On August 28. 1983, a group of over 200,000 people supported and attended the March on Washington. (www. history. com). This statistic demonstrates the fact of how impactful the March on Washington was and how many people were on the same side. The speeches in this assembly are some of the most famous and well known speeches that are still remembered today. There are many events of the Civil Rights Movement that changed our daily lives, including speeches and court cases, and there are key people who were involved in them.
Some of the major events included the Brown v. Board of Education (1954), he Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1957, the Greensboro Sitins (1961), March on Washington (1963), the 24th Amendment being passed (1964), and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Supreme Court cases can often be law changing. An example of this is the Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, one of the first famous cases. This case opposed the separate but equal doctrine. The entire event was based off of cases before it (www. uscourts. gov). The 4 cases before that led up to main event included Murray v. Maryland (1936), Missouri ex rel Gaines v. Canada (1938), Sweat v. Painter (1950), McLaurin v. Oklahoma Board of Regents of Higher Education (1950), and finally the main Brown v. Board of Education (1954) (www. uscourts. gov).
The 5 cases that were summed up as the Brown v. Board were the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA. ), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel. The reason these 5 was put together was because they all related to segregation in public schools. Sociology tests proved that segregation schools made black children feel inferior to the white (www. scourts. gov). The Supreme Court obtained information on all the states with laws permitting schools to submit plans for segregations from each attorney general of every state. The court wanted other opinions on the case based on all the states. Although this case ended segregation in public schools, rules needed to be arranged in the public transportation section.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott during 1955-1957 created problems for the seating on buses. The origin of the bus boycott began from the Womens’ Political Council (WPC) (kingencyclopedia. tanford. edu). One of the most famous people during this event was Rosa Parks. She was one of the first well known people to refuse to give up their seat to a white person. She was bailed out of jail by E. D. Nixon, another black leader (www. history. com). The WPC then organized a huge bus boycott the day that Rosa Parks would be tried in court (www. history. com). She and her husband were active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Martin Luther King Jr claimed that she was ideal for her role in history.
The Bus boycotts occurred for about 381 days, and included a handful of court cases (kingencyclopedia. standford. edu). People were encouraged by the bus boycotts to keep attempting to get the law changed and gain their rights. One of the days, 40,000 people boycotted and continued until their requests were met. There was a meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, with Martin Luther King Jr in charge voting to continue the boycotts until the Supreme court is on their side (kingencyclopedia. standford. edu). The boycotts against transportation were huge and caused scenes with the police constantly.
Even the black taxi drivers joined in the boycott. Initially, demands mostly included hiring black drivers and a first come first server seat policy(www. history. com). With at least 75% of bus riders challenging the city, they still resisted and wouldn’t comply with their requests (www. history. com). The resistance between the 2 sides became very strong. Violence became the answer to solve stuff. Snipers shooting down buses, killing people. Churches were soon enough getting bombed. Martin Luther King Jr’s house was almost bombed, but the bomb was defused before exploding (kingencyclopedia. tandford. edu). Over 100 reporters visited Montgomery at the boycott to get information on all the leaders and ideas. On June 5th, 1956, the Montgomery federal court finally ruled that any law needing racial seating on buses broke the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution (kingencyclopedia. standford. edu). The bus boycotts were not the only type of boycotts, another big boycott was the sit-in. Sit-ins happened during 1955-1957 and were similar to the bus boycotts, except they wanted to be served in a restaurant instead of sitting in a white person’s seat.
A group of African Americans started one of the earliest sit-ins that made an impact that lasted through today. Another big sit-in was when 4 men stayed at a lunch counter and refused to move. When 4 students that sat at the counter where only whites were served refused to give up their seats, and the police couldn’t fix the situation from the lack of provocation. They soon obtained the name “Greensboro Four” (www. history. com). The next day, more college kids joined them and made the scene huge. Eventually the police arrived and escorted them outside the building, and possibly to jail.
