African Americans During The Civil Rights Movement

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Have you ever taken the time to understand how amazing it is that African Americans have been able to overcome all of the terrible hardships they experienced in our changing society? Discrimination towards blacks has been around for about 600 years and is still going on today. The Civil Rights Movement was developed in the 1950’s and started in 1954. The most prominent factor that led up to the Civil Rights Movement was the Cold War. Due to the trials and tribulations the African- American race was able to overcome during the Civil Rights Movement, the rights of U.S, citizens in today’s society has expanded for all races. African Americans have been the target of racism and prejudicial discrimination and now there is racism towards more minorities. …show more content…
The long term effects of the movement is there are now, and will always be, integrated schools, diners, bathrooms etc. The way blacks reacted to the success of the Civil Rights Movement was very joyously because they felt more free than ever before. They were exposed to new opportunities that they had never been exposed to before. “The world has evolved over the past half century. In 2008, American elected Obama president, our first African American president. It is a 21st century reality that would have been impossible in 1964.” (Williams, 2014) Because of the blood, sweat, and tears, put towards ending segregation, blacks finally were able to get the rights, and opportunities that they were deprived of hundreds of years ago. A Law was put into place to ensure their equality in society called the Civil Rights Act. This law led to others such as the Voting Rights Act, and Women’s Act, which helps expand the rights of blacks, and as well as others. “The actions of Johnson and Congress in 1964 demonstrate what American democracy is all about — debate the issues, look for the common ground, make a decision and get something done for the better of all. ___” (Williams, 2014). Johnson and Congress were finally able to make a decision in agreement, in order to benefit the people …show more content…
The difference between now and then, is that there are more various groups that are the targets of discrimination today. Some of these groups include, people of the LGBT community, Muslims, and Hispanics. This discrimination does not just take place between two different groups of people, such as blacks and whites of the south or even the Jews and Germans of the Holocaust, but between all groups of people. People are now discriminated for their gender, race, religious beliefs, and so