Civil Rights: Malcolm X & Martin Luther King Jr.

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Dear Student,
Hello. When you think about it, discussing the 3 topics above - which are huge elements of the American Civil Rights movement, 700-1,050 words do not seem to be enough. We can only touch so much about each topic due to the word limit so choose what to include. The solution below, in the form of an APA-format essay is meant to help you generate some ideas and a starting point for discussion by example. You will find structure as well as sources and references in the essay below put together for the purpose of helping you jumpstart your writer's block. I have always found that putting together an outline makes writing any paper far easier. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message. Good Luck and thank you for using Brainmass.

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
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Civil Rights Movement: An Introduction

America was a country borne out of a group of people's desire for Freedom from oppression, under the Lockean belief of human equality. Despite this however, discrimination & racism coloured American history. Indeed, it wasn't until the early part of the 20th century when the American Legal System formally recognized African Americans as 'citizens'. In America then, how are minorities seen? Remember that America was born out of the former New England Colonies that were once under the British. Therefore, America is predominantly made up of Anglo-Europeans who can trace their roots back to Europe & the Colonial Period. In the 1950's, any group that are not equally represented & enjoying the same rights & privileges under the protection of the American constitution or could but due to ethnicity & other factors are discriminated against is considered a minority. Women since the birth of the nation have struggled for gender equality, hence back then they were also considered a 'minority'. Even in the There were of course the African-Americans who were big players in the Civil Rights movement. The American Indians are also considered minorities although they were not as politically visible as pushing for the civil rights movement as the feminists & the African Americans (Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, etc.). The plight of the African-Americans from the days of slavery to the period of segregation is well documented. In the 19th century, lynchings of 'slaves' were a spectacle that mobs took part in, one of the ugliest display of racist tendencies in Anglo-American majority. We now live in a period of 'equality' when women and minorities are well represented in the elite movers and shakers of American society - our President is African-American, the Secretary of State is a woman and the Congress and the Cabinet made up of individuals representing the varied ethnicities that make up America.

This however was not the reality at the height of the Civil Rights movement. While the government and the conservative group pictured the Civil Rights movement as illegal and at times criminal, its outspoken leaders and advocates endured prison and the varied other punishments ...