Civil Right Movement

Civil Rights Movement

The struggle for equality has been a battle fought for hundreds of years amongst African Americans. After the Great Migration and the developments of organizations such as NAACP, many African Americans gradually understood their rights as American citizens and came together to change their lives. The fight was for black citizens to enjoy the civil and political rights guaranteed to them and all other citizens by the U.S. Constitution leading to the civil right movement.

The civil right movement was an era in which African Americans fought for their human rights and the ending of ongoing struggle they had to bear for over 400 years. This movement began in 1954 with a Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education that was approached by Charles Hamilton Houston, and ended in 1968 with the assassination of Dr. King. Charles Houston was one of the greatest leaders who utilized the law Plessey's vs. Ferguson to end segregation. He was able to compare black and white schools to set forth "separate but equal" ideology in the educational system. His work was carried on by other scholars after his death and lead to the success of the ruling of Brown vs. Board of education. Even though the ruling of Brown vs. Board was constitutional, white communities were opposing desegregation that was occurring in the south and other parts of America; moreover, the fight was still in effect. Walter White was also an influential leader who was able to give names of lynches in the south. His brave deeds allowed many lynch to be exposed, which allowed people to oppose and start movements all around. The other significant leader of the Civil Rights movement was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He delivered the most influential "I have Dream" speech and motivated President Lyndon B. Johnson to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The civil rights movement was lead by many driven individuals who had faith and who recognized the importance of black churches and their contribution to the black community.

Black churches were the backbone to the civil rights movement who supported faith and high religious connection to God. As the movement excelled, the Black churches were the main resource for networking, communication and mobilization. After the victory of Brown, there was no immediate effect amongst the African American community. Therefore, blacks were driven to be in defiance and use nonviolent resistance to get what they deserve. Their main goal was to organize a mass movement against Jim Crow and forming a bigger resistance to authority: a sign of courage and faith. Sit-ins (1960) integrating public facilities, Freedom rides (1961) integrating public transportation, and Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) were some of the civil disobedience that was in effect by the help of the black churches. They also were able to organize groups in universities such us SNCC to do the civil disobedience. Even though they were able to resist many forms of desegregation, whites still wanted to suppress blacks' freedom in many forms. The ongoing fight for equality caused many whites to response in a hostile way. Such acts included the death of four young black schoolgirls who were killed when a bomb ripped through the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where they were attending Sunday school. This allowed for black activism to burst and grow even more. While black churches were building the civil right movement, music was another form of nonviolent resistance. By transforming old spirituals to freedom songs they were