At times, protestors were treated quite vehemently.
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OriginsCivil rights go all the way back to the time of the Civil War. During this time African American slaves were all freed from the south, well at least according to the north they were, but this did not actually force the south to free the slaves until after the war. The 13th Amendment freed salves all across the United States; the 14th Amendment gave citizenship to anyone born in the US and established that everyone was to be treated equal regardless of race. Later the 15th Amendment gave voting rights to any male of any color. Now even though these amendments were all good things they were not always enacted upon. Plessy V. Ferguson established the separate, but equal rule which forced colored people to go to separate institutions and use other facilities than white people. Often times these the places for people of color were not equal to the places for white people.
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1960s |
Now back in the 1960s Rosa Parks, a political activist, refuses to give up her bus seat to a white person; she is arrested as a result. A boycott is started due to Rosa Park's action against the buses; ultimately, this boycott is very successful, in part because many of bus riders were black. Later on the supreme court case Brown V. Board of Education forced schools to integrate. During this time there were many protests against racial inequality, these took the form of sit-ins, peaceful protests, freedom rides (bus trips across the South to raise awareness), and occasionally more violent protests.
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