Question

Was the Civil Rights Movement successful? Define the criteria for success, and explain why the movement was a success or failure. Does the Civil Rights movement have ongoing relevance in contemporary America? If so, explain.

(200 words minimum please)

Answer 1

Under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, segregation on grounds of race, ethnicity or national origin was banned at all public accommodation sites including courthouses, parks , restaurants, theatres, sports arenas and hotels. The blacks and other minorities could no longer be denied service simply based on their skin color. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act barred employers and labor unions from discrimination against race, religion , national origin and gender, and established an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with the power to file litigation on behalf of aggrieved employees.

Later, the Civil Rights Act was extended to include under its umbrella disabled Americans, elderly people and women in college athletics. It also paved the way for two major follow-up laws: the 1965 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited literacy tests and other unfair voting practices, and the 1968 Equal Housing Act, which abolished segregation in property sales, renting and financing. While the battle against racism would continue, legal segregation in the United States had been brought to its knees.

"The rhetoric that comes from most politicians is about saving the middle class, which is real, but there are also millions of middle-class people who are going to be much poorer," the population of poor Americans in the suburbs, those living below the federal poverty line, increased by 64% between 2000 and 2010

Today, schools are more segregated than they had been 30 years before. According to a 2012 report by the Civil Rights Movement, 30 per cent of black students attend schools where classes are 90 to 100 per cent black or Latino. White children go to schools where just 32% of the students live in poverty, but black students go to schools where over half of the students are poor

There are more blacks in the correctional system today-in prison or jail, on probation or parole-than in slavery in 1850. Black americans are 3.73 times more likely to be convicted for possession of marijuana than whites, criminal records restrict voting rights and lead to disparities in jobs, education and housing. Thirteen per cent of black people around the country have lost the right to vote, the disenfranchisement, combined with recent attempts by states to restrict voting rights, reminds Harris of the post-reconstruction era immediately after the Civil War.