Social Climate of the 1960s in Southern States Essay Example

Movement.

The 1960s history of America was mainly characterized by Civil Rights Movement by the black activist against systematic discrimination and oppression by the establishment. The actions of the movement were obviously concentrated in the southern states where the issues of racial discrimination were still prominent. Martin Luther King Junior and the rest of the activist mainly operated in the southern states particularly Louisiana, Virginia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Although racial discrimination was still a prominent issue across the country, it was in the southern states where racial segregation and characterization was still a major part of the social structure of the society. The black community was considered and treated inferior to the white community in every aspect of life from political, education, economic, and transport organization of the society the society.

The black Americans did not have full voting rights in both the state and the federal electoral system like their white counterparts. Segregation in the schooling system was a reality of life whereby the kids from the white families had their exclusive well-equipped education institutions all the way from the primary to the college level. The black kids, on the other hand, were condemned to poorly equipped institutions which were intended to demoralize them. The same situation was also witnessed in the transportation sector where exclusive public service vehicles were dedicated to each of the races. The contrast could not have been clearer in the employment sector whereby the blacks were mainly employed as manual laborers in white-owned farms where they got paid little wages considering the number of hours they worked.

This segregation created a climate of animosity and mistrust between the two races. The

black people who felt they were oppressed by the white regime had over time developed resentment and hatred towards their white oppressors. The rise of the civil rights movement in the sixties was mainly contributed by the leadership of figures such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior. The civil rights movement involved the use of various means to protest the systematic and oppressive rule by the white man. The likes of Martin Luther King Junior advocated for peaceful protest and mass demonstration in cities across the United States. Other activist led by the likes of Malcolm X advocated for confrontational approach including violence if necessary in protesting the oppression black community by the white. All these actions and movements inspired many black Americans to turn up and present the white administration through riots and boycotts by students

On the other side, the actions of Civil Rights Movement intensified the animosity of the white supremacist towards the blacks. Criminal elements of the white supremacist, for example, the Ku Klux Klan targeted the leaders of the civil rights movements as well as their followers in their efforts to silence them. The champion of the Civil rights movement Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated in 1968 after receiving several dead threats because of his involvement in the Civil movement. Several other activist and black protestors were also killed or targeted across the nation. The Civil Rights Movement also helped to heighten political tension between the Republican and Democrat politicians in Washington. The Democrat politicians from these southern states vigorously opposed a federal legislation that eventually abolished racial segregation in America. The Republicans and the northern states on

the other supported the legislation leaving the country deeply divided (Watters, 8).

The movie “Mississippi Burning” bore an accurate depiction of the situation of the social state of the society during the 1960s period of civil rights movement. The issues of racial discrimination and violent targeting of the civil rights activist by criminal elements of white supremacist are sufficiently addressed. The example in the film is the execution of the civil rights activist by the Ku Klux Klan which relates to the execution of Martin Luther King and another activist during the 1960s.