What was the Civil rights movement?

What was the Civil rights movement you may ask? The Civil Rights Movement was an activism era for equal rights and treatment of African-Americans. African-Americans were over of the unfair discrimination and segregation between them and the others so they decide to stand up for themselves and try to put a stop to it. The movement all began because of one woman named Rosa Parks who is actually well known in today’s society for bravery and also standing up for what she believed in. Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama simply for refusing to give up her seat to a white person and move to the back of the bus, Parks went to trial on December 5, 1955. People of the African American community were asked to remain off city buses on the day of the trail in protest of her arrest. This protest lasted 381 days and therefore the Supreme Court declared segregation on public transportation to be unconstitutional. But this isn’t the end of this journey, there were so many more African-Americans who started to stand up for themselves because they saw how brave Rosa Parks was. One activist named Martin Luther King Jr was also an important person during this time. He was a Baptist minister, a social activist and he was actually the main leader of the civil rights movement and known for his nonviolent protests. Martin Luther King Jr didn’t just fight for African-Americans he fought for people of all races, he wanted everyone to have equal rights and freedom no matter the color of your skin. On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr gave a speech outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC in front of a crowd with more than 250,000 people. The famous “I have a dream” speech was a speech that may never be forgotten. He had a dream that in the future we’d not see race as a reason to discriminate, segregate and be treated wrong simply because of the color of your skin. It was the vision everyone wanted for America but till this day it still has not happened. Another important person during this time was a person named John Lewis. Lewis was one of the “Big Six” leaders to help organize the march. He was one of four people who were arrested February 1st, 1960 for sitting down at a “white’s only” lunch counter and asked to be served. They actually got denied service when they asked to be served and then refused to leave. This created a whole movement called the “sit-in movement”. Hundreds of people joined this protest, people such as students, churches, civil rights organizations etc. This protest lasted for about six months until it led to desegregation of the lunch counter on July 25th, 1960. During the 1950s and 1960s many more events took place during this time. Events such as Bloody Sunday, The Albany Movement, Birmingham Campaign and etc. The Albany Movement whole purpose was to end all racial segregation in the city. March 7th, 1965 about 600 people attempted to begin the Selma to Montgomery march thats until state troopers began violently attacking the peaceful protesters trying to stop the march for voting rights this would come to be known as Bloody Sunday. The Birmingham Campaign was an agreement with the town of Birmingham to desegregate restrooms, drinking fountains, lunch counters, and etc. Overall I would say that the Civil Rights Movement was successful because it showed you could fight for equal rights without using violence and I also feel as it brought more awareness to discrimination and segregation. Maybe one day Martin Luther King Jr speech will become reality for America and not just a thought.