human progress is neither automatic nor
inevitable welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we'll be learning more about the
history of the American civil rights
movement the end of the American Civil
War in 1865 effectively meant the end of
slavery but African Americans were in
for a long struggle before they were
finally awarded equal rights as of 1870
all eligible male citizens were able to
vote
however blacks were discouraged too by
violence and eventually legal
stipulations in 1896 the Supreme Court
ruled to maintain racial segregation in
private businesses in a case called
Plessy versus Ferguson soon broadened to
include schools many southern states
applied this separate-but-equal
mentality to all aspects of life however
this led to the application of Jim Crow
laws which resulted in blacks being
treated as second-class citizens
segregated schools public transit
restrooms water fountains and more
continued well into the 1900s in 1909 a
group of prominent black and white
campaigners created the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People or NAACP their goal was
to increase racial equality and
challenge issues like the Jim Crow laws
unfortunately it was between 1910 and
1930 that white supremacist group the Ku
Klux Klan saw its biggest expansion amid
increased racial friction following the
First World War
the n-double-a-cp was devoted to ending
lynching by white vigilantes by
mid-century the group became
instrumental in the Brown versus the
Board of Education of Topeka court case
this class-action suit filed in 1951
asked that segregation in schools be
struck down taken to the Supreme Court
the case resulted in the first
integrated school in the United States
to open in the fall of 1955 encouraged
by the decision the civil rights
movement began to hold high profile
boycott
marches sit-ins and other peaceful
protests
these included 1955 s Montgomery bus
boycott in support of Rosa Parks a
watershed moment came in 1957 when a
high school in Arkansas admitted a group
of african-american students nicknamed
the Little Rock Nine protested by fellow
students the governor and even the
state's National Guard President Dwight
Eisenhower eventually intervened to
ensure the students safe passage by 1962
universities also began integrating
though black students were still met
with protests and violence the southern
freedom movement continued into the 60s
with support from newly elected
President John F Kennedy and his brother
Attorney General Robert Kennedy the
violence of the Birmingham Alabama
campaign influenced the President to
fully endorse the movement a great
change is at hand and our task our
obligation is to make that revolution
that change peaceful and constructive
for all On June 19th 1963 he proposed a
civil rights bill to Congress which was
approved in 1964 after his death with
support from President Lyndon Johnson
the bill struck down existing
legislation that allowed for
discrimination and its approval was
largely influenced by Martin Luther King
jr. and the march on Washington of
August 1963
capturing the attention of the media and
the population this event attracted
hundreds of thousands of people in
support of civil rights following that
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and did
the prejudiced voting system instantly
effective blacks began voting and
running for public office
however just days later on August 11th a
violent six-day riot in the Los Angeles
neighborhood of watts resulted in 34
deaths this was indicative of a period
of racially motivated violence that
occurred in the mid to late 1960s this
era also saw the rise of black power LED
in large part by Stokely Carmichael in
opposition to extremists like the Ku
Klux Klan this ideology was exemplified
by the Black Panther Party which
followed the principles set forth by
Malcolm X rising to prominence in the
1950s his radical ideas advocated
militancy for blacks and people and
actually making the problem worse
instead of making the problem better he
remained an influential and
controversial human rights activist
until his assassination in 1965 the
murders of civil rights leaders
continued when Martin Luther King jr.
was killed in April 1968 and Robert
Kennedy
two months later despite racial tensions
continuing into the 1990s progress has
been measurable the election of
President Barack Obama in 2008 is seen
by many to be a culmination of centuries
of work in favor of racial equality this
is the meaning of our liberty and our
Creed why men and women and children of
every race and every faith can join in
celebration across this magnificent mall
and why a man whose father less than 60
years ago might not have been served at
a local restaurant can now stand before
you to take a most sacred oath