The Civil Rights Movement: The Struggle For Racial Equality

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The Civil Rights Movement: Fight for Racial Equality The United States civil rights movement lasted from the 1950’s to the 1970’s and was a challenging journey to achieve equal rights for African-Americans. Throughout the civil rights movement, the white supremacists held on to the principle that African-Americans did not deserve equality with white Americans. However, the black community continuously rallied behind the idea that civil rights should apply to all Americans regardless of race. Historian Harvard Sitkoff detailed the progression of the civil rights movement in his book The Struggle for Black Equality. The book highlights the hardships that African-Americans willingly endured during the battle for racial integration. The advances …show more content…
Sitkoff states, “On July 2, President Lyndon Johnson signed the act which prohibited discrimination in most places of public accommodation, authorized the government to withhold federal funds to public programs practicing discrimination…and provided technical and financial aid to communities desegregating schools.” The adoption of this new national legislative law was the greatest triumph in the civil rights movement. African-Americans could now be certain that the federal government would reinforce that “separate but equal” was no longer an acceptable principal in legislation. The brutality that African-Americans withstood in the events leading up to this accomplishment had finally paid off. This law would have not been conceivable without the continuous ideology that violence was not the answer to the troubles that blacks faced in the United …show more content…
The goal of the movement was not only to desegregate but also to battle against the social norm of black inferiority. The activists and supporters of the movement wanted to secure a change for the future generations. They no longer wanted their kids to grow up in a world that continuously reminded them that they would never have the opportunity to the climb the ladder of success. King stated, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King’s memorable speech outside of Washington D.C. in 1963 captured what the movement was truly about: the end of injustice against blacks because of their skin and the promise for a better future. The organization of protests and legislative actions allowed for the movement to achieve a huge leap forward in racial justice. With that being said, the goals of the movement were achieved in the long term, as it is apparent that the “separate but equal” principal does not apply to any facility in modern day U.S society. Additionally, African-Americans and white Americans have equal opportunities to achieve their
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