Civil Rights Era in America: Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) (Essay Sample)

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Civil Rights Era in America
In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States of America experienced a long period of revolutionary wind. The revolution was pegged on social inequalities that had spread in a nation that boasted of embracing democratic ideals. The states were featured by civil unrest, protests, and demonstration against societal imbalance such as racial segregation and unequal opportunities. It is in this period that the fame of civil rights activism increased as they intended to cleanse these societal biases. The period successfully redressed many (not all) of the existing inequalities in the country.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
The American Declaration of Independence alluded to the Biblical equality of all men. It was an attempt to resolve the issue of slavery that historically defines the country (Burger et al. 161) No state was allowed to deprive its citizens of their rights as per the constitution. However, in spite of the several amendments to the rules of the land, African Americans were subjected to a different treatment from the whites in most parts America, especially in the South. The blacks were exposed to limited access to basic needs, and education becomes an integral.
Brown v. Board of Education occurred between 1954. Ideally, the name reflects five separate cases that were handled by the Supreme Court (Burger et al. 161). Thematically, the five hearings were focused on the segregations that had marred the American public schools. There were intense racism and racial prejudice in public learning institutions with the African-Americans being targeted. According to Burger et al. (2016) before the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the Supreme Court had allowed the establishment of separate schools for whites and blacks in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The new ruling considered racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.
It found out that the racial prejudice in schools negatively affected the African American learners. The ruling created a path for the integration and was a great victory for the Civil Rights Movements (Burger et al. 161). Nevertheless, the ruling is faulted for not spelling out methods of curbing racial segregation in public learning institutions. There would be a tedious task in resolving the bias.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Historically, the Southern part of America was the hub of slavery and other forms of racial abuse. The African-Americans were ill-treated pegged on their skill color (Beltramini 7). During the period in which Civil Rights Movements became dominant, the concerned leaders adopted the use of non-violent actions to fight racism. The method advocated for love, dialogue, and logic as weapons of war against segregation (Beltramini 10). Religious leaders in the Southern parts of the country were behind these methods. It led to the establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Beltramini (2013) argues that Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)'s brochure describes its intentions. It enunciated the belief in the immense power of love to solve societal imbalance. It focused on the creation of a beloved community that is defined by the Brotherhood. Through a society of love, SCLC aspired to address issues such as voting rights, segregations, and civil disobedience.
In as much as SCLC was determined in its quest, there were doubts that surrounded its function. Majority was skeptical and questioned its effectiveness in addressing societal imbalances (Beltramini 34). As time progressed, non-violence ethic developed challenges. The black power asserted the need for violence in combating racial abuse. Eventually, the movement could not resolve most inequalities due to the weakness in its philosophy.
The National Organization for Women (Bill of Rights)
1968's Civil Rights Movement saw the National Organization for Women (NOW) publishing a Bill of Rights. Before this, it had been adopted in 1967 National Conference. NOW was an agent of feminism movement (McBride and Janine 7). Notably, during the 1960s, the American woman was socially elevated below the man. There were ‘unwritten laws’ that stipulated the expectations of how a woman ought to carry herself in the American society and the world at large. In response to the inequalities in education and employment opportunities, the National Organization for Women drafted the Bill of Rights to salvage the American woman from oppressions in a masculine and unjust community.
McBride and Janine (2016) argue that the movement wanted to address various issues. There was a total of eight demands in the document. They advocated for equal rights, enforcement of laws that ban sexual discrimination in work places. However, not many of the demands were incorporated in the American laws (McBride and Janine 7). Overall, it addressed many inequalities that were enforced on the women but failed in some. It could put a stop to racial segregation of women in work places and in learning institutions. There were still several cases of African American women being subjected to sexual harassment in spite of the convention fording the act. The women still were not allowed to control their reproductive lives.
Immigration Act of 1965
The Immigration Act of 1965 is also referred to as the Hart-Celler Act. The Act paved way for the efficiency of Civil Rights Movements (Bankston III 9). It implies that it eliminated the abolition of the quota system. The nationality was a quota based on the way it represented in the census. Due to the immense pressure from the Civil Rights Movement, the quota system was abolished. There was a need for equal treatment of all Americans regardless of nationality and race. The quota system appeared to be discriminatory in the eyes of many Americans.
Bankston III (2013) posits that the quota system ill-treated migrant races such as Mexicans, Poles, and Portuguese whose numbers was increasing in the country. The system had favored the Northern Europeans more than other migrants. Hence, President Kennedy perceived the system to be intolerable. In real essence, the Immigration Act of 1965 marked a sudden break with the previous immigration po...