Civil Rights Movement In The 1960's

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The social and cultural movements of the 1960s began to upset the traditional “norms” of gender constructs, family and social structures, racial biases, and portrayals of white suburbia that existed in the 1950s. Many social movements were taking place in the US while the Vietnam war going on. In early 1960 black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina sat in on a “white’s only” lunch counters and restrooms, as similar sit-ins started to happen in other southern cities too. These sit-ins would lead to causing economic pressure of a boycott that would successfully desegregate local lunch counters everywhere. One year later African-Americans and white activists started the Freedom Rides which would take bus rides through the South and …show more content…
In other words, they were fighting for their civil rights. In 1964 Congress would pass the Civil Rights Act and African-Americans would finally put an end to decades of fighting for their civil rights because the Civil Rights Act would legally put an end to segregation in public places everywhere. Even though the Civil Rights Act passed, it took a long time before African-Americans would see actual change. So, in the mid1960s the new focus of the civil rights movement became about black power. There were groups out there like the Black Panthers who were young African-Americans who were not happy with the reforms that were already set in place and they advocated violence, which also led to many police confrontations. White student activists who were against the United States involvement in the Vietnam war and pretty much against Government policies. They fought for social change and later most were satisfied with the outcome. However, some the more extreme student activists were not so accepting of war that