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Civil Rights Movement & U.S. Multicultural Society

The civil rights movement helped prepare America to become a multicultural society. Before the civil rights movement, Americans had believed in the doctrine of "separate but equal." In demanding full integration into society, blacks paved the way for the inclusion of women, disabled people, and other minorities in the American mainstream.

The Montgomery bus boycott of the 1950s was a watershed event in the fledgling civil rights movement. For years, the city bus system in Montgomery, Alabama had been segregated. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black domestic worker, refused to give up her seat to a white male passenger. Parks was arrested and charged for violating a municipal ordinance. The arrest of Parks, who was a member of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), enraged the black community; within days, she was tried and found guilty.

Taking advantage of the community outrage over the treatment of Parks, the NAACP sprung into action. The members met with a coalition of black ministers, among them Martin Luther King Jr. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed, and King was appointed as president: "Although King had been in Montgomery for only a year and was just 26 years old, he was educated, the best speaker, and a minister, all assets which would pull the black community together" (Anderson, 1995, p. 45). The bus boycott lasted for a year and was an unmitigated success; it generated publicity and put the national spotlight on Montgomery. The nonviolent strategy of boycotting was uniquely suited to the time and place: "In theory, nonviolent confrontation allowed a weak group to confront a much greater power . . . in the South where the movement stood to lose in any violent clash with white authorities" (Steigerwald, 1995, p. 42). Another positive benefit was that it brought together factions of the black community which had hitherto been in competition with...

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Civil Rights Movement & U.S. Multicultural Society. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 00:51, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692022.html