The Civil Rights Movement In The 1950's

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The 1950’s were a turbulent time for American society. The civil rights movement were on the rise and across the nation more and more civil rights events occurred. The first major event to begin the desegregation of America is the 1954 brown vs. board of education ruling in Topeka, Kansas. The case ended up with a supreme court ruling declaring segregation of schools and colleges illegal in all states of America. The very next year, 1955, Emit Till is lynched and killed for talking to a white girl. This creates focus and outrage around the whole issue of civil rights engaging the entire population of America in the debate. In 1956 a supreme court ruling made segregation of busses and bus stops illegal forcing white and black passengers to travel …show more content…
Death threats though phone calls and rocks thrown through the windows of their houses. From their very first day of school they were met by protestors yelling racial slurs and holding up banners with horrible slogans on them. They had food thrown at them and were spit on by strangers. All these demonstrators had the one goal of discouraging and preventing the kids from entering central high. The protestors weren’t the only people working to trying and keeping the kids out. Arkansas governor at the time, Orval Faubus, send in the national guard with orders to keep the 9 kids out of the school. He did everything in his power to keep them out and didn’t back down until president Nixon called for the national guard to leave and let the kids enter. He also sent in the us army to protect the kids and keep the demonstrators out. The harassment didn’t stop here. Inside the school the kids had to endure everything from being pushed to having food thrown at them. Their lockers got harassed and their books thrown around. Even teachers harassed them and punished them harder than any of the white kids at the school. We have to remember that these are young kids our age and even though they faced daily harassment they kept their heads high and never fought back. They kept a poised and controlled demeanor though everything they endured and set a prime example showing great