The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s Essay - 550 Words

In 1894, the US Supreme Court gave legal consent to state laws segregating black people and white people with its decision concerning the Plessey v Ferguson case. The decision stated that black and white should be separate but equal, meaning the same standard of facilities for both. In reality it legally enforced a state of affairs that assured that blacks would never be equal, and couldn’t get equal treatment, status or opportunity in their own country. During the Second World War, the black American Gi’s realised that they were fighting for a democracy abroad, which they did not have at home. One black soldier vocalised the senselessness of their situation: â€Å"just carve on my tombstone,†¦show more content†¦The governor of Arkansas used the National Guard to stop nine black children enrolling at Little Rock high school, even against the wishes of the Supreme Court. When faced with court action, the governor withdrew the National Guard but left the black teenagers exposed to a violent mob, determined to keep all blacks from entering the former white – only school. In 1957, President Eisenhower sent armed paratroopers to protect the small number of black students as they attended school for the next year. It was not just in schools that segregation was present. â€Å"Jim Crow† laws dictated that a black person must surrender their seat to a white person if there were no other seats available, and stand at the back of the bus. In December 1955; Rosa Parks refused to do this, and was arrested and fined $10. Her friends and family, led by Martin Luther King (who would later become leader of the Civil Rights Movement), immediately started a twenty-four hour bus boycott in response, and found it so successful that it was decided they would continue until the bus company agreed to seat customers on a first-come basis. Many black people became involved with the boycott, and as black passengers made up 75% of the bus company’s business it proved to be enormously damaging. The boycott attracted more black people to the civil rights movement. In 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that segregation onShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s714 Words   |  3 Pa gesWhy did the Civil Rights movements develop in the 1950s? Black Americans were discriminated against on a daily basis creating all sorts of difficulties in life, so the Civil Rights movements in the 1950s sparked optimism in many Black Americans. When America entered the Second World War, in 1942, they required Black men to fight. Many Black men fought for America in the war and did everything expected of them. 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