Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
National Capital Region
Schools Division Office
LAGRO HIGH SCHOOL
5th District, Quezon City, Metro Manila

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

IN USA

Balaoro, Gabriel O.

Olaso, Renald V.

Ragil, Mark Daniel

Albaniel, Justine Mae M.

Coronacion, Kristine Mirie F.

Dacayanan, Mikhaela Rose

Vanzuela, Rudylen Joy S.

July 2019

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………. 1

Introduction ..…………………………………………………………………………………. 2

Review of Related Literature ..……………………………………………………………... 4

“I Have a Dream” .…………………………………………………………... 4

Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………….....16

Conclusion and Recommendation ………………………………………………………… 26

Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………….. 30

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 ABSTRACT

This study explored the history and development of civil rights movement in

America. This study purposed is to give impact to the people if America to fully stop the

discrimination in Blacks. Civil Rights Movement is the national effort made by black

people and their supporters in 1950’s and 1960’s to eliminate segregation from white

and gain equal rights. Colorism is a form of racially-based discrimination where people

are treated unequally due to skin color. There were people who led in order to stop the

discrimination and racism in Blacks, such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and

other supporters of Blacks. The separation of Blacks from Whites ended in late 1960’s.

In order to stop the discrimination laws were implemented to protect the rights of

the Blacks against Whites. These laws helped the Black not to separate their lives from

the Whites and these laws helped them to achieved their own freedom, freedom to live

a normal live, freedom of speech, freedom to express their selves, and freedom to have

a fair and equal life from Whites.

The study found that discrimination and racism are still evident in America but not as the

same way before. But there is also a development in the life of Blacks. They somehow

achieved and will continue to fight in order for them to ensure, and to gain their full

freedom and equality that they want to receive from the Whites. The study also found

that the Blacks made a progress and the word equality and freedom was known for all

races. Presently in 21st Century, they are doing their best to maintain what they had

fought for back in their early years.

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 INTRODUCTION

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, the civil rights movement was a struggle for social

justice that took place mainly for blacks to gain equal rights under the law in the United

States. The Civil War had officially abolished slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination

against blacks – they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially

in the South. By the mid-20th century, African-Americans had more than enough of

prejudice and violence an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.

Racial discrimination alludes to oppression people based on their race. Policies

of racial segregation may formalize it, but legalized and also it means facing injustice.

Colorism is a form of racially-based discrimination where people are treated

unequally due to skin color. It initially came about in America during slavery. Lighter

skinned slaves tend to work indoors, while dark skinned worked outdoors. In 1865,

during the Reconstruction Period after the Civil War, States Constitution was passed

and it abolished slavery. This was soon followed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the

United States Constitution that granted citizenship to all persons “born or naturalized in

the United States”, and the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that

protected the right to vote of everyone. These Amendments passed during the

Reconstruction period extended protection to the newly emancipated slaves. However,

in the 1870’s Jim Crow laws were introduced in the Southeastern United States. These

laws promoted the idea of “Separate but equal” which was first brought about from the

Plessy V. Ferguson in 1896, meaning that all races were equal, but they had to have

separate public facilities. The mixing of races was illegal on most places such as public

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schools, public transportation and restaurants. These laws increased discrimination and

segregation in the United States. Often times, the products and sections designated for

the “colored” were inferior and not as nice for the “white only”. Water fountains,

bathrooms, and park benches were just a few of the areas segregated by Caucasians

due to Jim Crow laws. Furthermore, the Jim Crow laws systematically made life harder

for African-Americans and people of color. It made voting harder to accomplish, due to

the fact that African-Americans had to do literacy tests and go through other obstacles

before getting the chance to vote.

In the modern United States, gay black men are extremely likely to experience

intersectional discrimination. In the United States, the children of gay African-American

men have a poverty rate of 52%, the highest in the country. Gay African-American men

in partnerships are also six times more likely to live in poverty that gay white male

couples.

The civil rights movement was an empowering yet precarious time for blacks in

America. The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protestors of all races brought

about legislation to end segregation, black voter suppression and discriminatory

employment and housing practices.

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 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Literature Review

"I HAVE A DREAM ..."

(Copyright 1963, MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.)

