Civil Rights

Why was the civil rights act passed?

Although the pressure put on the federal government by white racists and congress the civil rights act was successful into pressuring the federal government to make change and pass the civil rights act of 1964. Reasons for this where because of the peaceful protests and mass activism, the role of president Kennedy and president Johnson, the actions and role of Martin Luther King and finally the contribution of the media and the cold war.

I would say that the most important reason why the civil rights act passed in 1964 was because of the peaceful protests and mass activism, for example because of this the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 which established that the segregation of transport was illegal, this was proven to be successful because 85% of Montgomery’s black population where involved for nearly a year. This highlighted the sheer enormity of African American economic power. More over Birmingham protest was another example, because of the successful march racial discrimination in employment was to be ended, large department stores were desegregated and civil right protesters were released from jail without charge. 1,300 school children were attacked by police fire hoses and dogs and then children were arrested and put in prison this got the attention of the media and caused media frenzy. Finally another reason was because of the ‘sit ins’ in 1960 over 70,000 where involved in the sit in movement. The sit ins where not as productive because they were not linked to a specific organization or leader , the sit ins however increased the number of civil right organizations and showed they could work more effectively, the demonstrated that they could successfully spread and it attacked all aspects of segregation in the south and came across as being spontaneous. The peaceful protests and mass activism where the most important reason because it gave the movement the most publicity and attracted the most attention by the media,...