Whether or not the civil rights movement has achieved equal rights for black people in USA and if so, to what extent

In this essay, I entrust aim to yield whether or not the civil mightilys movement has achieved equal rights for foul people in USA and if so, to what extent. In order to do this, we must compare the situation for vagues in USA currently, to that of unforgivings umteen years ago. absolutely no matchless would level off try to argue that Black Americans had equal rights during, or even at once after the abolition of sla precise. This would be ridiculous bearing in mind that numerous were forced to consummation from sunrise to sunset, an eighteen hour day in some places, with few, if any rights at all.At one gunpoint, slave owners were even given specific rights to brand, maim, whip or even burn disobedient slaves. This merely indicates any sort of equal rights. They were unable to vote, serve on juries receive an education and lap in certain trades. The fact that they were unable to serve on juries around made certain that any dreary man could be tried and convicted ev en though totally innocent. Also, no pick out meant no black politicians, and no politicians meant no say in government.T here(predicate) were a few lucky blacks living in the south who had managed to obtain freedom, some by purchasing their liberties and others handed their freedom after their masters had passed away. However, these blacks were forever and a day living in the fear that they could once again be taken into bondage. Most blacks had now been freed, nonetheless they were not compensated for past labours, leaving them jobless and al nigh pennyless. Many white supremacy organisations such(prenominal) as the Ku Klux Klan were formed solely to intimidate the black population.Public lynchings and public beatings became common place and actually rarely was anything done about it in the courts as it was bring forthed by many officials. After sla actually was abolished, many years of black campaigning followed and gradually, the campaigning became much and more succesf ul. In 1870, the fifteenth ammendment was passed declaring the right for all to be able to vote regardless of race. This was seen as a real breakthrough to date celebrations were proved to be far too premature. At first everything seemed fine.States which had black majorities soon began to declare black politicians who were more understanding to their plight. Free education was introduced and the system of having to own land to be able to lose the right to vote was as considerably as scrapped. All seemed well and good until 1877, when the army decided that it was time to exit out of the southern states. This immediately left the blacks vulnerable to attack from the various groups which had been formed who had a big(p) hatred towards the blacks. These secret organisations began using violence in order to prevent blacks from voting and this led to an almost immediate limiting.The lack of the black vote led to all white governments once again cosmos elected and this in turn sa w the re-introduction of many laws against those African Americans. Once again, control of the blacks was firmly in the hands of their white figurers. Jim Crow laws were introduced enforcing separationism in various araes of life. Transport saw dissociate seating for blacks and whites. disunite schools and hospitals were similarly introduced. The segregation even went as far as having different cemetries for deceased whites and deceased blacks, even in church, they were sat seperately.The much lower wages that the blacks were being payed meant that they could only afford housing in more run down neighbourhoods, again leading to a seperation, with black only towns. This residential segregation was even made compulsory in some states. Inter-racial marriages became a massive target for groups such as The Ku Klux Klan. They felt that this would lead to a society where racial categorization would become difficult and white self-assurance would become hard to maintain. Again violenc e was accustomd to ensure that no inter-racial marriages could take place.If any pleasant of recession came round, black employees were always the first to be fired regardless of experience or attribute of work and no blacks were allowed to join unions. This of course meant that in the event of any strike action, the blacks would continue to work arousing yet more hatred and hostility from their fellow white compatriots. After the white governments had been firmly re-established, the effect of blacks was continually undermined. Successful black businessmen were attacked and any attempts to form black protection groups were quickly quashed.The KKK also introduced lynching for those blacks accused of commiting crimes, many of whom were completely innocent. This was seen as not really a form of penalisation for criminals, but more a way of intimidating the local black population into accepting the rule of the whites. Yet again, the blacks were forced to accept the inhumane ways in which they were being treated and once again there was nothing they could really do about it. One hundred years on, to what extent piddle civil rights been achieved for blacks? On visiting America now, and comparing life to that of a hundred years ago, the most apparent difference is desegregation.Whereas blacks and whites were forced to attend separate schools, take part in leisure activities seperately, use separate transport and forced to be segregated in the supreme court, there is now no lawful segregation in the USA. Blacks concur been given equal rights as far as voting goes and it has been this way for many years now. However, this did not mean that all Blacks were suddenly voting. There was calm down the occupation of persuading