The Civil Rights Movement And The Voting Rights Act Of 1964

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The Civil Rights Movement has roots in the 19th century, but is most well known for the leaders of and events that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement was a fight for social justice and equality under the law for African Americans after the official abolition of slavery in 1865 failed to end the discrimination against blacks. Even after African Americans became free citizens of the United States, they still faced rampant racism, violence, segregation, false imprisonment, employment and housing inequality, economic hardships, and being turned away from the polls. On paper, they were considered completely equal to their white counterparts, but the unfortunate reality was that they were being treated as second-class citizens. …show more content…
The Voting Rights Act outlawed the biased literacy tests that many African Americans had to pass in order to make it to the voting booths; the right to vote became guaranteed. This ultimately caused an increase in black voter participation, which allowed for notoriously racist government officials to be voted out of office and be replaced with Progressives. Between 1964 and 1969, black voter turnout jumped sharply from 6% to 59%. The Fair Housing Act is known to be the last groundbreaking legislation of the Civil Rights Movement, being swiftly passed by the House of Representatives just a few days after the assassination of MArtin Luther King Jr. The Fair Housing Act banned discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of property. Ultimately, this allowed African Americans to legally be able to move into traditionally white neighborhoods, where living conditions, employment opportunities, and schools were typically better and crime rates lower. Now that schools across America were becoming more and more integrated, this allowed black students to be able to receive higher quality education by attending their new zoned schools. With the Civil Rights Act of 1964, African Americans were also now able to take up better paying jobs in these traditionally white …show more content…
Martin Luther King, Jr., it was dangerous to be an active participant in the struggle for freedom. Not only could one’s life be transformed by death, it could also be transformed by other forms of aggression and violence, such as police brutality, imprisonment, and harassment. A prime example of this is the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965, lead by Dr. King. The march, meant to bring awareness to the difficulties faced by black voters, almost did not occur due to police brutality, imprisonment, and harassment. The first attempt to march was thwarted as the participants were met by police officers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, shortly after the start of the march. The officers used batons and tear gas to push back the peaceful protesters. Many marchers were arrested. Unitarian Universalist minister James Reeb, in Selma to join marchers, was attacked by a group of white men and beaten while on his way home from eating dinner at a restaurant. He died of his injuries two days later. If one wanted to be involved in the fight for freedom, they had to be prepared for their life to be put in the way of danger that could be lurking around any
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