African-Americans and the Civil Rights Movement essays

African-Americans and the Civil Rights Movement essays The Civil Rights Movement gave African-Americans many rights that would change their lives forever. Without the Civil Rights Movement, our world is significantly different today because African Americans would still be segregated from the white world. Before the 1950's African Americans held very few rights in the South. The Southern states made sure that whites and blacks were segregated. Blacks could not eat in the white diners or restaurants; they couldn't even use the same restrooms or drinking fountains as the whites. The blacks were almost treated like they weren't even humans. They were also segregated from the whites in education and had very few legal rights. Groups such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) worked to change the views of the white American. These activist groups played a major role in the advancement of African-Americans in education, public rights, and legal rights . "These groups paved the way for the African Americans road to freedom."(1) The African Americans first step to freedom was gaining the same educational rights that the white race had. Before 1954, The white people would not allow their children to go to school with African-Americans. Since the blacks could not go to the same schools as the whites, they were forced to start their schools which received very little funding and were poorly run. The Supreme Court changed education for African Americans forever on May 17, 1954, when it unanimously agreed that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The landmark case that changed African American education forever was known as Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The supreme court believed that segregation was unconstitutional because it violated the 14th amendment. "The court believed that by having segregated schools solely based on the race of a person skin, it denied African Americ...