Civil Rights Movement in the United States - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1234 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/03/22 Category History Essay Level High school Topics: Civil Rights Movement Essay Did you like this example? Civil Rights Movement The late 1950s and early 1960s the period when civil rights was the most pressing issue for African Americans. They were looking to completely integrated into the American society and fully experience the liberties presented in the U.S. Constitution. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Civil Rights Movement in the United States" essay for you Create order At the same time, the Civil Rights movement was in no way an easy feat. African Americans in the northern part of the United States faced extreme poverty, did not have adequate housing, suffered from unemployment and often segregation (Gore 9). Meanwhile, African Americans in the southern part of the country continued dealing with harsh Jim Crow laws, racism, and disenfranchisement. In 1954, the Supreme Court decided to outlaw segregated public schools in the U.S. and that started the sit-in movement. African Americans hoped that through this movement racial inequalities could be addressed. It was through extensive media coverage that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the African American protesters (in particular, members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference) could conveyed their message of liberation to the wider audiences (Gore 9). Newspaper texts wrote about the civil rights movement, and media representation of Dr. King and other participants of the movement aimed to convey a positive bias to its audience. The public was biased for and against the movement. The material from two newspapers of the period covered the 1963 Birmingham Campaign and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March, The Atlanta Constitution (or white and moderate press) and The Atlanta Daily World (or Black and conservative). Even though the press represented Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers as lawbreakers, it created an overall positive representation of the Civil Rights Movement by emphasizing the protesters heroic roles, and their support by young people as well through linking the protesters activity to religion and God. Firstly, with regard to 1963 Birmingham Campaign, The Atlanta Constitution presented Dr. King and the followers of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) as those who were breaking the law. In headlines, for example, multiple references can be found about Dr. King and other African Americans getting arrested, being taken to jail, and getting released from jail. Headlines included: King Arrested in Birmingham;Birmingham Arrests; 700 Are Jailed In Negro Protest at Birmingham (3 May 1963); 62 Negroes Seized In Selma For Defying Sheriffs Order; Thousands Of Negroes Roam City (4 May 1963; 5 May 1963). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., returns Saturday to racially troubled Selma to keynote a new Negro voter registration drive throughout Alabama. There was speculation the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner would face arrested for violation of a state court injunction banning mass meetings. (2 January 1965) As for The Atlanta Daily World, it represented Dr. King and SCLC members as rule-breakers. Specifically, the paper wrote, with reference to the 1963 Birmingham Campaign,Wave after wave of young Negroes marched into the downtown area and ran head-on into police roadblocks, where they were arrested simultaneously, picketed appeared in front of downtown stores with such signs as segregation sold here, and no dignity, no dollars. (3 May 1963)Likewise, when writing about the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March, the paper framed the protesters as lawbreakers. To illustrate, it wrote, Fifty state highway patrolmen under the command of Col. Al Lingo moved into Selma Tuesday where 34 more arrests were made in connection with a Negro voter registration drive (27 January 1965). Having studied the articles from The Atlanta Constitution and The Atlanta Daily World, one can find that they appealed to religion when speaking about the protests and protesters, as well as made many references to the young people participating in the civil rights campaigns. The Atlanta Constitution, concerning the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, used such phrases as Negroes Worship at Birmingham or Connor Yields, Permits 1,000 Negroes To Sing in its headlines, as well as described how African Americans were kneeling as one or being led in their prayer by a minister, or how hymn-singing blacked students were being encouraged by their school teachers, etc. (22 April 1963). As for this newspapers coverage of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March, it used religious symbols and appealed to the publics religious sense. For instance, it described how the African American protesters knelt and prayed as they proceeded and were attacked by state troopers, as welled as covered the participation of the clergy in the march (24 April 1965). images and covered the religious elements in the campaigns, too. books and toothbrushes for the trip to jail as they emerged from the 16th Street Baptist Church (7 May 1963). Characterization of the African American protesters and Dr. King is that of heroes in both newspapers. For example, in the coverage of 1963 Birmingham Campaign, The Atlanta Constitution portrayed Dr. King as a hero in the following excerpts: Birmingham Accord in Sight: King Says and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader in the desegregation fight in Birmingham, said Thursday night a formula had been devised for settling the dispute. The Negro demonstrators were depicted as heroes as evidenced by the following quoted: about 150 residents of Birmingham, England Wednesday night demonstrated in behalf of Negroes in Birmingham, Alabama. The meeting sent a telegram to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Negro leader, saying ?Citizens Birmingham, England Silent Vigil Salute Prisoners, Demonstrators. We Shall Overcome. and other protesters as heroes in its coverage of 1963 Birmingham Campaign. For instance, it wrote, Leaders announce pact: The agreement was first announced by the Revs. Fred Shuttlesworth and Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (9 May 1963) and Desegregation counters, job opportunities won A biracial committee reached agreement on three of four of Dr. Kings desegregation demands (10 May 1963). Likewise, in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Campaign The Atlanta Constitution also depicted Dr. King as a hero, which is supported by the following examples. First, King is presented as 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner (29 January 1965) and hes a citizen of the State of Georgia and the City of Atlanta who has a won a world-wide prize (2 February 1965) as well as a segregationist struck Dr. Martin Lu ther King, Jr., in the head with his fist marring an otherwise peaceful and successful challenge to Selmas historic segregation barriers (13 February 1965). The Atlanta Daily World, too, made its coverage of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March full of positive references to Dr. King and protesters, who were seen as heroes. In particular, it used the following words to refer to Dr. King: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., became a prophet with honor (28 January 1965) or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Nobel Peace Prize winner was released from jail (January 1965). Also, schoolchildren protesters were depicted as heroes confronting injustice, which was evident from the following examples: 1,000 arrested nearSelma, Alabama: Many of the demonstrators were school age children who were singing freedom songs and Leon Jackson, an obscure Negro farm boy will be buried as a hero of the integration movement clad in the denim jumper and jeans that have become the movements trademark (2 January 1965). Overall to religion and God. It contributed to the public perception of the protesters as good and helped prevent racial bias in the public. Works Cited Gore, Shannon. Civil Rights Television Documentaries in the United States, 1960-1966.Unpublished PhD Thesis. Northwestern University, 2009.The Atlanta Constitution, May 1963, PProQuestHistorical Newspapers, https://search-pProQuestcom /pqrl/advanced?accountid=7374. Accessed 22 April 2018.The Atlanta Constitution, January 1965/February 1965, PProQuestHistorical Newspapers,https://search-pProQuestcom /pqrl/advanced?accountid=7374. Accessed 22 April 2018.The Atlanta Daily World, April 1963/May 1963, Proquest Historical Newspapers, https://search-proquest-com /pqrl/advanced?accountid=7374. Accessed 22 April 2018.The Atlanta Daily World, January 1965/February 1965, Proquest Historical Newspapers,https://search-proquest-com /pqrl/advanced?accountid=7374. Accessed 22 April 2018. Civil Rights Movement in the United States - Free Essay Example Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1434 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/07/01 Category Politics Essay Level High school Topics: Civil Rights Movement Essay Segregation Essay Did you like this example? Following the Civil Rights Movement within the United States, several pieces of legislation were enacted in order to better protect minority rights. This included the Fair Housing Act, implemented in 1968 in an effort to better provide equal housing opportunities and reduce the effects of housing segregation. Decades later, housing segregation remains rampant and widely unregulated within society, still disproportionately affecting the black community. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Civil Rights Movement in the United States" essay for you Create order The effects of housing segregation are evident in all aspects of life, from policing and healthcare to education and economic status. Historically and currently, housing segregation continues to disenfranchise racial minorities and service white supremacy in a society already catered to the white advantage. In an effort to combat the banking crisis of the 1930s, Congress introduced the National Housing Act of 1934 with the hope that it would increase home ownership. This act established the Federal Housing Administration, (FHA), as a regulatory agency of interest rates and mortgage terms, effectively creating the traditional thirty-year mortgage. After WWII, the FHA offered incentives to American soldiers returning home to start families, promising affordable homes with newly secured mortgages. At this time, ninety-eight percent of the loans issued by the FHA were to exclusively white borrowers. In 1933, another government agency was established to assist in the stabilization of the real estate market, the Home Owners Loan Corporation, otherwise known as the HOLC. Eventually, the HOLC was regulated by the FHA, issuing long-term loans to nearly one million prospective homeowners. More importantly, the HOLC has been credited with creating residential security maps, through which the proce ss of redlining is derived. In practice, redlining is the systematic monopolization of the real estate market to favor a specific racial group, white people. Through the process of redlining, residents of certain communities or members of specific racial groups deemed undesirable are denied loans, mortgages, home refinement, and even prevented from buying property in residential areas such as the suburbs. Although the relevance of redlining has only recently garnered public interest, redlining has been practiced for centuries. In their scholarly article, The Historical Demography of Racial Segregation, author Angelina Grigoryeva uses census data, housing licenses, and property tax records to determine the historical extent of housing segregation within the United States. Through their research, Grigorieva found that housing segregation followed a pattern predating the Civil War when slave residences were structured in proximity to the homes of their white owners. Presently, Grigorieva notes a similar pattern in the way metropolitan areas are organized, writing, Whereas northern cities developed segregation via racialized districts, southern cities were more susceptible to micro-segregation, through the backyard pattern and other forms of tertiary segregation, (2). Here, Grigorieva refers to the backyard pattern, a term she coined referencing the way in which white residences dominate front and main streets while black communities are forced into alleys and smaller streets, living behind white people. Therefore, Grigorieva findings outline a historical precedent of housing