Introduction
More than five decades have passed since the monumental occurrences of the Watershed Civil Rights Movement (CRM) of the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. This period was marked with events that challenged racial prejudice against African-Americans before and after the start of the twentieth century. The Black Americans agitated against inequality, oppressive laws and racial segregation that was rampant across the United States.
Martin Luther King, among other personalities, organized mass protests and gave major speeches calling for allowing African American equal access to basic rights and privileges. These events culminated in the constitutional and legislative changes that guarantee equal rights and access to privileges to all Americans, regardless of skin color or race. While equal rights for all were fought for during the civil rights movement, its impact on the Black American community still remains debatable.
The Impact of the Civil Rights Movement
The African-Americans were at the center of the civil rights movements in the US. Their struggle for their rights culminated into the legislation that helped them gain social, economic, and political equality in the American society. The fight for political rights was one of the most critical platforms for the mass movement in the 1950s and 1960s (D’Angelo 533).
In the 1870s, the American constitutional amendments granted the right to vote to all Americans irrespective of gender, color, and race. This amendment did not ensure that minority groups could vote since many states especially in the south, adopted different techniques to block the Black Americans from exercising their political and constitutional rights.
The freedom to vote for all Americans became central in the civil rights movements, and one of its successes was the legislation that culminated in the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It prohibited discrimination along race, color, and language lines. The Act and its subsequent amendments also provide other jurisdictions that protect voting and political rights of minority groups in the United States (D’Angelo 537).
The major impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was a product of the modern civil right movement, is the dismantling of the obstacles that Black Americans encountered in exercising their constitutional right for voting. Its first achievement was that Black Americans enjoyed the possibility to be registered as voters in the country. Secondly, the Black Americans participated freely in elections. The number of registered Black American voters has increased over the years.
Furthermore, the Voting Rights Act encouraged political participation of Black Americans. The number of the Black candidates who contest for political seats in the country has significantly increased over the years. The number of African American representatives in cities and towns across the country has also grown.
The unprecedented elections of President Barrack Obama as the first Black American to hold the oval office in 2008, and his re-election in 2012, underscore the impact and the significance of the civil rights movements for African Americans. It is important to note that the political representation and participation of the Black people has greatly increased since 1965, when the Voting Rights Acts was enacted.
Education was also an important issue at the center of civil rights movements in the United States (D’Angelo 225). The Black Americans used the civil rights movement to fight for the right to a decent and equal access to education. Before and after the establishment of the Civil Rights Movement, a wide-scale of educational segregation along racial lines existed (D’Angelo 225). There were strictly White and Black learning institutions.
The access to certain schools was denied to the African Americans. The White schools had better facilities and could only admit the students of the European origin. At the same time, the Black tutors could not be allowed in the White institutions. The Black students also could not share buses with the White students.
The landmark Supreme Court ruling in “Brown v. Board of Education” outlawed education racial segregation (D’Angelo 230). This ruling established the precedence for the removal of barriers that prevented the African Americans from getting equal rights to education as the Whites.
The court ruling allowed the Black Americans to access public schools. Furthermore, it helped the African Americans access learning institutions with good facilities and gain admission to higher level colleges, which they were previously prohibited from attending.
However, it is critical to acknowledge that this had a limited impact on education segregation of the Black Americans (Rothstein 2). The segregation against the African Americans still exists today in different forms because it is still strongly embedded in the education structure of the country. Most of the schools that Black American students attend today are still economically and socially isolated.
This denies the children from the African American families’ access to quality education as compared to the Whites who are empowered economically. In addition, socio-economic hard-ships such as inadequate housing, unemployment, and discriminative criminal justice systems limit the children and youth in terms of education opportunities (Rothstein 2).
Finally, racial imbalances that existed between various districts as a result of the educational system factors contributed to the persistent racial separation in the sector (Rothstein par. 3).
One of the most successful features of the civil rights movement was the demand for economic justice (Wright par. 3). It is important to note that the movement was anchored on the demands of the Black Americans right to equal treatment on an economic dimension.
The Africans were constantly denied getting decent jobs (Wright par. 4). They were also restricted from accessing high-paying and skilled work. Through the boycotts of business organizations that declined to employ the Blacks in the South for several years, a federal legislation was enacted in 1964. It outlawed employment discrimination.
Following the enactment of the federal legislation, more Black workers were employed in the south by 1970. The number of the hired Blacks increased tremendously after the 1970s. However, it is important to note that the population of the Blacks has also raised significantly since then. According to Austin (3), the percentage of unemployed Blacks in the United States is twice that of the Whites (Austin 3).
Mishel (13) points out that the rate of unemployment within the Black Americans who complete high schools was 8 per cent compared to 4.5 per cent of the Whites (Mishel 13). In addition to these, the Black people still receive low wages as compared to the White people. This is confirmed by the minimum wages that have been extended to occupations predominantly done by the Blacks (Rothstein 2). The opportunities of employment for the Black people have been limited over the years.
Conclusion
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s had a profound effect on the history of the American society. It culminated in the landmark legislation that guaranteed equal rights and privileges for races and colors. Its impact on the Black Americans is still debated today. Even if the Black people are enjoying various rights and freedoms today, the effect of the movement has been limited.
The political representation can only be viewed in the areas where the movement has had a significant influence within the country, which is now being ruled by the first African American President. Currently, most colored individuals are enjoying voting rights and representation in the state governments. However, they have gained less in terms of economics because the rate of unemployment within the Black community is significantly high.
Works Cited
Austin, Algernon. “The Unfinished March: An Overview”. Economic Policy Institute 2013 Report, 2013. Web.
D’Angelo, Raymond N. The American Civil Rights Movement: Readings & Interpretations. Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2001. Print.
Mishel, Lawrence, Josh Bivens, Elise Gould, and Heidi Shierholz. The State of Working America. 12th Edition. Ithaca, New York: An Economic Policy Institute book, 2012. Print.
Rothstein, Richard. “For Public Schools, Segregation Then, Segregation Since”. Economic Policy institute, 2013. Web.
Wright, Gavin. “The Stunning Economic Impact of the Civil Rights Movement”. Bloomberg, 2013. Web.