Civil Rights
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00:00Dear Tim and Moby, What was the Civil Rights Movement?
00:13From PJ
00:16The American Civil Rights Movement was about having universal rights for all people, regardless
00:20of race.
00:23Before the 1960s, America was a very different place.
00:28In many parts of the country, African Americans were barred from lots of public spaces.
00:34Movie theaters, restaurants, buses and trains all had separate areas for black and white
00:40customers.
00:41African Americans also had to live in separate neighborhoods and couldn't hold the same jobs
00:46as whites.
00:47This practice of separating African Americans from white people was called segregation.
00:53Segregation was widespread, touching every part of society.
00:57Even at school.
01:01One turning point came in 1951 with an African American student named Linda Brown.
01:06She was barred from attending the school closer to her home.
01:10Instead, she had to ride a bus to a black school across town.
01:15So her father joined a dozen other parents and sued the school board.
01:20By 1954, the case had gone all the way to the Supreme Court.
01:24The court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
01:29It was a landmark case known as Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
01:35Well, it wasn't that simple.
01:39These new laws had to be enforced.
01:42And there were still lots of other laws and customs that discriminated against African
01:46Americans.
01:48In 1955, an activist named Rosa Parks took a seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
01:54Soon the bus filled up, leaving no free seats for white passengers.
01:59When the driver told Parks to give up her seat, she refused and was arrested.
02:05Well, that was the rule back then in Alabama and throughout most of the South.
02:12African Americans had to give up their seats if any white people were standing.
02:19Joanne Robinson, another activist, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister,
02:24organized a boycott of the city's bus system.
02:28Most black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride on the buses for more than a year.
02:33They chose to walk rather than submit to unfair regulations.
02:39The boycott led to a lawsuit, and in 1956, a Supreme Court decision banned segregated
02:45buses.
02:46But the fight still wasn't over.
02:49Dr. King and other brave activists organized nonviolent protests across the nation.
02:55During sit-ins, black students visited whites-only lunch counters.
02:59They quietly sat there until they were served, or until the store closed.
03:05As a result, they were often harassed or even arrested.
03:09And Freedom Riders rode buses from other states throughout the South.
03:14They were there to make sure the buses were integrated, with blacks and whites sitting
03:17next to each other, like the law said.
03:20These peaceful protests were often met with anger and sometimes violence.
03:25Yeah, it's hard to imagine how something like that would make people so mad.
03:31But people often feel threatened by change.
03:35The movement reached a high point with the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
03:40On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people marched through the heart of the
03:45country's capital.
03:46Dr. King delivered his momentous I Have a Dream speech.
03:52The very next year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed all discrimination based on
03:58race, religion, sex, or ethnicity.
04:01Work facilities could no longer be segregated, and businesses would have to make an effort
04:05to hire a more diverse workforce.
04:10The door to racial equality had opened, but there was still a long way to go.
04:15New laws were just the beginning.
04:17It took years of struggle before they were fully enforced.
04:21Well, changing people's prejudices, that's something no law can fix.
04:28African Americans have continued to face violence and discrimination.
04:33But dedicated activists are keeping the world's attention on the issue.
04:36The legacy of the civil rights movement lives on in these new generations, and in other
04:42groups who have been inspired by its successes.
04:46Women, immigrants, gay and transgender people, these groups and others are still struggling
04:53to be treated with dignity, whether it's fighting for equal pay,
04:58the freedom to live proudly and openly,
05:01or the right to simply be left in peace.
05:04If there's one thing we've learned from the civil rights movement, it's that history is
05:08on their side.
05:11You have a dream, too?
05:13Let's hear it.
05:18Oh, gee, wish I could hear the rest, but class is starting.
05:25Bye!