issue 01
1964
Making A Change A Reminder Of Our Past
Ryan Langston F Block
0.3$
THE NORTH, THE SOUTH, AND THE
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Imagine waking up to a fire on your lawn. The words KKK branded into the grass. A permanent reminder of your constant danger. The south was a hard place for northerners after the civil war. The constant threat of death loomed over the FBI families stationed to defend african americans signing up to vote. The civil rights movement was a challenging time period in the south due to voting rights, the differences in southern and northern opinions, and white supremacist groups.
Segregation and voting African Americans had a lot of trouble voting in the South. In 1964, laws were passed supporting African Americans voting privileges. African Americans were often turned down, or even made take literacy tests at polls. Others were simply told that they were at the wrong place, or had the wrong date. On March 7, 1965, in a voting rights march from Selma to the Alabama state capitol in Montgomery was met by Alabama state troopers who attacked them after they refused to turn back. Some voters were told to recite the entire Constitution or explain the most complex of state laws. History alive says, “One event that outraged many Americans occurred on March 7, 1965, when peaceful participants in a voting rights march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol in Montgomery were met by Alabama state troopers who attacked them with nightsticks, tear gas and whips after they refused to turn back.” This shows how african american voting rights were a problem in the Southern states. During this act, African Americans were normally not voting, and when they were, they were scared off from others opinions.
Opinions and their impact
Southerners and northerners opinions had a lot to do with Southerners lives. Many Southerners had different opinions about african americans than northerners. Some Southerners believed that african americans were less important than white people. Northerners believed that african americans were just as important as white people. Otherwise known as racial equality. This brought the civil war into action, and even after the civil war, some Southerners still thought that african americans were lesser beings. A cite on racial attitudes before the civil war says,“The assumptions about the racial attitudes of the North and the South are seldom scrutinized because, on the surface, they appear to be obviously true. By the time the war broke out, slavery was nearly extinct in the North while large portions of the South continued to rely on slave labor.
However, the real history of American attitudes towards race and equality is more complicated than it first appears to be.” This shows how opinions brought the civil war into action, and even after the civil war, some Southerners still thought that african americans were lesser beings. Opinions were a big part of the civil rights movement, and they also started white supremacist groups.
The damage after the bombing of the Birmingham church.
Racial groups, and their participation White supremacist groups impacted the civil rights movement. These groups did many things to discourage african americans from rebelling against segregation. The KKK was a group who would do anything to stop african americans. They bombed neighborhoods, and social events, and even watched over families who supported african americans. National Association for the Advancement of White People, and White Aryan Resistance are some more white supremacist groups. History alive says, “the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) extended into almost every Southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white Southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks.”This shows how white supremacist groups were racist, and impacted the South. In conclusion, white supremacist groups heavily impacted the civil rights movement.
Rosa parks is arrested.
One of the white supremacist groups, the KKK
The civil rights movement was a challenging time period in the South because of african americans voting rights, Southern and northern opinions, and the constant turmoil of white supremacist groups. These reasons show how the South was a hard place to live in during the civil rights movement. Do you think that the civil rights impacted daily society?
5 facts to know 1. Around 400 members were part of the KKK 2. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965. 3. African American Martin Luther King Jr., was an important civil rights activist 4. On September 5th, the baptist church on 15th street was bombed 5. Martin Luther King jr. was a civil rights activist
Bibliography: History.com Staff. "Ku Klux Klan." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 01 June 2017. "American Racial Attitudes Before the Civil War." The Great Fiction. N.p., 24 May 2017. Web. 01 June 2017. "Here Is a List of White Supremacist Extremist Organizations in America." Melanoid Nation Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.