"How Has the Civil Rights Movement Affected Modern Day America As Well As Pave the Way For Those Who Want Their Cause Recognized Too?"
The Civil Rights Movement started the "revolution" to equalize all people, no matter what their race or gender is. Because of these amendments, slavery is completely abolished today. All born in the United States are granted full citizenship. No one can be denied life, liberty, or property in the United States. African American men were given the right to vote. These three new laws started the list of amendments that helped reconstruct America and give people a better life. Even today, this movement has given people hope. This struggle for equality inspires people who are also struggling. They have a renewed hope that everything will work out, because that was the result of the Civil Rights Movement.
Connection to Literature
The time period of To Kill a Mockingbirdis set in the 1930's: right in the middle of racial conflict. One main cause for this contention was the Jim Crow law. The law stated that blacks and whites were not allowed to have any interaction with each other. This law caused blacks to be against whites, whites against blacks.
Many people might not have felt strongly against the opposite race; it was just the norm to avoid them. Atticus Finch was one of the only people in town who was brave enough to stand up for blacks. He was often called a “nigger-lover”by many townspeople, but Atticus continued to do the right thing.
Later in the 1900’s, the civil rights movement was eventually able to put an end to the discrimination. However, even after black rights were declared, several years passed before they were fully recognized. Everyone was so used to the idea that blacks were worth less than whites. In To Kill a Mockingbird, we saw an example of this after Miss Maudie’s house burned down. “She held up her hands. A network of tiny lines crisscrossed her palms, brown with dirt and dried blood. ‘You’ve ruined ‘em,” said Jem. “Why don’t you get a colored man?’” (p. 83). For almost a century, there was an idea that blacks should have to work harder. Thanks to the civil rights, these unfair ideas were later diminished.
Many people might not have felt strongly against the opposite race; it was just the norm to avoid them. Atticus Finch was one of the only people in town who was brave enough to stand up for blacks. He was often called a “nigger-lover”by many townspeople, but Atticus continued to do the right thing.
Later in the 1900’s, the civil rights movement was eventually able to put an end to the discrimination. However, even after black rights were declared, several years passed before they were fully recognized. Everyone was so used to the idea that blacks were worth less than whites. In To Kill a Mockingbird, we saw an example of this after Miss Maudie’s house burned down. “She held up her hands. A network of tiny lines crisscrossed her palms, brown with dirt and dried blood. ‘You’ve ruined ‘em,” said Jem. “Why don’t you get a colored man?’” (p. 83). For almost a century, there was an idea that blacks should have to work harder. Thanks to the civil rights, these unfair ideas were later diminished.
By: Callie Toftey, Paige Sherwood, Evan Sommers, Bonnie Stewart, and Haley Kenyon.