(Speech by the Rev. MARTIN LUTHER KING at the "March on Washington")

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest

demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago a great

American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation

Proclamation. This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope to millions of

Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a

joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later the Negro

still is not free. One hundred years later the life of the Negro is still badly rippled by the

manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later the

Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material

prosperity. One hundred years later the negro is still languished in the corners of

American society and find himself in exile in his own land. So we’ve come here today to

dramatized a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the

architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the

Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every

American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men – yes, black men as well

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as white men – would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit

of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note

insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation,

America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back

marked ''insufficient funds.''

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe

that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we've

come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom

and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the force urgency

of now. This no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing

drug of graduation. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy. Now is the

time to rise from the dark desolate valley of segregation to the unlit path of racial justice.

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of

brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal

for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the

negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of

freedom and equality - 1963 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the

Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if

the nation returns to business as usual.

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 There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his

citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our

nation until the bright days of justice emerge. And that is something that I mus.t say to

my people who stand on the worn threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the

process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not

seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.

We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and

again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The

marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to

distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence

here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our

freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall

always march ahead. We cannot turn hack. There are those who are asking the

devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied!'' \We can never be satisfied as long

as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel,

cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller

ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of

their adulthood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating ''For Whites Only."

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 We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the

Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down

like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and

tribulation. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come

from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution

and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative

suffering.

Continue to work with the faith that un-earned suffering is redemptive. Go back to

Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go

back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that

somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of

despair.

I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of

today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American

dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of

its creed: "We hold the truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia son of former slaves and

the son of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of

brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state

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sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be

transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they

will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a

dream... I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its

governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one

day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girl will be able to join hands with

little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted,

every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the

crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all

flesh shall see it together. This is one hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South

with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of

hope. With this faith will he able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a

beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to

pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom

together, knowing that we will he fine one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new

meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my

fathers died, land of the pilgrim 's pride, from every mountain side, let. freedom ring.''

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from

the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains

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of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let

freedom ring from the snowcapped Rookies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the

curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that, Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom

ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill

of Mississippi, from every mountain side. Let freedom ring . . .

When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring from every city and every

hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all (If

God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and

Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,

"Free at last, Free at last, Great God almighty, we are free at last."

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 In the study entitled “Racism (Discrimination in Race)” states that

discrimination is the act of someone being prejudiced towards another. This term is

used to highlight the difference in treatment between members of different groups when

one group is intentionally singled out and treated worse, or not given the same

opportunities. Attitudes toward minorities have been marked by discrimination

historically in the United States. Many forms of discrimination have come to be

recognized in U.S. society, on the basis of national origin, race, gender, and sexuality in

particular. Racism Main articles: Racism in the United States and Racial inequality in the

United States.

Racism in the United States and Racial inequality in the United States Picture

showing that most public places were segregated. Colorism is a form of racially-based

discrimination where people are treated unequally due to skin color. It initially came

about in America during slavery. Lighter skinned slaves tend to work indoors, while dark

skinned worked outdoors.

Various types of racism have been described (Jones, 1997): personal, which may

be considered the same as prejudice (Allport, 1958); institutional, involving a set of

environmental conditions, such as housing market conditions, that favors one group

over another; and cultural, referring to shared beliefs about the superiority of one group

over another. Racism also often involves control by one group over resources that

another group wants or needs (Jones, 1997).

If the average person of color were asked to describe himself or herself based on

five physical characteristics, one could likely assume that the minority individual would

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list his or her race as one of the descriptors. Hence, it is no surprise that the ideas of

race and race relations are not newness in our society. In America, when people think of

race or race relations, they commonly think of these notions as a Black and White issue,

where each “race” is generalized and standardized into one grouping (Celious &

Oyserman, 2001).

Skin color influences cognitive perceptions above and beyond race. Participants

in the Implicit Association Test, taken by over two million people, demonstrated both

explicit and implicit preference for light-skin compared to dark-skin and the tests showed

that 68% of respondents were faster to pair dark-skin with negative words and light skin

with good words than the reverse (Nosek et al. 2007, p. 17).

Smaller experimental studies have replicated this pattern of light-skin preference. For

instance, both black and white subjects were more likely to assign positive traits to

blacks if they had lighter skin they would describe them as motivated, educated, and

attractive. On the other hand, were more likely to apply negative racial stereotypes to

darker members of that race, who were described as unattractive, criminal, unintelligent,

and lazy (Maddox and Gray 2002).

