Civil Rights Movement

There were many lessons learned from the Civil Rights Movement. This was a traumatic period in the history of this country. I believe that the lessons learned from this movement would definitely be the non violent protests. For example, the Black Panthers were associated with this, they didn't want to use violence, they just wanted to protect themselves. MLK also agreed to this act. Another lesson learned from the Civil Rights Movement would be the goal towards gaining equality. If this movement did not happen, our country may still be as worse as it once was, if not even more. African Americans gained so many rights during this movement and so did woman. Woman and blacks gained the right to vote. That was a major goal in this movement, and it was an example of how equality was gained in our country.

America definitely still struggles with equity and equality today. I mean it wasn't as bad as it was, but we still have it which is something not good and we need to change this. America still struggles with the inequality when it comes to getting hired for a job. People still may think that if your're not white, your're not good enough for the job. Colleges or Universities may still have this problem as well. It may be harder for kids who aren't white to get into a good school. But I think the biggest struggle that we have today is Institutional Racism. For example in public schools, and in jail. People think that African Americans aren't smart enough, or that if they did something bad that they should go to jail for life, instead of a white person doing something bad and they only go to jail for a month. We also struggle with stereotyping, for example if a african american walks into a bank everyone may start unlike if a white person just walks in. Stereotyping is a major struggle that we still have in this country.

The Civil Rights Movement can connect to present for example with the Occupy movement. This is an example of a non violent protest. They want to get their message out and not use violence to do so. They do marches, and protests to get the peoples attention, instead of breaking windows and hurting others. I think that the civil rights movement gives us all hope that things can change for the better, and people will never give up for happiness. If they can do it back then, we can definitely do it today. Many people protest for different things in our nation today. Such as gay rights, equality, and better wages. All of these people have hope in change, and this how the civil rights movement connects to the present because we still do protests for equality today.