Black Civil Rights Campaigns

During the period 1955-1962, there were a number of Black Civil Rights campaigns which improved the African American people's situation. An issue that I will need to tackle in this essay is whether any action that was taken was seen through to the end or if it even lasted.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) was the start of a series of protests for Black Americans. The boycott began when Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white man who was standing. She was then arrested and fined fourteen dollars but if this had not happened, none of the following action would have been taken. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) started a case challenging segregation and many people became involved in direct action against the buses. From this event, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) group was formed, lead by Martin Luther King. The bus companies were significantly affected as the majority of their customers were black people. The Montgomery authorities arrested MLK but all they gained from this was a lot of positive media coverage for the black people and in the end Martin Luther King only served 2 weeks in prison.

Browder vs. Gayle was the actual court case that bought an end to both the Montgomery boycott and segregation on buses. Yet again, it was the NAACP who took this case to the Supreme Court and came out with a revolutionary victory. On the 20th December 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was against the law. The following day the boycott was ended. These two events combined showed the white people how strong the black community could be if they all pulled together. It frightened them both economically and politically as as the boycott had proved, the African Americans had managed to ruin some of the bus companies by not using their services and they had managed to change the laws. Although the white racists in the South did desperately try to oppose the black people, they failed miserably as only positive outcomes came out of these two cases except the arrest of Martin Luther King which attracted media coverage and showed how persistent the white people were to oppose desegregation. Also another group in favour of Black people was born out of these protests; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

In 1957, The Little Rock Campaign took place. As the desegregation of schools seemed to be taking a long time to be put into action, the campaign was aiming to speed up the process. Nine black children were to enroll at Little Rock, but they were greeted with the National Guard preventing them from even entering the school. President Eisenhower issued the withdrawal of the guard and he then took them under his control and they had to now defend the black children instead of attacking them. The black children enrolled at the all whites' school which was a success for the campaign. However, the Governor of Arkansas passed a rule allowing