The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s_topoftheworld女声

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The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s

This state of affairs remained unchanged until the United States Supreme Court declared in 1954 that racially segregated public schools did not provide equal educational opportunities for black Americans and were therefore illegal.Black leaders throughout the United States were greatly encouraged by this decision.They decided to try to end racial segregation in all areas of American life.The most important of these leaders was Martin Luther King, Jr., a black Protestant minister with a great gift for inspiring his people.From the late 1950s until his aaination by a white gunman in 1968, King led thousands of African-Americans in nonviolent marches and demonstrations against segregation and other forms of racial discrimination.King's goal was to bring about greater aimilation of black people into the larger American culture.His ideals were largely developed from basic American values.He wanted greater equality of opportunity and “Freedom now” for his people.He did not wish to separate his people from American society but rather to gain for them a larger part in it.Some black leaders, such as Malcolm X, urged a rejection of basic American values and complete separation of blacks from the white culture.Malcolm X believed that American values were nothing more than “white man's values” used to keep blacks in an inferior position.He believed that blacks must separate themselves from whites, by force if neceary, and build their own society based on values that they would create for themselves.Because he saw Christianity as a “white” religion, Malcolm turned to a faith based on Islam, and he became a leader of the “black Muslim” faith(founded in 1930).The great majority of American blacks, however, shared Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Protestant religious beliefs and his goal of aimilation rather than separation.Most African-Americans continued to look to King as their leader.Largely as a result of King's activities, two major civil rights laws were paed during the 1960s that removed racial segregation from public facilities in the South and also removed the barriers that had prevented black people from voting in that region.The civil rights laws of the 1960s helped to bring about a significant degree of aimilation of blacks into the larger American culture.Most important, the laws eventually helped to reduce the amount of white prejudice toward black people in all parts of the country.The number of African-Americans attending the nation's colleges and universities, holding elective public office, and earning higher incomes increased dramatically in the late 1960s and 1970s.In 1984 and 1988, Jee Jackson, a black leader who had worked with King in the 1960s, became the first African-American to run for president of the United States.Although he did not win, he received significant national attention and greatly influenced the policies of the Democratic party.African-Americans are now mayors of major cities and members of Congre;they hold offices in all levels of government—local, state, and national.They are sports and entertainment heroes, university profeors, medical doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and reporters.There is now a sizable black middle cla, and there are a number of wealthy African-Americans.More than 80 percent of whites now say that they would vote for a black for President, someone like General Colin Powell, for example.Powell was President Bush's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military leader in the United State