The Civil Rights Movement
Construct the case study by responding to the following prompts:
• Explain if the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s effectively changed the nation.
• What effect would the Civil Rights Acts have across the continent on minority groups?
• Do you think that the tactics and strategies that civil rights activists used in the 1960s would apply to today’s racial and ethnic conflicts? Why or why not?
• Do the ideas of the 1960s still have relevance today? If so how? If not, why not?
• Analyze how the Civil Rights Movement would impact diversity in America today.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was transformational movement in our country’s history, and pivotal in changing many of the blatantly racist laws that were in place.
African Americans have a long history of suffering, and mistreatment in this country, and finally gained the momentum around the 1960s to come together, and fight for the rights that they so most defiantly deserved.
Although the Civil Rights Movement officially started in the 1960s, there were a few major events that planted seeds for the Civil Rights Movement to grow. The death of Emmett Till was one of these major events that caused an uproar in the African American community.
In 1955 Emmett Till, only 14 years old, was brutally beaten and murdered in a small Missisippi town. The young man was accused of “offending” a white woman in a grocery store and was hunted down and murdered not too long after.
Emmett’s mother, Mammie Till, made history by allowing her son to have a open casket funeral. Mamie wanted the country to witness the inhumanity that her son had to endure, all for being accused of whistiling at a white women.
As this story gained national attention, it also influenced many African Americans in our country to demand change in the way they were treated. Rosa Parks also had a huge influence on the formation of the Civil Rights Movement when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955.
Ms. Parks’ actions inspired the formation of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this 13 month boycott led the eventual Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s brought about several much needed changes to this country. One of the biggest changes made was the implementation of the Civil rights act of 1964. Under this act, discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, and/or sex was prohibited.
The Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. It also strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools (Legal highlight: The civil rights act of 1964).