Research

From our brainstorm we each picked one area to research and present, I chose racial inequality.

The Fight for Racial Equality 

Racial Inequality

• Because of their skin colour and a law called the Jim Crow Laws, blacks were told they were inferior to the whites in all ways, including intelligence, morality and civilised behaviour.
• During this period of time the blacks were separated from the whites, in buses, restaurants, waiting rooms, jobs and more.
• In other words, they were treated almost as "slaves", whites were allowed to lynch them (burn them alive, or hang them in front of the public)

Jim Crow Law

• The Jim Crow laws were racial segregation laws
• Enacted after the Reconstruction period in Southern United States, at state and local levels
• Continued in force until 1965
• Mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy, with, starting in 1890, a "separate but equal" status for African Americans.
• The separation in practice led to conditions for African Americans that were inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages
• “1911-1962: Segregation, miscegenation, voting [Statute] Passed six segregation laws: four against miscegenation and two school segregation statutes, and a voting rights statute that required electors to pass a literacy test. The state's miscegenation laws prohibited blacks as well as Indians and Asians from marrying whites, and were not repealed until 1962.”

1960s Civil Rights Movement

• Black Americans struggled for racial equality in the 1950's and 1960's
• Throughout the 1960's, bus riding Freedom Riders, marchers, boycotters and other protesters continued their crusade for freedom and were met with fierce white and establishment resistance
• Throughout the 1960's, bus riding Freedom Riders, marchers, boycotters and other protesters continued their crusade for freedom and were met with fierce white and establishment resistance
• Ku Klux Klan members and other whites who believed in white supremacy spread terror all through the South

Martin Luther King Jr.

• August 28, 1963
• Over 250,000 people (including thousands of whites) gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C
• The emerging leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr., gave his famous "I have a dream" speech
• Continued protests, boycotts and marches gradually convinced the American populace to seriously consider major changes to the way blacks were treated in America
• The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 3, 1968 and the ensuing race riots and protests shocked America and galvanized support for the Civil Rights Movement.