Spotlight on the civil rights movement
Author
Author
Language
English
Description
Affirmative action includes policies and laws meant to give equal footing to minorities after historic discrimination and oppression. Learn about the history of affirmative action from just after the Civil War through important milestones of the civil rights movement and on to today. Enhanced with accessible text and historical photographs, this guide explains affirmative action through its background, key players, and Supreme Court decisions. The...
Author
Language
English
Description
By the late 1960s, the slow pace of progress brought about by the civil rights movement caused growing dissatisfaction for some. The assassinations of civil rights leaders during this time convinced many activists that white supremacy could not be countered with silence. The Black Power movement arose to address these concerns by holding a philosophy that black Americans could obtain basic human needs through self-reliance and self-determination....
Author
Language
English
Description
The Brown v. Board of Education decision comes to mind whenever the topic of landmarks of the American civil rights movement is discussed. The 1954 Supreme Court decision declared it unconstitutional to segregate public school students, opening the door for many other civil rights advances after that. This thoughtful and informative book details the history of the case as well as its impact on the quickly changing America of the 1950s and 1960s. The...
Author
Language
English
Description
For decades leading up to the civil rights movement, African Americans faced segregation, danger, and humiliation while using public transportation and facilities. Interstate travel posed additional risks, until black as well as white nonviolent protesters challenged the status quo. In solidarity, they boarded public transportation, rode across state lines, and staunchly violated discriminatory laws. Harassed, beaten, and jailed, they pressed forward...
Author
Language
English
Description
In fall of 1957, nine black students approached the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The students, who became known as the Little Rock Nine, were testing a 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation illegal. Their actions led to a standoff, with the state National Guard ordered to bar the students' entry. Weeks later, federal troops sent by President Eisenhower arrived to escort them inside. Readers will find themselves...
Author
Language
English
Description
On June 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the most sweeping civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction era, after the Civil War. This act made discrimination in public places and workplaces illegal, and required public schools and other public facilities to be integrated. Learn how the act created controversy in Congress and resulted in a dramatic fifty-four-day filibuster, and how it passed through President Johnson's determination...
Author
Language
English
Description
Of all the events of the civil rights movement, the March on Washington is the most iconic. Millions of Americans can remember where they were when the television news announced that two hundred thousand people had converged on the nation's capital. Most of those Americans can still experience the thrill of hearing Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech. Even today, photographs of the event have the capacity to stir the...
Author
Language
English
Description
In 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white passenger, her decision sparked the beginning of a new era in the civil rights movement. Her arrest inspired Martin Luther King Jr. and other African American leaders to organize a bus boycott that ended only when a U.S. Supreme Court decision ended segregation on public buses. Readers will learn how events in her life brought Parks to the point where...
Author
Language
English
Description
In the early 1960s, the civil rights movement brought national attention to the need for equal treatment for African Americans. Activists demonstrated their opposition to unfair Jim Crow laws and racial separation by silently sitting in restaurants and other segregated places. Sit-ins proved that silence and nonviolent resistance can effectively combat injustice. Despite their peaceful intentions, protesters often found themselves targets of people...