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Civil Rights Movement

In: English and Literature

Submitted By Shadow85
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Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, segregation in the United States was commonly practiced in many of the Southern and Border States. This segregation while supposed to be separate but equal, was hardly that. Blacks in the South were discriminated against repeatedly while laws did nothing to protect their individual rights. In May 26, 1956, a few Florida A&M students got on the bus to a short trip to downtown Tallahassee, where these two young black woman wanted to seat in front of the bus rather than stand, for the bus was full and no seats were available in the back. When the driver notice that these to black woman were sitting in the front of the bus beside a white woman; he immediately pulled over the bus and told them to get up. When the young ladies kindle said if you refund us we will get off the bus, the driver said no and called the cops, though the white woman they sat next to made no objection. Which further leads to them being arrested and charged with incite a riot, After this story made headlines in the Sunday paper many people such as minster Metz Rollins was hoping for the black community to act with determination and sprit as others did in Montgomery, Alabama a few months prior. (Rabby,10-11) Rev. C. K. Steele and Robert Saunders representing the NAACP began talks while blacks started boycotting the city's buses. This boycott was similar to that in the Montgomery Boycott with Rosa Parks. Former bus patrons began a car pool lasting through May 26 of 1957, several other events took place which would change segregation in Tallahassee. The Inter-Civic Council ended the boycott on December 3, 1957. Racial unrest by the summer of 1963 was at its height since the Civil War. President Kennedy picked up the situation at the close of the Eisenhower years at a time when tensions were rapidly increasing. By the summer of 1963, however, after a series of

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