Question

How would you define the twentieth-century "civil rights movement" in the South? In your essay, identify what you see as its origins and goals, its tactics for achieving its goals, its key actors and its successes and failures.

Answer 1

Answer:

The Civil Rights Movement was a movement that worked to improve living conditions and rights for the black population of the United States. The movement had its heyday in the United States between 1954 and 1968, where significant progress was made in obtaining better civil rights for African Americans, on an equal footing with whites.  

Two of the movement's major victories came in the form of legislation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination based on race, religion, gender or national origin in the labor market and prohibited unequal demands of black and white citizens in registering citizens as voters. The law also prohibited racial segregation in schools, workplaces and public housing. The following year came the Voting Rights Act, which reestablished and protected minority suffrage by allowing federal oversight of voter registration and voting in areas where minorities had historically been under-represented in elections.

One of the movement's leading figures was the priest Martin Luther King, who came into the media spotlight in connection with the 1955-1956 bus boycott in Montgomery. This campaign was the first time the movement achieved a major victory against the Jim Crow system in the Southern States.