The Civil Rights Movement

The civil rights era was a period of great change where people fought for fair treatment and equal rights for the African American community in the United States. It was a period where people advocated for legal, social and political changes in a bid to bring to an end the issue of segregation and discrimination on the basis of race. The era led to the creation of the civil rights movement which turned out to be an important element to the history of America. Through it, America and the rest of the world realized that discrimination and segregation was unjust and should be eradicated in all countries across the world. Even though a lot of people and organization contributed to the civil rights movement, there are some key players whose influence played an important role in the movement’s success.

             Individuals and nonprofit organization greatly supported the civil rights movement and played a role in its wide reach. A lot of nonprofit organizations rose up during the civil rights era with the aim of assisting with the implementation of the various events conducted (Roy 1). The organizations mostly comprised of volunteers who were determined to bring about change. They proved to be rather helpful especially in political and legal approaches that were crucial to promoting change in the government. Without their philanthropic assistance, most of the ideas shared and implemented by the civil rights movement would have been ineffective and the movement might have had difficulty in achieving the success it got after implementation (Roy 1).

            One organization that proved to be quite helpful was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It was formed by whites and African Americans in 1909 and fought through the legal system for the rights of African American citizens. Another organization was the Black Panther Party started in 1960 for the purpose of providing social services programs to the African Americans for free (Roy 1). All of the members were great supporters of the ideas expressed by the Black Power movement and sought to have them implemented so as to initiate change.

            Other than organizations, there were individuals whose influence gathered great support for the civil rights movement. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for example gathered a lot of followers and support for the movement through his ‘I have a dream speech’ delivered in 1963 on the march to Washington where more than 250,000 people held demonstrations (Roy 1). He also founded the SCLC and was a great supporter and advocator for using nonviolent approaches in the fight to end discrimination.

            Rosa Parks was another individual who played an important role in gathering support for the civil rights movements through her actions. She was a member of NAACP movement and is credited for having started the bus boycotts to end segregation (Smith 1). The boycotts were triggered when Parks refused to give her seat to a white man on a segregated bus as was the ordinance in Montgomery, Alabama during that time. A year after this incident, segregation in train stations and interstate busses was declared illegal by the United States Supreme Court. Freedom riders decided to cement this ruling by travelling on busses through the southern portion of the United States (Library of Congress 1).

            The civil rights era was a crucial stage in American history. It was a time where citizens, mostly African Americans were ready to defy the laws that oppressed them and treated them as a lesser people. The African American community was ready for change and in order to attain it, they fought for their civil rights. Individuals started coming up, sparking an interest for change and the desire to end oppression and discrimination. The influence grew to include organization that rose up to help implement the ideas and in doing so brought about the civil rights movement and facilitated its success.

 

 

 

Work cited

Library of Congress, “From slavery to freedom: The African American pamphlet collection,        1822-1909” 2016, retrieved from,             http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/connections/slavery/file.html#skip_men   u

Roy C, “The Civil Rights Movement” 2016, retrieved from,             http://www.learningtogive.org/resources/civil-rights-movement

Smith V, “American anti-slavery and civil rights timeline” Philadelphia, PA, 2015