The struggles against racism generally took root and became more vibrant in the 50’s and 60’s. Most African Americans were sidelined in all areas of economic, political or social growth. Whites were seen to be more superior and special, leading to segregation of all facilities such as means of transport, schools, restrooms, hotels, and residents and even in prisons. Segregation was highly seen in the 50’s and 60’s in terms of separating people according to different races, classes, or ethnic groups, in places and areas like schools, housing, and public or commercial facilities. Discrimination occurred to the African Americans who we residents of the states, as well as the Jewish community. Segregation was very common in all the states, with the colored people not mixing with the whites in areas of work, schools, residents, or in politics. This was regarded as the racial segregation and discrimination. Many events occurred in the 50’s and 60’s in response to segregation and discrimination of the African Americans. This paper brings out the major forms of segregation and discriminations that the African Americans faced during these two decades and the counter mechanisms and the rights they were fighting for, as well as some of the major civil rights movements formed and their achievements.
With the formation of NAACP(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) a civil rights group in the 1909, it was not until the 1950’s that it became vocal and strong after the desegregation of Truman in the military and the African Americans involvement in the world war II (Soule, 2006 p.122). Many forms of segregation occurred in the decades mentioned with the whites enjoying what the blacks could not have access to. The schools were all different, hotels were all different, and the blacks were force to travel in their own separate busses (Black, 1987 p.67). A case in 1955 of Rosa Parks where she was arrested for sitting in a bus that was to be for the whites occurred. The NAACP was involved, where the buses got a 381 days boycott until the blacks were integrated. The common term used to refer to the African Americans was a Nigger or Negro. Those known to further the agenda against racial discrimination were; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after being assassinated in 1968, Whitney Young, of the Urban League, Roy Wilkins who led the NAACP, and James Farmer who was the leader of C.O.R.E. (Congress of Racial Equality) (Severo, 1999 para.3). The African Americans were feeling left out by the ideas and actions of the whites who treated them as slaves, and inhuman. Other events included civil rights demonstrators assembling at the Lincoln memorial in May 1957 for prayer pilgrimage for freedom. In 1958 another protest occurred known as the youth march for integrated schools. All these protest among the blacks were to pressure the then government of President John F. Kennedy to address high levels of blacks’ unemployment, systematic disenfranchisement of many blacks, and racial discrimination (Severo, 1999 para.6). As described in the article 1950’s & 60’s, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which banned discrimination in work places and public accommodations and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed, also passed included the Immigration and Nationality service act of 1965. The civil rights act aimed at the freedom of all citizens of America whichever race or color. Philip Randolph on May 1962 on behalf of movements like the Negro American Labor Council, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, wrote a letter to the effect of the Lincoln memorial protest of 1963. In Aug. 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous ”I Have a Dream” speech as the final March on Washington, where he prophesied that a day would come where his fore sons were to judge not by their skin color, but their character. During the 1957 season for enrollment in to high school, whites protested the enrollment of nine African Americans in a school. This showed the state of segregation that was happening. In the case of Brown verses the board of education in 1954; the Supreme Court ruled that it was not constitutional for the state to run separate schools for the blacks and the whites (Russell, 1998 p.76). Any one who was seen to protect the process of justice was assassinated and the civil rights became more vocal. The segregation of the residents was seen in the south where areas of living for the blacks were in rural areas, while the blacks were absent in the north (Soule, & Peirce, 2007 p.74).
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