Civil Rights Essay

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kids. And while white families lived in identical houses in the suburbs, all trying to be as normal as possible so as to not be thrown to the wolves in the 20th century witch hunt that the Red Scare had become, inner cities that were melting pots of ethnicities fell to drugs, crime, and poverty. A storm was brewing underneath the surface of America’s cities.

At the turn of the decade, revolutionary leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. emerged. These men had very different styles of protest. Malcolm X embraced Black Power or Black Supremacy ideology, and openly encouraged protests and riots which led to increased racial tensions. However, the average colored person still followed Malcolm’s methods because they believed Martin’s was not making the progress they wanted. Martin “had a message of non-violence” and believed in peaceful protest; marches and civil disobedience (Heroism.org, Civil Unrest). For if violence begets violence, nothing gets done and their cause falls to the level of the white supremacists who saw fit to attack and kill people because of their skin color. Women also held a revolution of their own, a sexual revolution. Birth control pills were put on the market and tampons were becoming more common. They fought to keep their jobs and against the stereotype that they were only good for being mothers and wives. Later into the decade, the LGBT community started having their own marches throughout the country, trying to end the stigma against them. The unheard and forgotten people of America stood up for themselves and pushed back against the conformist society that America had become.

The 1950s and 60s were completely different times and yet still extremely similar. While both decades had civil unrest and prejudice at their cores, the 1950s were more conservative and treasured uniformity. In comparison, the 1960s was a time of adversity and diversity as many minority groups fought for the equal rights they deserved. America experienced an unprecedented social revolution and political upheaval because of these two decades.

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