- The Significance of Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
- The Freedom Riders and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
- President Johnson and the Growing Civil Rights Movement
- Vietnam War Protests Related to the Civil Rights Movement
- Other Groups of Americans Affected by the Civil Rights Movement
- Works Cited
People got used to the fact that they live in the democratic world where their rights are valued and protected. Still, there was a time in the American history when people had to protect their rights. This period was rather long and people, especially African-Americans, had to struggle for the opportunity to have the same rights as other people did. The social reform was really important for the whole world, but the road to it was complicated and sometimes even full of blood and pain.
The Significance of Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
The significance of the Brown v. Board of Education was that this law made the rights of black and white people similar. It was one of the biggest steps for consideration African-Americans as the equal members of the American society protected under the Constitution. The same outcome was provided by the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
In these two cases the decisions were directed at the elimination of the discrimination according to the US Constitution supported with “the civil rights movement of the 1970s focused the nation’s attention on two controversial means of promoting racial equality — affirmative action and mandatory school busing” (Oakes et. al 703).
The Freedom Riders and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Freedom Riders were the activists who wanted to make human rights equal by means of fighting for those of African-Americans. The main difference of Freedom Riders from Montgomery Bus Boycott was that Freedom Riders acted, while Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign (Oakes et. al 694). It is obvious that the purpose these two organizations had were similar, but the ways of striving for the results were different.
President Johnson and the Growing Civil Rights Movement
President Johnson supported the ideas of equal rights. He was sure that his new program Great Society would support the growing Civil Rights Movement as it “aimed to wipe out poverty and enhance the quality of life for all Americans” (Oakes et. al 692). This means that Johnson wanted all people had equal rights that was one of the first steps for life quality improvement.
Vietnam War Protests Related to the Civil Rights Movement
The Vietnam War President Johnson started was, ironically, “an expression of the liberals’ faith in the nation’s economic and political strength” (Oakes et. al 696). But the war lasted longer than Americans expected and the outcome of the war was absolutely different. People in the USA organized different protests directed at the war, especially African-Americans who considered that war was an example of American racism.
Other Groups of Americans Affected by the Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement affected not only African-Americans who struggled to become the deserving part of the American society with equal right, but also other layers of American population who considered themselves infringe upon their rights, like homosexuals, native and Mexican Americans, women, etc. Considering themselves restricted in their rights, these people tried to prove their equality by means of referencing to the US Constitution.
Thus, it may be concluded that the social reform and the Civil Rights Movement in the USA in 1960-1980s affected not only African-Americans who successfully won that struggle and scored a success in the equality of rights with white Americans, but also encouraged other layers of American population for fighting for the rights which they were promised by the US Constitution.
Works Cited
Oakes, James, et. al. Of the People: A Concise History of the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.