The Civil Rights Struggle Background to the Struggle
The Civil Rights Struggle
Background to the Struggle • After the Civil War, African Americans routinely faced discrimination, or unfair treatment based on prejudice against a certain group. • The social separation of the races was known as segregation.
Background to the Struggle • It would take more than 100 years for African Americans to secure their civil rights-the rights of full citizenship and equality under the law. • The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) worked through the courts to challenge laws that denied African Americans their rights.
Background to the Struggle • The National Urban League helped improve opportunities for African Americans in cities. • These groups and others built a civil rights movement. It made an important gain when President Harry Truman ordered an end to segregation in the armed forces.
Background to the Struggle • In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, NAACP lawyers successfully argued that segregation in public school was unconstitutional. • It violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s principle of equal protection under the law.
Background to the Struggle • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , was the main leader of the civil rights movement. – He believed in nonviolent resistance. – He helped organize marches and boycotts. – He inspired thousands with his “I Have a Dream” speech about hopes for racial equality and harmony.
Background to the Struggle • African Americans students staged “sit-ins” at lunch counters that served only whites. • White and African American “Freedom Riders” rode buses together to protest segregation. Such protests were met with violence by whites.
Background to the Struggle • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public facilities, employment, education, and voter registration. It banned discrimination by race, color, gender, religion, and national origin. • The Twenty-fourth Amendment outlawed poll taxes. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 further protected access of minorities to the polls.
Ongoing Challenges • Affirmative action programs were intended to make up for past discrimination. • They encouraged the hiring and promoting of minorities and women, and the admission of more minority students to college. • Critics complained that affirmative action programs gave preferential treatment to women and minorities, amounting to discrimination against men and whites.
Ongoing Challenges • The struggle for equal rights continues. Many Americans are subject to racial profiling-being singled out as suspects because of the way they look. • Some became victims of hate crimes.
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