Human rights are an important aspect to your life and to law making and everyone needs them to have a good life. If you live in the United States, you have many rights unless you're trying to do something wrongful like murder or steal. It wasn’t always like this however, before the Civil Rights Movement you could be denied public access to a public area because of your race or religion. Thanks to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and Montgomery Bus Boycott, people have started to treat each other equally. The Civil Rights Movement is the most significant event to happen in the last two hundred years.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a big step towards ending discrimination, at the time it helped with desegregating public places such as restaurants, public bathrooms, etc. There were different titles which dealt with discrimination, the first was Title VII. Title VII dealt with worker discrimination, so you couldn’t not hire someone based on their skin color or religion (Baughman). This helped people of color because if a white man and a black man applied for a job even if the black man was more qualified, they would hire the white one. This act made it so that if a worker felt they weren't hired because of skin color you could file a complaint which could then become a charge. Another part of the Civil Rights Act was Title II which dealt with another part of discrimination. Title II ended discrimination against people in public accommodations which included places such as gas stations, theaters, etc. (Baughman). The title allowed people to file complaints and charge the place they felt discriminated against them. The last part of the Civil Rights Act was interstate commerce which gave the government the ability to enforce the act. The Supreme Court made the commerce clause this allowed the federal government to regulate all business in the country this was essential for the Civil Rights Act to be effective (US Legal). Interstate commerce made it so the federal government had power over states so they couldn’t discriminate without consequences. It gave the government the ability to charge business that discriminated against people who wanted to buy their goods or services.
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In 1870 blacks were guaranteed the right to vote however racial discrimination still occurred when voting, they would receive different test to see if they could vote then others. The first part of the Voting Rights Act was the 15th Amendment which was made in 1870 and gave African Americans or any American citizen the right to vote. “The 15th Amendment says people can't be denied the right to vote due to race, color, or previous conditions of servitude” (History.com). This amendment had no power till the Voting Rights Act came in to effect because they had no way enforce the rule. The amendment was mostly ignored in the south they would give test that most African Americans would fail due too little to no education from years of suffrage. Literacy tests were another big problem when it came to the voting, these tests would be given at random to African Americans. Literacy tests were a big cause of the Voting Rights Act blacks could be given super challenging test and white people wouldn’t be given these tests, the African Americans weren't as educated due to their oppression and poverty (History.com). The Voting Rights Act put an end to the literacy test so African Americans were now given the same requirements as everyone else. Lyndon B. Johnson was a big part of Civil Rights Movement he passed the bills and acts needed to put an end to discrimination. “Within three years nearly one million African Americans were registered to vote in the south, ninety eight percent of all hospitals agreed to serve without discrimination... by nineteen sixty-eight most African American people earned seven thousand dollars a year doubling from 1965” (World Bibliography). LBJ’s bills were a big help in ending discrimination due to everything he passed such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act are just some of the big legislation to help end discrimination.
The final topic was the Montgomery Bus Boycott, African Americans at the time would be forced to move from their seats and if disobeyed could be arrested and fined. Rosa Parks really started the bus boycott when she sat on a racially segregated Montgomery Alabama bus. “Rosa sat on a bus towards the front and was forced to get up and was arrested after refusing, this started the boycott” (Rosa Parks). Rosa and Martin Luther King led a protest for around a year that made the company go bankrupt and forced to allow blacks to ride anywhere on the bus. By Rosa standing up for herself she made a change for African Americans that would affect all their life's. The Jim crow laws were laws in the south that just discriminated against African Americans and were a big spark to the Civil Rights Movement when people finally got fed up with them. During the nineteen tens people suffered from legalized race control, which sought to deny them equal political, social, educational, and economic opportunity (Jim Crows). The bus boycott forced an end to discrimination in bus rides and when the bus company was forced to allow blacks to choose seats MLK was one of the first to ride. There was peaceful protest were a big help to ending the discrimination and African Americans couldn't be charged or fined due to the peacefulness. “During a peaceful protest in Selma march the protesters were met with troopers who had night sticks and teargas, Johnson called a voting legislation about how officials are unfair” (History.com). African Americans finally got what they wanted and forced the president to make a change. These peaceful protests were exactly what was needed to force a change without anyone getting harmed.
You can now see in the last two hundred years, that the Civil Rights Movement is the most significant event to happen. This is due to the importance of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Today we are closer to all being more equal than ever and keep striving to get closer. The United States is great because no matter what race, religion, or anything you are, nothing can stop you from being successful. The United States government has made it, so every U.S. citizen has the same amount of human rights.
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