There are a lot of events that helped contribute to the Civil Rights Movement, through nonviolent marches, sit-ins, and boycotts, the African Americans received the fights that they had been fighting for. In my opinion, media was a large contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. “Between 1949 and 1969, the number of households in the United States with at least one TV set rose from less than a million to 44 million,”(Ganzel). Being able to simulcast the cruel inequalities and pure racism through both radio and TV truly impinged the people of the US. The impact of the media showed people from all over the nation of how utterly cruel racism could be.
The most prominent and profound part of the fight for civil rights in my opinion was the lynching of Emmet Till. Born in 1941 and dying 14 years later, the young boy was lynched for whistling at a women at a grocery store. “four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him, and shot him in the head,” (biography). The two men tried for Tills murder were Roy Bryant and his half sibling J.W. Milam. Unfortunately, after a five day trial, an all-white jury ruled out the two men as “not guilty.” And because of that the fight for equality became even more essential.
In my opinion, the most effective events in bringing about societal change was the many sit-ins at the restaurants. Black college students would simply sit in their seats as the white men and women of Montgomery would beat them. They continued to sit through the cruel words and beatings until eventually the black students were unjustly sent to jail. The young people took the lead. I believe that it was the young people of that generation which made this essential to the Civil Rights Movement. Prior to the sit-ins, the children, teens, and college students did not have much of a voice. They relied on the adult leadership of the black community. In 1961, the Supreme Courts declared that public eating facilities would need to desegregate.
I believe people were so willing to risk their time, livelihood, and lives to gain equality because they were sick and tired of being treated fairly. The town of Birmingham received the nickname “bomingham” because of all the bombings that took place in the hate filled town. Children, teens, and adults were constantly scared for their lives. If they were going to die, they probably wanted to die fighting for what they believe in instead of hiding in the shadows allowing the pain and suffering.
I do not agree that equality was