The Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery (speech by Lincoln Sept.23nd 1862 13th amendment in 1865); the 14th amendment declared everyone equal and the 15th gave the right to vote provided some very restrictive conditions were met. Between the Civil War and the 50's, however, the South stayed very reluctant to apply this legislation with respect to its prime intentions... Some slaves in Texas weren't informed of their freedom until June 19th 1865 and once freed; African Americans were treated in an outrageous manner. In response to this situation, African Americans came together to change the system. In the 50's/60's, their movement was dubbed the "civil rights movement". This phrase seems to be the only one that encompasses the many different doctrines of the time. Some necessary legislation having been adopted in the 50's/ 60's, the movement has largely been incorporated in the mainstream, losing much of its force, but some residual groups haven't given up on their ambition to purify American society of racism. In order to see the steps the movement has gone through, we will proceed chronologically in our analysis of the fight for equal rights.
[...] Using poetry isn't new to the movement Langston Hughes wrote in the beginning of the 20th century, in the middle of the jazz age to denounce injustice. Other more widely known authors include Alice Walker (The Color Purple) and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison (Beloved) both of whom relied on historical accounts of African Americans to tie them back to the present. Through music Black English (ebonics) has long been excluded from literature though some classes are taught in that form of the language in experimental schools in bilingual education and in specific college courses. [...]
[...] Though these movements led to some legal change and were particularly popular amongst the moderate white people, the movement needed to get more results and to get these results fast Sure they had gained legal equality, but as after the civil war, African Americans didn't have the money to exercise their right to go eat at the white lunch counter. With this feeling, more radical movements were born, feeding off of Malcolm X's teachings. any means necessary”: taking change to another level To the traditional march question, “what do we marchers started to cry out “black power”, claiming that the freedom they'd chanted in the earlier days hadn't worked out quite the way they'd planned it. [...]
[...] Some of the early civil rights advocates such as the SNCC (student non-violent coordinating committee) or Fannie Lou Hamer worked hard to educate southern blacks in order for them to be eligible to vote. In 1964, the Mississippi freedom summer was organized by the SNCC to educate and register black voters . despite the 1964 Civil Rights Act, reaffirming the right to vote, southern states had continued to discriminate against black voters. It is important to remember that the Ku Klux Klan was very active in certain parts of the South any potential black leader was intimidated into submission by acts of terror (burning of houses, cars, crosses) and it wasn't rare for lynch mobs to finish off particularly bold members of the community. [...]
[...] The Boondocks is the story of two brothers, Huey and Riley Freeman, who have moved with their grandfather from the South Chicago black ghetto to the rich, all-white Woodcrest suburb. The cartoonist comments on politics, hip-hop culture and everyday life through the eyes of elementary school revolutionary cynic, Huey. This comic strip is one of the examples of the resilient minority still active. Aaron McGruder, the cartoonist, explained at one of his conferences at UC Berkeley that he had been publishing underground as a college student before realizing that in a country as large as the US, if you wanted to have any kind of national impact, you had to integrate the mass media, even if ideologically, it's against everything you believe in, otherwise, your battle will be useless. [...]
[...] and Malcolm X who were to be the main voices of the Civil Rights movement in the 60's. Malcolm X's point of view is often misread and most people aren't aware of his doctrine's later developments. He started off his political life as a preacher for the Nation of Islam. His speeches were anti-white and called for Black Nationalism (explained by Huey in the comic strip). Some of the key phrases that are still used today from his speeches include ballot or the bullet” in reference to the lack of equal voting rights and any means necessary” describing the type of action that African Americans should consider. [...]
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