Civil Rights
A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, assembly, the right to vote, freedom from involuntary servitude, and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their relationship in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on a person's race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference. Before 1954, segregation existed in many American schools, as well as in restaurants, hotels, and other aspects of day-to-day life. Many African-American children in Topeka for example, were forced to attend schools miles from their homes, though white elementary schools were nearby. In other cases outside Topeka, African-American children attended poor facilities lacking basic school equipment. Several African-American parents in Topeka tried unsuccessfully to enroll their children in white schools. On the parents' behalf, The Na
1960 -- Four black college students begin sit-ins at lunch counter of a Greensboro, NC, restaurant where Black patrons are not served. 1967 -- Riots in Detroit, Newark, New Jersey. tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized a class-action lawsuit to end public school segregation in Topeka. Poor People's March on Washington -- planned by King before his death -- goes on. Congress approves a watered-down voting rights act after a filibuster by Southern senators. 1831 -- Nat Turner leads slave rebellion in Virginia; 57 whites killed; U.S. troops kill 100 slaves; Turner caught, tried and hanged. Three young civil rights workers (Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney) disappear in Mississippi after being stopped for speeding; authorities found their buried bodies six weeks later. 1925 -- Ku Klux Klan marches on Washington. The district court sympathized with NAACP's case but ruled against it-deciding it could not supersede an 1896 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson, which allowed for separate but equal facilities. The NAACP appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1952, and the case joined with existing suits challenging school segregation on behalf of hundreds of students in Virginia, Washington, D.C., South Carolina, and Delaware. The case, known as Oliver L. Brown et al. v. The Board of Education of Topeka, was presented by attorney Thurgood Marshall. The law's effects were wide and powerful. By 1968, nearly 60 percent of eligible African Americans were registered to vote in Mississippi, and other southern states showed similar improvement. Between 1965 and 1990, the number of black state legislators and members of Congress rose from 2 to 160. Despite finally reclaiming their constitutional voting rights, however, many African Americans in the South and elsewhere saw little progress on other fronts. They still faced illegal job discrimination, substandard schools, and unequal health care. Following its major victories-the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- the liberal, integrationist Civil Rights Movement began to be eclipsed by the more radical Black Power Movement.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2110
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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