The concept of civil rights has an important difference from the related idea of civil liberties. Civil liberties encompass a set of personal freedoms that the government may not infringe upon, such as freedom of speech or free practice of religion (“Civil Liberties”, slide 3). Meanwhile, civil rights refer to equal protection and freedom from discrimination that the government must provide to all citizen groups (“Civil Rights”, slide 3). In that regard, African Americans organized the most famous Civil Rights movement in the United States. The post-Civil War Reconstruction saw the introduction of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments prohibited slavery, granted citizenship to all Black Americans, and gave Black men the right to vote (“Civil Rights”, slide 9). However, the infamous Jim Crow laws reversed all progress achieved during the Reconstruction. The Supreme Court essentially created the legal grounds for introducing racial segregation. For instance, the Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896) enforced the “separate but equal” doctrine, which denied Black Americans access to public facilities (“Civil Rights”, slide 13). Considering these facts, the Civil Rights movement emerged as an African American response to injustice.
After decades of struggle, African Americans managed to put an end to Jim Crow discriminatory policies. In 1954, the decision on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka effectively outlawed de jure racial segregation as a violation of the 14th Amendment (“Civil Rights”, slide 15). However, de facto segregation based on the long-standing patterns in racial relationships persisted. The Civil Rights movement fought against it through grassroots initiatives supported and reorganized into large-scale protests led by charismatic leaders. For instance, the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott started from a minor act of civil disobedience by Rosa Parks, a Black woman who refused to yield her seat (“Civil Rights”, slide 19). The boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became the first effort in a series of nonviolent anti-segregationist protests. The growing public pressure and peaceful disruptions of civil order forced the government to pass five bills from 1957 to 1968 (“Civil Rights”, slide 26). The 1957, 1960, and 1965 Voting Acts, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1968 Housing Act significantly improved the legal status of African Americans. Civil Rights Movement managed to prevail and remove Jim Crow from American society.
Oppressed and marginalized citizen groups stand for their interests through various Civil Rights movements of their own. For instance, American women started their struggle for equality in the middle of the 19th century with the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention (“Civil Rights”, slide 32). Their early efforts were primarily focused on winning suffrage — the right to vote in elections. In 1920, suffrage for U.S. women was granted by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution (“Civil Rights”, slide 32). After that, the women shifted their attention to other matters, such as civil equality, domestic violence prevention, abortion rights, and the fight against gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Unlike African Americans, women experienced significant defeats in their struggle. For instance, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), designed to guarantee women’s rights by the U.S. Constitution, failed to pass ratification. Phyllis Schlafly, a female conservative activist, managed to mobilize strong enough opposition within the Conservative Party to defeat the ERA (“Civil Rights”, slide 36). Despite this failure, the women’s civil rights movement achieved tangible success, significantly elevating the status of females in American society.
Other notable groups represented by dedicated civil rights movements include the LGBTQ+ community, juveniles, and persons with disabilities. These groups strive to attain public support and achieve progress in matters important to their members. For example, the LGBTQ+ groups, such as Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activist Alliance, push for abolishing state and local laws targeting queer people (“Civil Rights”, slide 52). LGBTQ+ Americans have already achieved significant victories in the legal field. In the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment guarantees the right to marry to same-sex couples (“Civil Rights”, slide 55). The juvenile rights movement focuses on dealing with juvenile crime to prevent minors’ maltreatment by the U.S. justice system (“Civil Rights”, slide 58). Finally, groups protecting people with disabilities strive to ensure that such individuals are protected against workplace discrimination and provided with reasonable accommodations (“Civil Rights”, slide 51). While civil rights movements in the United States are frequently associated with African American continuing fight for equality, the struggle of other citizen groups should not be ignored.
Time has made an impact on strategies and techniques deployed by civil rights activists. The classic African American Civil Rights movement relied on the decisive leadership of charismatic figures, such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. However, this feature made it vulnerable to targeted assaults against the leaders (Aldon). Modern-day protest movements, such as Occupy or BLM, prefer decentralized resistance, where opponents have fewer chances to disrupt the movement with precision strikes (Aldon). In addition, modern digital technologies give contemporary civil rights activists a considerable advantage in terms of organization. In the days of Martin Luther King, public awareness was increased via mimeograph-printed leaflets (Aldon). Nowadays, any activist can use their cell phone to share the news and reach numerous supporters within seconds. The structure and the technological means of public mobilization may have changed — however, the legacy, the relentless struggle for equality, remained intact.
Works Cited
“Civil Liberties.” PowerPoint presentation.
“Civil Rights.” PowerPoint presentation.
Morris, Aldon. “From Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter.” Scientific American, Web.