blacks to register although, this has now been rectified with very public registration campaigns. The result has been a huge accession in the proportion of blacks registered to vote.There lead been monumental chnages in attitudes towards black s which has meant the uprising of many black celebrities which would have been unthinkable until recent years. A prime example of this could be that of black boxer, Mohammed Ali. His refusal to participate in the Vietnam war because of his personal beliefs, and being prepared to go to cast away rather than back down, earnt him world wide respect. This went along with the respect that he had already gained from his doubtless talent in the ring. To this day, Ali is one of the most highly regard sportsmen throughout the world.Various blakc musicians have reached stardom also. Examples include Stevie Wonder, Tupac Shakur, Billy Halliday and Bessie Smith, who had to fight adversity throughout her rail avenue career. However, even here there is the possiblity of racial discrimination having taking place as it is widely claimed that, after a car crash Bessie Smith was refused treatment due to the colour of her skin and as a direct result, died from profligate blood loss. Blacks have a lso been very conquestful in Hollywood, with some(prenominal) Will Smith and Samuel L. capital of Mississippi being among the top ten earners.This does not even take into acount Denzel washington, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg and many others. The major turning point as far as civil rights were concerened, was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This finally insured equal oppurtunity for all, in terms of employment and otherwise. There were also affirmative acion programs set up to help those blacks, who through no fault of their own, were given very poor educations. Some blacks have even made a success of themselves by writing or talking about their difficulties in achieving liberation. Maya Angeou is one such person.The political turn of blacks is always rising and I have already speakn about the rise in blacks registered to vote. Recently, we have also seen the rise to prominence of some black politicians. Namely, Jesse capital of Mississippi and Colin Powell. Jackson ran for presi dency in both the 1984 and 1988 elections and although he failed on both occasions, his skills as a negotiater have been proven on many separate occasions. His current title is Washingtons special envoy to Africa. Colin Powell has come into the limelight much more after the very tragic events of September 2001.Much praise has been heaped on the Secretary Of State for the way in which he has handled the cris. He was often referred to as the face of America in the aftermath of the attacks. There have also been large strides made in the way of economic progress. Many blacks have managed to break through into the place classes. The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air is a popular, black sitcom in which one such family is portrayed. The father is a well respected lawyer and the family is shown to be living in great luxery.Similarly, there have been other very successful black shows such as The Cosby Show. There are now many, many black homeowners also, in complete contrast to the slavery which exi sted a century earlier. As yet, I have talked about the great amount of change and progress which has been achieved for blacks in USA, however, in the same period of time there have been many incidents and there are many facts which suggest that not too much has really changed. For example, many people argue that there is a continuity in attitudes of discrimination and they point to certain events to support this.Accusations of constabulary brutality and heavy handiness towards blacks are constant and the Rodney ability incident seems to justify this. Rodney King was a drunken, black driver, who after being stopped by police, was brutally assaulted by quadruplet police officers. The whole incident was video-taped by an on looker. Because of the video-tape, there was a resulting trial in which all four police officers were accused of using excessive force. However, the entirely white jury judged all four to have been not guilty of all charges and the result was the largest riots i n Los Angeles history.Many people were injured during these riots. Consequently, there was a second trial, in which two officers were again acquitted and the other two received minimum jail terms. There were fears of a second round of rioting which never materialised. Other such incidents include an African refugee being shot 24 times by police officers. To this day, there are still more blacks than whites on death row, which again leads to calls of discrimination by the police force and law courts. Earlier, I spoke about black successes in politics, pointing to Jesse Jackson and Colin Powell as examples.However, there has still been no black president, and it still does not even seem like a possibility in the foreseeable future. Even, with the prominence of Jackson and Powell, it can still be said that there is an exclusion of blacks in politics. The poverty trap of many years earlier also still exists in many parts of America, where the idea that if a black person was forced to li ve in a ghetto due to poor wages, there was really no way out and achieving something for their children as opportunities and resources were greatly limited.In conclusion, I think it is obviously clear that change has been achieved and progress has been made as far as civil rights are concerned and there will always be isolated incidents, which suggest otherwise. A great distance has been traveled on the road to achieving equal rights and hopefully, the last few miles will also be covered in the near future.