Throughout this course, you have learned about the Civil Rights Movement and its relevant contextual background. You have also learned about the different actions and tactics of civil rights activists who sought to advance civil rights for African Americans during the 1950s and 1960s. Finally, you have learned about the roles of state and federal governments during the Civil Rights Movement and reactions to the movement by white citizens and southerners.
This assignment requires you to demonstrate your knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement’s historical context and analyze how and why specific factors undermined civil rights for people of color in the 1950s and 1960s. You will also use your critical thinking skills to assess how those historical factors were (or were not) challenged during the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, you will use your research skills to find credible evidence and examples that will support your argument and analysis.
Prompt
Write a 2,000-2,500-word essay in response to the following prompt:
Choose three political, economic, or social factors that you believe were most significant in undermining civil rights for people of color during the 1950s and 1960s and craft an essay to support your argument. As you write, be sure to consider the factors’ historical backgrounds and analyze the extent to which those factors were challenged or changed during the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, be sure to provide specific, detailed examples to support your claims and offer a conclusion that contextualizes the topic in relation to broader themes or issues in American history.
Related Lessons
- Circumstances & Events that Led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Formation of Citizens’ Councils After Brown v. Board of Education
- How the FBI Undermined & Controlled Civil Rights Activists & Activities
- Confederate Imagery as Resistance to the Civil Rights Movement
Formatting & Sources
You may refer to the course material for supporting evidence, but you must also use at least two primary and three secondary sources and cite them using Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) format. If you use any Study.com lessons as sources, please also cite them in CMS (including the lesson title and instructor’s name).
- Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews, advertisements, speeches, company documents, statements, and press releases published by the company in question.
- Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals, such as the Journal of Management. You may use like JSTOR, Google Scholar, and Social Science Research Network to find articles from these journals. Secondary sources may also come from reputable websites with .gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not a reputable source, though the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)