segregation, presently reinforced through federal legislation that favors the interests, and perceived superiority of white people. Presently, the black community remains the most segregated of all racial minorities. In his opinion piece titled, The Ghettoization of Black Americans Hasnt Been Reversed, author Charles Lane claims, It is to a large degree a legacy of conscious federal actions that helped ghettoized blacks as they migrated from south to north in the mid-20th century. Although they are correct in their assertion, it is important to acknowledge the private practices of the real estate market that facilitate this segregation as well. Even in Northern areas classified as progressive and tolerant, prospective black homeowners face additional difficulty in purchasing real estate and predominantly white neighborhoods. In the documentary, A Matter of Place, filmmakers followed the stories of several minority homeowners and their attempts to secure adequate housing in New York City. For one black couple, the line, Discriminate with a handshake and a smile, became especially relevant as they pursued apartment s in predominantly white buildings. Their story emphasized a common philosophy perpetrated by the housing market, that minorities should live exclusively with other minorities. Recently, several federal initiatives were proposed by the Obama administration to address the lasting impacts of housing segregation. In Charles Lambs scholarly article, HMDA, Housing Segregation, and Racial Disparities in Mortgage Lending, Lamb review recently proposed legislation to offset housing inequality. Lamb writes of a bill proposed in the Senate in 2015, writing, Thus, these opening statements, (of the bill), implied that Congress intended to make communities, at least in part, responsible for deterring lending discrimination by publicly examining bank lending policies and the statistical data made available by HMDA, (page ?). The HMDA, or the Housing Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975, required financial institutions to disclose mortgage data to the public, and this proposed bill proposed to expand its power along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Such legislative action has been reluctantly enforced by current political administrations. In Walter Mondale s opinion piece, The Civil Rights Law We Ignored, he writes that The Trump administration has sought to delay enforcement of the 2015 HUD integration rules by as much as seven years. Ben Carson, the HUD secretary, has referred to these rules † essential to the act he is supposed to safeguard † as mandated social engineering. Therefore, progress against housing segregation has been diminished by an administration willfully upholding a negligent practice that promotes white supremacy. The centuries of housing segregation have left lasting effects on the black community. In Terry Grosss NPR piece, A Forgotten History Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America, he writes that, Today African-American incomes on average are about 60 percent of average white incomes. But African-American wealth is about 5 percent of white wealth. Most middle-class families in this country gain their wealth from the equity they have in their homes. So this enormous difference between a 60 percent income ratio and a 5 percent wealth ratio is almost entirely attributable to federal housing policy implemented through the 20th century. Here, Gross notes the disparities between the incomes of white and black people. An important part of housing segregation was ensuring that white middle-class Americans would receive affordable mortgages so they would eventually be able to own their homes. In this way, housing segregation established that white wealth would be predominantly evident in their home equity, disenfranchising the black community that was not issued loans or able to purchase adequate housing that would one-day garner wealth. Unfortunately, housing segregation has not only hindered black wealth, but education, health care, and policing as well. Given that public schools are primarily funded through property taxes, schools with better facilities, teachers, and resources are likely to be located in more affluent areas. The better the school is, the more the homes cost, the more money there is to fund the schools, creating a cycle of exclusion. Federal and private initiatives that denied mortgages to black families and urban planning that used geographic barriers such as highways and bodies of water to isolate black communities has prevented access to these affluent areas. In some cases of racially charged urban planning, school districts have been drawn to purposefully exclude black residents. In addition, urban planning has resulted in black people being more likely to live near industrial plants or factories that release toxic fumes. Black homes are more likely to have toxic paint and undrinkable water. Furthermore, areas designated for black residents are historically farther away from grocery stores, creating food deserts wherein there is limited, or no, access to fresh and nutritious food. Collectively, these conditions have contributed to black people having higher reported cases of asthma, cancers, and heart disease. Most relevant to our current political climate would be racial profiling disguised as spatial profiling, meaning that living in a certain area, (one with a large black population), makes the likelihood of being stopped by the police, or having frequent interactions with them all the more likely. The practice of spatial profiling has resulted in heavy policing, manifesting into the use of extreme violence and the murder of black people. In synopsis, housing segregation was primarily that of federal motive, and remedies to the epidemic or solutions are reluctantly if at all, enforced. The consequences of housing segregation are evident in the disparity in wealth between black and white citizens, as well as the inadequate living conditions and education that have proven detrimental to the black community. Through the monopolization of the real estate market and present discriminatory practices, housing segregation has fostered white supremacy. Given access to better housing, and subsequent wealth and education, white citizens retain a distinct advantage over their black counterparts and continue to reap the benefits from centuries of discrimination.