Racism In The Civil Rights Movement

1471 Words6 Pages
It seems as if not one person can escape prejudice resulting from one, simple component: skin color. Throughout the history of the United States’, controversies regarding skin color have been a significant problem, leading into what is known now as racism. Although, some Americans believe that this issue was only heavily prevalent in past times, such as during the Civil Rights Movement. So, while racism is a social problem that present-day Americans associate only with the Civil Rights Movement, it continues to be a part of modern American culture. Heavy influences of racism can be traced back to the times of slavery in 1619 in the United States. As the country started to develop, African-Americans were enslaved and being used as if they…show more content…
Even though slavery has been deemed unconstitutional, racism was still seen as an issue amongst the civilians within the United States. After the 13th amendment was passed, the 14th and 15th amendment were added to the Constitution in order to decrease discrimination and racism (Carson). Consequently, these amendments ultimately enforced segregation. Throughout the country, the separation of African-Americans and whites were clearly seen. There were separated restaurants, bathrooms, and even water fountains for each race. Due to the idea that white folks were superior to the black people, the facilities for African-Americans were notably In lieu of fighting for racial equality, many African-Americans participated in the Civil Rights Movement. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a protest against racial discrimination in the United States. One of the most infamous protests in this movement is the one made by Rosa Parks. In this time period, due to the widespread belief of segregation, African-Americans were permitted to sit in the back of the bus since the ‘whites only’ section was placed in the front of the bus. Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man who came on after her (Carson). Nonetheless, racism was still seen as an issue within the…show more content…
One group that arises from this occasion is the Black Lives Matter Movement. This movement was based upon the foundations of frustrations of African-Americans with the issue of police brutality (Stephen). In one circumstance, “this movement helped pressure the federal government to investigate the police situations in Ferguson and Baltimore” (Stephen). The need to address this situation to the federal government must determine that there is a prevalent issue at hand. Although there are groups being made to help decrease the racism in society and increase the awareness of racism within the federal government. Unfortunately, there are also hate groups that promote racism in the American culture. One group, in particular, is the notoriously known KKK, Ku Klux Klan. the violence of this groups was on a rise in the 1800s in order to restore white supremacy (“Ku Klux Klan”). The idea of white supremacy is based on the belief that that white people are superior to all other races, and historically, it has been the black race in particular. This has been a long-held belief of some people in the united states. In 2008, there were a recorded 149 white supremacist groups, but that has increased to a high of 1,360 in 2008 in response to Obama’s election (Bierich et al.). Also, in general, the number of hate groups operating in 2016
Open Document