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American
Flag and Constitution
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Inextricably linked with the
1950s and 1960s in America,
the Civil Rights Movement represented a major shift in temperance and tolerance
in the American psyche. While many of the events that led to the need for the
Civil Rights Movement are vile and pernicious, they are nonetheless important
pieces of American history and ones that ought not be forgotten. Although many
of the events took place in the Southern United States where opposition to integration
was most pronounced, the effects of the demonstrations, protests and solidarity
in the face of institutionalized racism and bigotry affected and changed the country
as a whole.
Many prominent towns in
the Southern United States experienced civil rights issues of one description
or another. It was in Memphis,
Tennessee,
that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in 1968, an event characterized by a deep
sense of loss and national grieving. Many alive at the time will remember where
they were when Dr. King was shot, in the same way they remember where they were
when President Kennedy was shot, or how they experienced the first moon landing.
Events that defined a generation were frequent and often explosive, carrying
with them an underlying promise of change, equality and achievable harmony.
Other states that are linked with the Civil Rights Movement are North
Carolina, Alabama,
Mississippi,
Arkansas and
Kansas, among
others.
Today, there are a number
of attractions dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement, from the sites of important
events to historical collections that recall the struggle of blacks for fair
and even representation in society.
HISTORY
In 1948, Harry S Truman
signed into law the Executive Order calling for the racial integration of the
armed forces. Some point to this as the catalyst that began the erosion of segregation,
racism and discrimination were still wide-spread and entrenched not just in
the military, but in American society as a whole. Historically, the importance
of this act is that it signaled an official federal recognition of the problem
of segregation. In 1951 the problem was delivered front and center to Americans
with the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education in Topeka,
Kansas.
In a unanimous decision,
the Supreme Court in hearing Brown v. Board of Education found that segregation
in schools was unconstitutional, striking down the precedent-setting Plessy
v. Ferguson, a ruling from 1896 that sanctioned “separate but equal” institutions
in the United States. The lawyer for Brown was Thurgood Marshall, retained by
the NAACP and later to become the first black Supreme Court Justice in the U.S.
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Little Rock, Arkansas
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Little
Rock, Arkansas, was the site of another school related incident. In 1957,
nine black students were denied entry into Little
Rock Central High School, prompting President Eisenhower to dispatch the
National Guard to combat any threats posed to the students.
The 1950s in America saw
the continuation of insidious crimes against blacks, many similar in nature
and violence to the case of Emmet Till in Mississippi. Till was a fourteen year
old black youth in 1950 who was accused of whistling provocatively at a white
woman. For his alleged cat-call, Till was kidnapped, tortured, shot and eventually
drowned in the Tallahatchie River. Two white men stood trial and were acquitted,
however, in a later magazine article they boasted of their role in the young
man's death. Despite this admission, neither man was ever held culpable for
Till's murder, a telling incident that highlights the level of institutional
bigotry at work during this period of American history.
The year 1955 also saw Rosa
Parks defy the public transportation system in Montgomery,
Alabama, when she refused to move to the back of the bus and give her seat to
a white passenger. Parks was kicked off the bus and a city-wide boycott of the
buses was organized by Martin Luther King Jr. The boycott lasted more than a
year until the city repealed its discriminatory policy.
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Lincoln Memorial
in Washington DC
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North Carolina wasn't immune
to the segregation that was rampant at the time. In Greensboro,
1960, four black students staged a sit-in at the Woolworth's lunch counter. They
were refused service, however they remained seated and returned repeatedly with
more and more students until they received a meal. The non-violent means employed
at this protest was indicative of many of the sit-ins that took place at swimming
pools, theaters, parks and other venues where segregation was used.
Another form of non-violent
protest was the Freedom Riders, a group that rode charter coaches around the
South in 1961 to ensure that the anti-discrimination laws were being adhered
to. Many buses were attacked in the course of these rides, some burned on the
road by racist vigilantes. This year also saw James Meredith, a black student,
gain entry to the University
of Mississippi. As the first black man permitted to do so, Meredith
was accompanied by 5000 National Guard troops, sent by President Kennedy as
a deterrent against any race-fueled violence.
One of the most well-known
events of the Civil RIghts Movement is Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech at the
Lincoln
Memorial. Delivered at the culmination of the March on Washington
in 1963, King's oratory that day is remembered as the “I Have a Dream” speech,
a powerful and inspiring allocution whose message is as relevant today as it
was then. Though the Civil Rights Movement is associated with the 1950s and
60s, race continues today to be an issue in the United States.
ATTRACTIONS
Many of the attractions
associated with the Civil Rights Movement serve as memorials, urging that people
understand the consequences of such myopic opinions. The museums and monuments
feature comprehensive displays, exhibits and artifacts from the Civil Rights
Movement, aiding in the forging of an awareness of racial discrimination.
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Martin Luther King
Jr. Statue
Photo courtesy Morehouse College
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Memphis
Memphis is home to the National
Civil Rights Museum, an institution that features a comprehensive history
and dissemination of the events, people and places that characterize Civil Rights
in America. The museum was built as an addition to the Lorraine Hotel, the place
where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. With information dating back to the slave
trade and the Civil War, visitors can learn where the roots of bigotry lie.
Exhibits include statues that recreate the student sit-ins, a Greyhound bus
like the ones used in the Freedom Rides, a Montgomery city bus and the hotel
room where Dr. King was staying as it was on the day he was killed.
Atlanta
The Martin
Luther King Jr. National Historic Site is one of the attractions dedicated
to the memory of Dr. King. Including his boyhood home, church and grave site,
this National Historic Site in Atlanta
serves as an important reminder of the importance of King's life and its relation
to the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King matriculated at Morehouse
College, also located in Atlanta. Morehouse is a private college that
continues to be one of the only traditionally black, male college institutions
in the United States.
Greensboro
Another prominent American
museum dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement is located in Greensboro, North
Carolina. The International
Civil Rights Museum is to be built on the site of the Woolworth's Department
Store that refused service to four students in 1960. Construction of this attraction
is on-going, however the end result promises a comprehensive collection of artifacts
and exhibits that recall this vital period of American history.
Birmingham
Birmingham,
Alabama, was the scene of many striking events in the Civil Rights struggle
of the 1960s, and accounts of these events form the core of the Birmingham
Civil Rights Institute. The primary concern of this institute is to
ensure that citizens learn from the lessons of the past, a task that is achieved
by chronicling the 1960s with a positive spin in the hopes that visitors recognize
the roots of bigotry and strive to eradicate the malignant growth that results
from ignorance. By extension, the museum explores the links between the Civil
Rights era and the continuing struggle around the globe for human rights.
Albany
The state of Georgia is
imbued with Civil Rights history and attractions as well. The Civil
Rights Museum in Albany
is located on the site of the Old Mount Zion Church, once a meeting place for
Civil Rights organizers in the early 1960s. Protests conceived at this site
were emulated throughout the United States.
There are many other sites
across the United States that reflect the change that was effectuated during
the late 1950s and 1960s because of the Civil Rights Movement. While the problems
of bigotry and racism have existed for centuries, the strides made in changing
the accepted outlook of race relations are relatively new. People who witnessed
the events first hand are still alive to relate their stories and pass the torch
of integration and harmony to a new generation.