In 1865, during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, the Thirteenth

Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed and it abolished slavery. This

was soon followed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that

granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States", and the

Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that protected the rights to vote

for everyone. These Amendments passed during the Reconstruction period extended

13
protection to the newly emancipated slaves. However, in the 1870s Jim Crow laws were

introduced in the Southeastern United States. These laws promoted the idea of

"Separate but equal" which was first brought about from the Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896,

meaning that all races were equal, but they had to have separate public facilities. The

mixing of races was illegal in most places such as public schools, public transportation

and restaurants. These laws increased discrimination and segregation in the United

States.

Discrimination in access to public services can act as a major obstacle towards

addressing racial inequality. We examine whether racial discrimination exists in access

to a wide spectrum of public services in the US. We carry out an email correspondence

study in which we pose simple queries to more than 19,000 local public service

providers. We find that emails are less likely to receive a response if signed by a black-

sounding name compared to a white-sounding name. Given a response rate of 72% for

white senders, emails from putatively black senders are almost 4 percentage points less

likely to receive an answer. We also find that responses to queries coming from black

names are less likely to have a cordial tone. Further tests demonstrate that the

differential in the likelihood of answering is due to animus towards blacks rather than

inferring socioeconomic status from race.

The study entitled “The Birth of Civil Rights Movement” states that on

December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to

give up her seat on a city bus to a white man. News of Parks' arrest quickly spread

through the African American community. Parks had worked as a secretary for the local

branch of the national association for the advancement of colored people. Because she

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was a well-respected and dignified figure in the community, her arrest was finally

enough to persuade African Americans that they could no longer tolerate racially

discriminatory laws.

After exchanging phone calls, a group of African American women, the Women's

Political Council, decided to call for a boycott of the city buses as a response to this

outrage. This suggestion was greeted with enthusiasm by local African American

leaders, including the influential black clergy.

On December 5, members of the African American community rallied at the Holt

Street Baptist Church in Montgomery and decided to carry out the boycott. Their resolve

was inspired by the words of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. He was a social

activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights

movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought

equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged

and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force

behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963

March on Washington, which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the

Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. King was awarded the Nobel Peace

Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a U.S.

federal holiday since 1986.

The Civil Rights Movement was elaborated clearly by the study entitled “Civil

Rights Movement”, it states that the civil rights movement was a struggle by African-

Americans in the mid-1950s to late 1960s to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites,

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including equal opportunity in employment, housing, and education, as well as the right

to vote, the right of equal access to public facilities, and the right to be free of racial

discrimination. No social or political movement of the twentieth century has had as

profound an effect on the legal and political institutions of the United States. This

movement sought to restore to African Americans the rights of citizenship guaranteed

by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which had been eroded by segregationist

Jim Crow laws in the South. It fundamentally altered relations between the federal

government and the states, as the federal government was forced many times to

enforce its laws and protect the rights of African American citizens. The civil rights

movement also spurred the reemergence of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court,

in its role as protector of individual liberties against majority power. In addition, as the

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, and other leaders of the movement predicted, the

movement prompted gains not only for African Americans but also for women, persons

with disabilities, and many others.

The civil rights movement has been called the Second Reconstruction, in

reference to the Reconstruction imposed upon the South following the Civil War. During

this period, the fourteenth amendment (1868)—granting equal protection of the laws—

and fifteenth amendment (1870)—giving the right to vote to all males regardless of race

—were ratified, and troops from the North occupied the South from 1865 to 1877 to

enforce the abolition of slavery. However, with the end of Reconstruction in 1877,

southern whites again took control of the South, passing a variety of laws that

discriminated on the basis of race. These were called Jim Crow laws, or the black

codes. They segregated whites and blacks in education, housing, and the use of public

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and private facilities such as restaurants, trains, and rest rooms; they also denied blacks

the right to vote, to move freely, and to marry whites. Myriad other prejudicial and

discriminatory practices were committed as well, from routine denial of the right to a fair

trial to outright murder by lynching. These laws and practices were a reality of U.S. life

well into the twentieth century.

One of the people who led and have a dream for the America was Martin

Luther King Jr., In the study entitled “Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.’

said that the events in Selma deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther

King, Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his nonviolent methods and

commitment to working within the established political framework.

As more militant black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to

prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as

the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races. In 1967, King and the

SCLC embarked on an ambitious program known as the Poor People’s Campaign,

which was to include a massive march on the capital.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated. He

was fatally shot while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, where King

had traveled to support a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of his death, a

wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson

declared a national day of mourning.

James Earl Ray, an escaped convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to the

murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession

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and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the King family, before

his death in 1998.

