The Second World War changed a lot in the United States, including the breakdown of segregation.
Segregation separated the blacks and the whites by refusing the blacks certain rights. For example,
they couldn’t sit in a certain part of the bus, weren’t allowed into pubs and couldn’t walk in parks.
After the Second World War the segregation began to break down outside the South. The South
refused to give blacks the same rights as others. Therefore, the start of the Civil Rights Movement
began in the South.
Black began to fight for equal treatment. There was a great breakthrough in 1954 during the Brown
versus Topeka court order. The Supreme Court declared that segregated schools were illegal and that
everyone should be able to go to the same schools.
Another breakthrough was thanks to a woman called Rosa Parks. She sat down in the assigned
seating for blacks in the bus in 1955. She was tired from a day of work and refused to give her seat up
for a white man. She was arrested because of this and the NAACP defended her, which caused for
her not to go to jail.
The NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. The NAACP was
led by the young leader, Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King is probably known best for his speech in Washington on the 28th of August, 1963.
During this speech he declared that he wished that black and white were equal, he had a dream.
200,000 people attended the speech in Washington. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed as a law
of the US. But even after the passing of the law, blacks were still treated in a neglected way. And
because of this there were riots in black ghettos in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York and
Washington.
In April, 1968 Martin Luther King was murdered by a white sniper in Memphis. After this the Black
Power movement made clear that the blacks could only get justice by fighting for it.
During the 1960s the blacks and their fashion became quite popular. For example more and more
people started to wear a ‘dasheks’. This is a short jacket from Africa.
Arthur Mitchell had his own dance school in New York’s Harlem. He created a combination of
European dances and African music. His school became of the most popular and he started to accept
blacks as dancers as well.
Black is beautiful was a famous slogan used for the Black Consciousness Movement. It stated that
everyone, including the blacks themselves, should appreciate Africans the way they are. The
movement also encouraged men and women to stop trying to eliminate African-identified traits by
straightening their hair and attempting to lighten or bleach their skin. This movement began in an
effort to counteract the prevailing idea in American culture that features typical of "Blacks" were less
attractive or desirable than those of "Whites".
Segregation separated the blacks and the whites by refusing the blacks certain rights. For example,
they couldn’t sit in a certain part of the bus, weren’t allowed into pubs and couldn’t walk in parks.
After the Second World War the segregation began to break down outside the South. The South
refused to give blacks the same rights as others. Therefore, the start of the Civil Rights Movement
began in the South.
Black began to fight for equal treatment. There was a great breakthrough in 1954 during the Brown
versus Topeka court order. The Supreme Court declared that segregated schools were illegal and that
everyone should be able to go to the same schools.
Another breakthrough was thanks to a woman called Rosa Parks. She sat down in the assigned
seating for blacks in the bus in 1955. She was tired from a day of work and refused to give her seat up
for a white man. She was arrested because of this and the NAACP defended her, which caused for
her not to go to jail.
The NAACP stands for National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. The NAACP was
led by the young leader, Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King is probably known best for his speech in Washington on the 28th of August, 1963.
During this speech he declared that he wished that black and white were equal, he had a dream.
200,000 people attended the speech in Washington. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed as a law
of the US. But even after the passing of the law, blacks were still treated in a neglected way. And
because of this there were riots in black ghettos in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, New York and
Washington.
In April, 1968 Martin Luther King was murdered by a white sniper in Memphis. After this the Black
Power movement made clear that the blacks could only get justice by fighting for it.
During the 1960s the blacks and their fashion became quite popular. For example more and more
people started to wear a ‘dasheks’. This is a short jacket from Africa.
Arthur Mitchell had his own dance school in New York’s Harlem. He created a combination of
European dances and African music. His school became of the most popular and he started to accept
blacks as dancers as well.
Black is beautiful was a famous slogan used for the Black Consciousness Movement. It stated that
everyone, including the blacks themselves, should appreciate Africans the way they are. The
movement also encouraged men and women to stop trying to eliminate African-identified traits by
straightening their hair and attempting to lighten or bleach their skin. This movement began in an
effort to counteract the prevailing idea in American culture that features typical of "Blacks" were less
attractive or desirable than those of "Whites".
