During the Civil Rights Movement, many people of different cultures, religions, and ethnicities struggled to secure equal treatment rights for all Americans. During the mid 1950s and the mid 1960s, they performed sit-ins in segregated restaurants and bus stops, marched through cities, and aimed to get Blacks to register in hopes of ending segregation. The U.S. involvement in the Cold War, which aimed to promote international freedom, led Americans to promote domestic freedom as well. This is where many prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement rose, encouraging a whole generation to fight to change American racial segregation and lack of equality. One of these activists was Martin Luther King Jr., whose life illustrated events of activism that motivated people to challenge racism and exemplify the struggled to find equality for all. An interesting matter observed through Martin Luther's campaigning were the factors that determine the fate of many people joining, dismissing, or remaining neutral on racial issues.
English: Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin ...
English:
Crowds surrounding the Reflecting Pool, during the...Completely understanding why people joined the movement and why people did not join the movement is somewhat unclear. However, similarities existed amongst those who participated and those who did not. Most activists were educated up to at least a high school level, were racially conscious (meaning that they were aware of racism and most likely victims of racial discrimination) and were somewhat absent of relationships with their families. Similarly, those who did not participate in the movement were generally at risk of losing their jobs, compromising their family's safety, and not sure whether activism would help Blacks attain the equality that they wanted. Understanding these similarities and differences is important because they ultimately determined why or why not people would participate in the Civil Rights Movement, overall solving the problem of equality in the United States by calling for...