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 DISCUSSION

The purpose of this research is to know the history and development of the Civil

Rights Movement in USA and to give impact to the people if America to fully stop the

discrimination in Blacks.

The first integration moment in American history was also undone by the

chauvinism an exaggerated or aggressive patriotism and even the most forward-

thinking white Americans. For government officials like Henry Knox, or educators like

Princeton president Samuel Stanhope Smith, people of color had the potential to be

equal to whites if they changed their culture and behavior—or even their appearance, in

short black people needs to adjust and need to change everything just to blend towards

white people. Smith, the most influential race theorist of his day, insisted that blacks and

Indians would literally come to resemble Europeans—losing their “African

peculiarities”—as they gained freedom or “civilization.” When people of color failed to

somehow “turn white,” or to abandon their assumptions and ways of life, liberal whites

reacted with exasperation and disdain

And then there was the prospect of racial amalgamation, which scrambled the

moral compasses of even the most progressive whites. Of all the European empires in

the New World, British North America was the most squeamish on the question of

amalgamation. But while the science and religion of the European Enlightenment

suggested no barrier to intermarriage, even white Americans who embraced “all men

are created equal” struggled with the practical application of that phrase. The preacher

David Rice, who tried valiantly to outlaw slavery in the Kentucky constitutional

19
convention of 1792, admitted that his own prejudices against intermarriage were hard to

shake; but he was determined, he told his fellow delegates, not to allow irrational

feelings to “influence my judgment, nor affect my conscience.”

Alas, many others who spoke in the abstract against slavery failed to follow

Rice’s example; or, like Thomas Jefferson, they compartmentalized their private and

public lives. It’s now widely accepted that in the 1790s and 1800s, Jefferson secretly

fathered six children with Sally Hemings, a multi-racial slave in his household, while

insisting in public on his “great aversion” to “the mixture of color.”

It soon became apparent that the realization of “all men are created equal”

required more than an abstract recognition of black or Native humanity; it required the

surrender of what we now call white privilege. When even the most liberal whites

struggled to meet this challenge, they developed an alternative plan that might deliver

the United States from the guilt of slavery and oppression without obliging white people

to live alongside people of color: perhaps blacks and Indians could be persuaded to

move elsewhere.

As antislavery initiatives in the South stalled on the question of integration, and

Native Americans went to war with white settlers in the Midwest, an influential group of

politicians, philanthropists, and reformers proposed the same solution for both

problems. Native Americans would be moved beyond the Mississippi, where they could

be “civilized” by the federal government without the immediate pressure of the settlers

who were rushing into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. African-Americans, meanwhile, could

be freed from slavery on condition that they agree to leave the United States for a land

20
of their own: in the far West, perhaps, or in the Caribbean or Africa. At precisely the

same moment in American history— the first 30 years of the 19th century—many of the

most influential figures in the United States proposed segregation as a solution to the

nation’s first racial crisis.

The idea that Native people could be colonized in the West was endorsed by

Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams before it was taken up by Andrew

Jackson, whose determination to force Native people to leave the Southeast culminated

in the notorious Cherokee Trail of Tears in 1838-39. This appalling outcome, though,

was merely the final stage in a process of promoting racial separation that had begun

with Northern missionaries and politicians. Similarly, the proposal that African-

Americans be colonized outside the United States was warmly accepted by white

politicians and reformers from North Carolina to Massachusetts. If slavery had become

mostly a Southern institution by the 1820s, segregation appealed to whites across the

nation.

It was no surprise that Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party endorsed black

colonization in the 1850s, or that Lincoln affirmed his commitment to a black exodus

from the United States during the first 18 months of the Civil War. What separated

Lincoln from Jackson was that the former had neither the means nor the inclination to

compel black people to leave the United States. Through their vast numbers and their

usefulness to the Union war effort, African-Americans managed to reject the future that

had long been marked out for them by “liberal” whites. By 1863, the Lincoln

administration had largely abandoned the notion that black people would agree to live

somewhere else after emancipation.

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 But white Americans had been assured by politicians for half a century that

slavery would end in racial separation rather than coexistence. The logic of segregation

wasn’t the offshoot of the Civil War, nor was it the preserve of Southerners who had

fought to the death to maintain slavery. America’s integration problem may have looked

Southern and reactionary at the end of the 19th century, but it began as a national—and

liberal—predicament.

