination in the country, which persists to some extent to this day.

However, it had indeed led to a dramatic, bottom up shift in the legal and social legitimacy of discrimination and has shown that nonviolent protest is not only moral, but also highly effective. This paper reviews some of the main events that have led to this success, with an emphasis on the occurrences during the early days of the movement. Racial discrimination, segregation and inequality seem to have been constant areas of debate in american history, with a clear leaning towards suppression of blacks mcneese 17. This phenomenon persisted despite comprehensive changes in many other issues, most notably the abolishment of slavery. This approach evolved into the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine – a legal framework, which facilitated strict racial segregation while adhering, at least in principle, to the equal treatment stipulations of the fourteen amendment and other post reconstruction laws. This doctrine underpinned the so called ‘jim crow laws’ – a juristic approval to racial segregation in the provision of public and private services, under the condition that blacks will be offered identical services to those of whites. However, this framework brought about clear de facto discrimination, as the services for ‘colored’ were almost inferior to those of whites in terms of both quantity and quality.

This trend spread to exclude blacks from merely every aspect of communal life, from housing and education to churches and taverns ayers 136 7. Segregation, as it seems, became the norm and was accompanied by disfranchisement of black voters and an abundance of lynching cases mcneese 31,35. They rather reflected a common belief in the inferiority of blacks and required an appeal to the heart of the american population, not only to its courts and governments. The 1909 establishment of the national association for the advancement of colored people naacp was the first major attempt to bring about such a change in an organized manner. Du bois, the naacp focused on litigation efforts and indeed managed to dismantle some loci of segregation in cases such as guinn v. Board of education of topeka, kansas , which deemed school segregation as unconstitutional and practically diminished ‘jim crowism.’ these victories were a major breakthrough and laid the foundations for the next stage in the course of the civil rights movement’s history. While the naacp, focused on top down strategies through courtrooms and lobbying, a new generation of community leaders offered an alternative way to protest and influence.

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They identified specific loci of discrimination – typically providers of public services such as busses and gas stations, as well as municipalities – and organized nonviolent acts, mainly boycotting, rallies and acts of civil disobedience. The logic for such acts was clear: service operators were dependent on their black clientele, and so were politicians on black voters, given that the latter would organize themselves as pressure groups at the local level. One the other hand, more deliberate and policy oriented activities, including violent actions as suggested by several leaders would create widespread antagonism among the general public the naacp itself suffered a great decline in its power after been accused as communist metzler 54. Starting with initial actions such as the weeklong boycott of public transport in baton rouge, louisiana, reverends and community leaders aimed for bigger targets. A black boycott of busses in montgomery, alabama, where about 75% of the passengers were black bruns 36 , has been in the minds of local reverends for several years mcneese 53 4 the boycott took indeed place in december 1955, when the trial of rosa parks, who refused to give her seat to a white patron, has begun. This yearlong boycott achieved indeed the goal of desegregating montgomery’s busses. Moreover, the act introduced a new leader to lead the civil rights movement: the 26 years old minister of the dexter avenue baptist church, martin luther king, who advocated nonviolent protest as a rightful tool.

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Williams 74 motivated by the success in montgomery, king established the southern christian leadership council sclc , a new atlanta, georgia based civil rights organization, which aimed to keep the flame of civil rights burning and to widen its scope mcneese 75. Such widening did indeed occur rapidly, as public pressure was needed to ensure that the 1957 civil rights act would be enforced and expanded. One of these incidences was president’s eisenhower’s decision to use armed forces to escort the first nine black students at little rock central high school in arkansas, a rather radical federal act against governor faubus’s attempt to prevent the implementation of brown in the state’s school system. Another means of showing physical presence to protest against segregation was what became known as the sit ins: started in greensboro, north carolina and speared across several countries, neatly dressed and polite black students simply sat down in segregated restaurants and expected to be serviced. When the establishment refused to serve them, and the students were arrested and hauled off to jail, sometimes after being beaten and spat on by white mobs copeland.

These acts, which received nationwide attention and proved once more king’s thesis, led to the establishment of the student nonviolent coordinating committee sncc , which, despite its name, also acknowledged the possible need for increased militancy and confrontation and led to yet another organized form of protest known as the freedom rides mcneese 91. Indeed, the next phase of the movement, which was characterized by willingness to engage in confrontations when necessary and boosted by an extraordinary sensitive ear to matters of human right in the kennedy administration, was a significant jump start into the goal described earlier – to fight discrimination by appealing to the american heart, not only to the justice system. It is hard to overestimate the importance of these preliminary to the success of the movement. Multivolume works have been written about each and every one of them, as well as others that were not mentioned here.

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An important lesson to be learned is the notion that extreme situations of injustice result from a combination of legal and social norms and thus cannot be changed by working on merely one of these directions. It seems, however, the too many contemporary freedom fighters around the world could have gained greater effectiveness by adopting such a multidimensional attitude to social protest as constructed by the civil rights movement’s leadership and members. Professional writers at papersmart.net can provide you with a custom essay on civil rights movement topic.

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Get a free quote or place your order now to buy a custom written paper! the civil rights movement gave rise to many great leaders, and produced many social changes that were the results of organized civil rights events that were staged throughout the south by organizations devoted to eliminating segregation, and giving the african american people the ability to pursue the american dream. The most important civil rights leader during the time was martin luther king jr. And the most important event that took place during the movement was the fight to gain equality in voting rights for blacks, that escalated in selma, alabama. Was the foremost contributor to the african american’s fight to obtain equality. He was a very influential speaker, and became the main figure among black civil rights leaders. His idea of implementing non violent civil disobedience into black marches, sit ins, and bus boycotts brought about many social changes, that resulted in african americans moving closer to their goal of receiving complete equality under the law, and just treatment from southern segregationalists.

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This non violent approach rewarded him with a noble peace prize, and gave the african american’s struggle worldwide attention. Was a very important figure during this time was his ability to not only influence black people, but also people in positions of power, including president kennedy, and president johnson. Fought for civil rights, the civil rights act and the voting rights act were passed busses, schools, and lunch counters were desegregated and the eeoc equal opportunity commission was formed.