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The Civil Rights Movement And Its Impact

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The Civil Rights Era is often recognized during its height in the 1950s and 1960s, however the beginning of the Civil Rights Era could be argued to start from slavery to freedom. Once the slaves gained freedom, with the help of Northern whites, they were able to enjoy some of the rights that was once reserved for whites. These newly found rights are due to the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which demanded universal male, the ratification of the 14th amendment, and guaranteed the citizenship of all natural born persons in the United States of America (Franklin, 242). Once the Reconstruction Era ended African Americans lost a large majority of their rights due to the Southern whites gaining back control and instituting a number of submissive laws called Jim Crow laws. On the path to equality African Americans have used a variety of approaches to secure their basic rights. Over the course of this movement different voices have spoken with their message of basic human equality being the same. In this essay I will discuss the 3 phases of the Civil Rights movement and its impact today. As discussed in Chapter 10 of African American Politics there were three distinct phases of the era: lobbying (1905-1929), litigation (1930-1950) and direct action (1950-1968). The Civil Rights Era’s prime came during the direct action phase where African American grew tired of “more than 350 years of racial, economic, and political injustice” and demanded change (King, 157). Throughout this phase a

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