The Founding generation spoke about racial integration in ways that may seem

disconcertingly familiar to us. White reformers frequently insisted on racial equality or

potential, while finding ways to postpone or derail forms of integration that required the

surrender of prejudice and advantage. By acknowledging this forgotten history of

segregation, we’re in a better position to interrogate our own boasts about racial

“progress”—and to see that, in the long American conversation about race, moral

evasion has always been a central theme.

The racism between white and black people had been a long journey and it was

big blow for both parties and became an eye-opener to them, the situation, process,

rights, and so on is not equal. Black people stand firm to their rights as a human, and

white people slowly accepted black people for the better communication, for the peace

of their country, and both parties realized that they need to cut down the barriers and be

equal to everybody.

Exposing Racism in American. The United States of America is a melting pot of

diverse ethnicities, races, and cultures. Our country has no official language, religious

faith, or skin color. It is simply a country that believes all of us were created equal under.

22
Furthermore, with the vast mix of people and differing beliefs, issues on race can easily

arise. Racism in America has a long and complicated history. It started as an ideology, but

now can be expressed in “institutional patterns or social practices.

There are implicit and explicit forms of racism that affect a wide group of people.

Also, It can lead to severe physical, emotional and mental complications. The adversity

that follows racism is overwhelming. For this reason, there has been much research,

analysis, and counseling to understand and handle this problem at hand. From a young

age, we are misinformed about people who differ from us and are raised in communities

with little interactions with other cultures.

This is the fuel of racial prejudice and racism seen in America. According to Dr.

Tatum, “prejudice is a preconceived judgment or opinion, usually based on limited

information”

America Still Divided Racism and discrimination inequalities have become a major

discussion throughout the years in our society. Inequalities has impacted every level of

humanity on this earth. Tolerance and acceptance can be used to challenge one another

in attempt to change the negative traditions that continue to exist in our culture. Racism

and discrimination inequalities continues to be passed from generation to generation.

When I read this quote, “America having elected an African American president twice is

proof that racism is over in this country” (McWhorter). We can also assume it is our “All

American” requirement to continue to place racism and discrimination at the top of all

news stories and struggle to find answers for the poor minorities when in fact this is our

country’s habit. These are the ideas of some American who don’t see the racism of

23
western society and its discriminatory practices are allowed by stereotypes, prejudices

and ideologies.

The civil rights movement was an organized effort by black Americans to end

racial discrimination and gain equal rights under the law. It began in the late 1940s and

ended in the late 1960s. Although tumultuous at times, the movement was mostly

nonviolent and resulted in laws to protect every American’s constitutional rights,

regardless of color, race, sex or national origin.

These were the dates or the timeline of the Civil Rights Movement in America.

On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman issues Executive Order 9981 to end

segregation in the Armed Services. And on May 17, 1954, Brown v. Board of Education,

a consolidation of five cases into one, is decided by the Supreme Court, effectively

ending racial segregation in public schools. Many schools, however, remained

segregated. In December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white

man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her defiant stance prompts a year-

long Montgomery bus boycott.

During January 10-11, 1957, Sixty black pastors and civil rights leaders from

several southern states—including Martin Luther King, Jr.—meet in Atlanta, Georgia to

coordinate nonviolent protests against racial discrimination and segregation. While on

September 4, 1957, Nine black students known as the “Little Rock Nine,” are blocked

from integrating into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight D.

Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students, however, they

continue to be harassed.

24
 In September 9, 1957, Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law to

help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress

another’s right to vote. By February 1, 1960: Four college students in Greensboro, North

Carolina refuse to leave a Woolworth’s “whites only” lunch counter without being served.

Their nonviolent demonstration sparks similar “sit-ins” throughout the city and in other

states.

On the other hand, June 11, 1963, Governor George C. Wallace stands in a

doorway at the University of Alabama to block two black students from registering. The

standoff continues until President John F. Kennedy sends the National Guard to the

campus. In August 28, 1963, Approximately 250,000 people take part in The March on

Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King gives the closing address in front

of the Lincoln Memorial and states, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up

and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that

all men are created equal.’” While in September 15, 1963: A bomb at 16th Street

Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama kills four young girls and injures several other

people prior to Sunday services. The bombing fuels angry protests.

During July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of

1964into law, preventing employment discrimination due to race, color, sex, religion or

national origin. Title VII of the Act establishes the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission (EEOC) to help prevent workplace discrimination. In February 21, 1965,

Black religious’ leader Malcolm X is assassinated during a rally by members of the

Nation of Islam.

