The Civil Rights movement has been a long and arduous journey through the years. Many have fought for fair treatment regardless of race and gender. There are many key events that were a prelude to the modern civil rights movement that we are all familiar with. Three of these events are the publication of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, the passing of the fourteenth through sixteenth amendments, and the Brown vs. Board of Education court ruling.
The publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 affected many people's ideology about slavery. It gave many people a look into slavery and motivated many to actively oppose the institution of slavery. Although it has been criticized as a literary work one cannot deny the impact it had on society as a whole. According to Josh Cracraft, Lincoln famously gave Harriet Beecher Stowe credit for being the one to start the Civil War (2008).
English: Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin ...
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Civil Rights March on Washington, leaders marching...The Amendments to the Constitution that affected the Civil Rights movement were the fourteenth through sixteenth. The thirteenth gave abolished slavery, the fourteenth granted citizenship to all Americans regardless of race, and the fifteenth gave all men the right to vote regardless of race (Cracraft, 2008). These were put in place to help all citizens of America become more equal. How closely they were followed was a different matter. The impact it had on the civil rights movement was that it gave citizens a legal standing to help fight discrimination.
After many more years of struggling for equal rights the Civil Rights movement saw a victory in the court decision of Brown v. Board of Education. It was ruled that separate but equal education facilities for African Americans was unconstitutional, and overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling of 1896 (Cracraft, 2008). This decision impacted the movement...