Civil Rights Movement History

The earliest civil rights movements challenged the segregation and the laws that separated the African Americans from the Caucasians. These laws were used to control the African Americans after the abolition of slavery. During the 18th and 19th century, slavery was practiced throughout the American societies. The abolition movement led to a great debate over slavery that hence led to civil war. In this period, intellectuals like Booker T. Some African Americans began urging their joint congregations to take measures against the increasing involuntary servitude. A congregation of German Mennonites and Quakers assembled in Philadelphia to decide on whether what they were subjected to was moral. The Mennonites and the Quakers were the first to hold protests against slavery in America (Durnbaugh, 1966).

They used the principles of friendly persuasion and induced their neighbors to free slaves. These protests continued for almost 100 years until 1780 when the early activists gained the first significant victory, which was the passing of a statute in the American colonies for the abolition of slavery (Baxter, 2001 p. Despite the efforts to abolish slavery, little was done to prevent the illegal trafficking of slaves. However, in the nineteenth century, progress was witnessed. This progress began with the ban of the importation of slaves from Africa in 1808. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise initiated dubious legislative decisions and made ambiguous interpretations of the law. This showed that the US was willing to sacrifice the civil rights of African Americans for the benefit of the White interest groups.

The pro and anti-slavery forces emerged in response to this legislation. The North formed the Republican Party that purely opposed the extension of slavery to the western territories (History. com, 2009). In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that the expansion of slavery to the new territories was legal. Following this ruling, John Brown raided the Harper’s Ferry in 1859. Wells were the black American leaders and activists who fought against slavery and for the civil rights movement of African Americans (Finkelman, 2006 p. Most southerners had been defeated by1863. This led to the signing of Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln to end the Civil War. It focused on the reunification of the white citizenry by granting Africa Americans constitutional rights (Civil War Trust, 1863). This led to many learning institutions including colleges being opened for the admission of African Americans.

The NAACP was successful because it won various court cases against racial segregation during the first half of the century (Morris, 1999 p. Major developments in civil right movements were witnessed in the 1920s. The ideology of black inferiority and white supremacy was challenged. For instance, the Garvey Movement that was organized in 1920 became the largest civil rights movement. This movement’s main message was that the black people, their culture, and Africa as a continent were noble and that the Black people played a key role in every front of the Western civilization. The president never allowed the march to occur and instead, he issued an executive order that ended discrimination in the defense industries (Morris, 1999 p. This was the beginning of the success of civil rights movements in bringing racial equality in the US.