25
Also during, March 7, 1965: In the Selma to Montgomery March, around 600 civil rights

marchers walk to Selma, Alabama to Montgomery—the state’s capital—in protest of

black voter suppression. Local police block and brutally attack them. After successfully

fighting in court for their right to march, Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders

lead two more marches and finally reach Montgomery on March 25. And in August 6,

1965: President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to prevent the use of

literacy tests as a voting requirement. It also allowed federal examiners to review voter

qualifications and federal observers to monitor polling places. In April 4, 1968, Martin

Luther King, Jr. is assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room

Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray is convicted of the murder in 1969.And on April

11, 1968: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair

Housing Act, providing equal housing opportunity regardless of race, religion or national

origin.

According to Jacqueline Howard, Gregory Gunn, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile,

Terence Crutcher, are just few of the names of black men who were killed in high-profile

police in shootings in 2016. According to the study, that as published n the American

Journal of Public Health on Tuesday. Black men are nearly three times as likely to be

killed by legal intervention than white men.

According to racial/ethnic disparities in the use of lethal force by US police, 2010-

2014, black and Hispanic men were 2.8 and 1. Times more likely to be killed by police

use of force than white men. White men accounted for more deaths only because they

were of a larger population. The rate in which police use force on blacks is 3.6 times as

high as among whites, according to think tank study by the Center for Policing Equity in

26
July 2015. A study in San Diego revealed that, in 2014, when driver race/ethnicity was

visible, black drivers were nearly 20% more likely to be pulled over as part of a

discretionary traffic stop than white drivers. Based on these, up until now, racism is still

visible in America even though there are laws that were implemented and movements

that have been done by the blacks.

Equality in America; Equality is something Americans strive to provide and

maintain. It has become an integral and necessary part of our mosaic culture. Even now

to the point that when people think of America, they naturally think of freedom and

equality. People of many different races, disabilities and creeds have come to the United

States seeking the impartiality upon which this country was founded. The institutions of

this country have relied upon it, just as it was the created by the events in the laying of

moral foundations. The expression of America's citizens plays an extremely significant

role in role in the history of equality in American society.

According to the research that was searched by the researchers, more than 150

years after the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, most U.S.

adults say the legacy of slavery continues to have an impact on the position of black

people in American society today. More than four-in-ten say the country hasn’t made

enough progress toward racial equality, and there is some skepticism, particularly

among blacks, that black people will ever have equal rights with whites, according to a

new Pew Research Center survey.

Opinions about the current state of race relations – and President Donald

Trump’s handling of the issue – are also negative. About six-in-ten Americans (58%) say

27
race relations in the U.S. are bad, and of those, few see them improving. Some 56%

think the president has made race relations worse; just 15% say he has improved race

relations and another 13% say he has tried but failed to make progress on this issue. In

addition, roughly two-thirds say it’s become more common for people to express racist

views since Trump became president.

Blacks are particularly gloomy about the country’s racial progress. More than

eight-in-ten black adults say the legacy of slavery affects the position of black people in

America today, including 59% who say it affects it a great deal. About eight-in-ten blacks

(78%) say the country hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to giving black people

equal rights with whites, and fully half say it’s unlikely that the country will eventually

achieve racial equality.

Americans see disadvantages for blacks and Hispanics in the U.S. A majority of

all adults (56%) say being black hurts people’s ability to get ahead at least a little, and

51% say the same about being Hispanic. In contrast, 59% say being

white helps people’s ability to get ahead. Views about the impact of being Asian or

Native American are more mixed.

Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are more likely than whites to say being white helps

people’s ability to get ahead at least a little. Among whites, those who are more

educated, as well as those who identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, are

particularly likely to see advantages to being white.

28
 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Conclusion

In the light of the findings, the researcher can safely conclude that, on the history

of African-Americans it first begins with slavery, as white European settlers first brought

Africans to the continent to serve as slaves. The fate of slaves in the United States

would divide the nation during the Civil War. And after the war, the racist legacy of

slavery would persist, spurring movements of resistance, including the Underground

Railroad, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma to Montgomery March. Through it

all, black leaders, artists and writers would emerge and help shape the character and

identity of a nation.