The sit-ins spread to over 55 cities in 13 states (www. history. com). The increase of this event did not stop the police from taking action. Even though just about everyone was arrested for doing this, people still continued to bring support to the law change they want. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed as one of the top forces that organized the “Freedom Rides” (www. history. com). The sit-ins were not the last of the encouragement for rights, speeches were next. One of the very large events was the March on Washington in 1963.
It was a big ceremony with many speeches. The Negro American Labor Council (NALC) was one of the groups who planned the whole march. The other groups that planned and sent a letter to the Department of Interior included the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) (kingencyclopedia. standford. edu). Even though John F. Kennedy was not on the side of the speakers, he let it progress unlike Roosevelt. The most famous speech which is still read today is “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.
Over 200,000 people attended the event, meaning that it was not just a small group arguing for their rights, and this was expected to have around 100,000. Not only did the 200,000 people standing before Martin Luther King Jr see and hear the speech, but it was broadcast live. The march overall was successful based on the emotional speeches and all reactions of the people. Black and white people were together, supporting each other’s freedom. Diversity between the audience was noticeable with singers like Bob Dylan, veteran Daisy Lee Bates, and actors including Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (history. om).
Even groups supporting those who were rivals came together to make this happen. One of the fixes this event brought was the fix for the black employment, increasing the number of jobs for them. The wages were also balanced for them and equality as well. Disillusion and racial strife were followed by the March on Washington, as all the other events were (www. history. com). After the March on Washington, the government decided it was time to vote and ratify some new laws and amendments. The government passed one of the famous laws in the civil rights period called the 24th Amendment of 1964.
The main accomplishment of it was eliminating poll tax. There were 5 states (Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas) at the time with poll tax before the law (history. house. gov). The Jim Crow laws were exemplified by this amendment, and therefore were more known from this amendment. Not only did the majority of the people agree with this law, they wanted to go further beyond what it has been to protect the black voting rights. John Lindsay said “If we are going to have a constitutional amendment, let’s have a meaningful one. Lindsay wanted to have a big boom from an amendment to make it widely known how serious it is, rather than something small just to keep everyone happy and supporting the government. Judiciary Chairman Emanuel Celler of New York had to overlook all the criticism while proceeding with introducing the bill (history. house. gov). South Dakota was the last state to ratify the 24th Amendment on January 23rd (history. house. gov). This was only one of the amendments passed, but still one of the more important ones.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was also one of the well known laws passed in the civil rights time. The act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Americans aware of the potential of the “equal protection of the laws”, wanted the 14th amendment. If they support each other enough, they can convince the government to change or add laws that everyone needs. Martha W. Griffiths (D-MI) pushed to get “sex” in the bill as to stop people from discriminating against females/males (www. archives. gov).
The Public Law 88-325 outlawed the discrimination by sex and race in hiring, promoting, and firing. Lyndon B. Johnson took action in making employment equal for race, color, religion, sex, and origin (www. archives. gov). Soon enough, every branch of government worked together in supporting equal protection. The Presidents participated in this by employing a list of orders. The first was when John F Kennedy signed the Executive Order 10925, to take action that applicants for employment aren’t discriminated by race, creed, color, and/or origin (www. rchives. gov). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was a leading group supporting equal protection. It was a federal group promoting equality for the people who had a disadvantage for equality. The EEOC gained $111 million dollars towards claims of discrimination. $34 million alone was just from a case with Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America (www. archives. gov). That company eventually changed its policy to therefore agree with the terms of the discrimination laws (www. archives. gov).
These Civil Rights Movement events are among the top of the list for important and impact on today’s society. Even though these are what, more importantly moved the laws along during these times, there are 100s of smaller events that will never get the attention these will. Speeches were emotional and very impactful against huge crowds during scary times. Boycotts were risky knowing that the police would show up and you could get arrested. The laws from then are still intact today, and the speeches are still read and learned from. The Boycotts and speeches overall worked, and equality is intact today.