Civil Rights Movements in the Sixties: Striving for Equality

Abstract

Chapter 27: The Sixties [Name] Introduction Racial bias is the central argument that enhances the flow of topics within the "Sixties" leading to the dire search for civil rights acquisition through various civil rights movements to ensure equal treatment regardless of race or color. Civil rights are human rights directed to enhance equality for all through open opportunities to exercise and express democracy. Unfortunately, ever since time immemorial, racism played a pivotal role in defining privileges entitled to Americans. For this reason, due to the long-witnessed white supremacy dominance, the American minorities remained exposed to inequalities in all odds of life making life quite unbearable, especially during the sixties. The sixties was an interesting era that brought about the need for changes in all odds of life ranging from governance, education, and employment among other areas that defined human well-being to ensure equality for all. While it was not guaranteed that civil rights movements would succeed in acquiring equality for all, one can accredit the movements in the sixties to having notable victories as the leaders and followers fought tirelessly through peaceful and violent approaches to make a positive impact on racially biased approaches that defined American privileges. According to Locke and Ben (314), the sixties brought many Americans to hope for a more inclusive, forward-thinking nation. On the other hand, Anderson a historian at Texas University argued the sixties era was "a loose ever-shifting coalition of social activists, including but not limited to civil rights and Vietnam war protests, students, feminists, ecologists, and hippies" (Anderson,1). Unlike in the previous centuries where fear to risk limited chances for the fight against racial segregation as many remained governed by stereotypical biased perceptions, the sixties served as a wake-up call for segregated groups' urge to enjoy being Americans. Ever since time immemorial, racism associated people of color with the inferior stereotype that saw them enjoy limited privileges as compared to whites. However, during the sixties, the minorities accepted in one voice that enough was enough and expressed their desire to fight for equality in all odds of life through civil rights movements with Selma to Montgomery being among the most influential facilitating the rise of one man one vote amongst Americans regardless of race or color (Pratt, 3). While analyzing Selma’s video “The Bridge to the Ballot”, Pratt (2) argued that the students and their teachers of [City, State] engaged in a march from Selma to Montgomery for the dignity and equality of all Americans regardless of gender or race. As much as the whites perceived the people of color as inferior, so did the masculine nature that defined white supremacy and viewed the female gender regardless of color as un- deserving of some privileges, especially political ones. American white men believed that the best the female gender can do is to give birth, nurture children and take part in house-related chores. Such a perception limited the female gender the opportunity to express their potential in the perceived male dominating areas as limited access to civil rights hindered their chances to enjoy democracy. For such reason, the Selma march kicked off as these students and teachers noted the effects of inequalities and thus demanded fair treatment for all through civil rights acquisition (Locke and Ben, 323). Selma's march aimed at ensuring that the dominating whites understood that civil rights were human rights that ensured equality in all social opportunities as the government promises to treat all equally without any form of discrimination (Krutz & Waskiewicz, 2). Selma Marches lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 enabling African Americans to earn their first right to vote and thus enjoy democracy. According to (Locke and Ben, 318), most movements in the sixties came in response to the racial segregation that hampered the development of all Americans. Greensboro sit-ins were another influential event that led to changes in the ways whites treated African American students, especially from the South (Locke and Ben, 318). The four African American students knew the boundary and took the risk to break it by expressing their worth at a white-restricted lunch counter at Woolworth. Even with denied services attributed to racial biases, the Greensboro four remained unmoved and decided to sit-ins to ensure that the organization changed its approaches and embraced all without any form of discrimination. With time, the Greensboro sit-in movement spread throughout the colleges in the south and regardless of its negative impact on some protestors that ranged from beatings to arrests, the sit-ins forcefully made Woolworth and other establishments to change their segregationist policies accommodating all students in their lunch counters regardless of color. As much as the whites enjoyed most privileges ranging from good job opportunities, education, housing, and voting among others, they expected the people of color to serve as their pet dogs in their demanding labor market with little to no incentives to reward their inputs. Such mistreatment, especially from the South, led these minorities to come together and through their potential activists fight for equality as their common goal. In "The Movement and the Sixties", Terry H. Anderson, a historian at Texas A&M University, offers a detailed analysis of the civil rights movement ranging from the anti-war movement, farm workers movement, and women's liberation movement, among other activities to enlighten the target audiences on the effects of racial segregation leading to a fight for equality for all. While analyzing Greensboro and the...