For a country experiencing a social problem, just like how the government

officials in example: Henry Knox, or educators like Princeton and president Samuel

Stanhope Smith thought and consider the idea that people of color specifically black

men, had the potential to be equal to whites but they thought of a way that these people

must change their culture and behavior—or even their appearance, in short black

people needs to adjust and need to change everything just to blend towards white

people. They came up with that solution but as for the black men, it was still an act of

discrimination for the black men because they were ones who are only commended to

adjust. It was for the whites’ privilege and benefits only.

Intermarriage became rampant as well in the American History wherein, a form of

marriage outside a specific social group involving spouses who belong to different

socially-defined races or racialized ethnicities is scandalous and taboo. In the past, it

was outlawed in the United States of America and in South Africa as miscegenation.

29
 when white Americans were given legally or socially sanctioned privileges and

rights while these same rights were denied to other races and minorities. European

Americans — particularly affluent white Anglo-Saxon Protestants — enjoyed exclusive

privileges in matters of education, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land

acquisition, and criminal procedure throughout American history. Non-Protestant

immigrants from Europe, particularly Irish, Southern Europeans, and Eastern

Europeans, were also victims of xenophobic exclusion and other forms of discrimination

in American society until the late 1800s and early 1900s. In addition, groups

like Jews and Arabs have faced continuous discrimination in the United States, and as a

result, some people who belong to these groups do not identify as white. East, South,

and Southeast Asians have similarly faced racism in America.

Major racially and ethnically structured institutions

include slavery, segregation, Native American reservations, Native American boarding

schools, immigration and naturalization laws, and internment camps. Formal racial

discrimination was largely banned in the mid-20th century and it came to be perceived

as being socially and morally unacceptable. Racial politics remains a major

phenomenon, and racism continues to be reflected in socioeconomic inequality. Racial

stratification continues to occur in employment, housing, education, lending, and

government.

In the view of the United Nations and the U.S. Human Rights Network,

"discrimination in the United States permeates all aspects of life and extends to

all communities of color." While the nature of the views held by average Americans has

changed significantly over the past several decades, surveys by organizations such as

30
ABC News have found that even in modern America, large sections of Americans admit

to holding discriminatory viewpoints. For example, a 2007 article by ABC stated that

about one in ten admitted to holding prejudices against Hispanic and Latino Americans

and about one in four did so regarding Arab-Americans. A 2018 YouGov/Economist poll

found that 17% of Americans oppose interracial marriage, with 19% of "other" ethnic

groups, 18% of blacks, 17% of whites, and 15% of Hispanics opposing.

The problem was continued and worsening on the first 30 years of the 19th

Century back then in the United States that they came up for an idea of segregating the

whites to black men as they thought of its relevance and a way to polish the problem,

proposed by the most influential people.

As the system were getting darker and darker, the black men thought of ways

to fight for their justice and freedom. Many influential people came up and encouraged

their fellow black men to do things that could make the whites realize that “All men are

equal”. Starting from President Lyndon on July 2, 1964, he prevents the employment

discrimination for sex, religion, color, race in the country. Until the first black man to be

the President of the United States President Obama, had a great impact for their social

issue and with that, many things happened which clearing the negative and

discriminative treatment for each races.

They fought for their justice, the black men won to get their rights and for the

equality they had been seeking that time. What’s good was in the end they made a

progress and the word equality and freedom was known for all races. Presently in 21st

Century, they are doing their best to maintain what they had fought for back in their

early years.

31
Recommendation

Based on the conclusions above, the researchers would like to make the

following recommendations:

Discrimination within races should be the one that is taboo, considering that it’s

only the race that make people differ. It’s all about understanding and respecting each

sides in order for a good change to happen and when a country wants a change, they

should start with shaping the citizens. No laws can make a country better, the ones who

live in it does.

The laws must be implemented well, not only written in papers with a sealed,

verbally announced to the people but also doing what are the things or punishment

when someone disobeyed the law. The law must be a law, not only for blacks but also

for everyone, a foreigner or not.

Whites should acknowledge that the Blacks were also human, they have their

own rights, a rights that they must possess and experienced. We are all created by

God, and we are all equal. In the end we will all die, no one is exempted on that. If

Whites want equality, peace then they should do to the Blacks what they want others do

to them.

Peace, respect, and understanding should start in every individual. Whites want

change so change must start in themselves. Change first their perspective and the way

they treat Blacks, and on the other hand Blacks should forgive the Whites no matter

how much sufferings and pains they received from them from slavery. They should

humble themselves to attain peace.

32
 Just like what Martin Luther King Jr., a change should start to themselves and

respect and understand each other especially the Blacks.

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