Turmoil During The Civil Rights Era - 843 Words

TURMOIL DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA Salma Nawar History Mr. Germaneri May 12, 2015 Nawar 1 Assassinations in American history have had a great impact on the social system. Upheavals based on opinion within a society cause chaos and discourse. Assassinations have major consequences not just on the country in question, but on everyone. For example, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to the United States entering World War I. The United States didn’t want to enter the war; but this particular assassination forced America’s hand back and pulled us into war. Sometimes assassinations occur as a result of an event. Another example is in the case of Abraham Lincoln. He was assassinated because of the anger and†¦show more content†¦Jim Crow Laws presented the African American man with unequal opportunities in housing, work, education and government. In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racially separate facilities, if equal, did not violate the Constitution. â€Å"Segregation,† the Court s aid, Nawar 2 â€Å"was not discrimination.† This was an abundant abuse of power on the part of the Supreme Court in the mind of every African American at the time because segregation is discrimination. Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965 in New York City, NY. He was trying to give a speech to members of his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights when his rival Black Muslims of the Nation of Islam shot him to death. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN. He was shot while standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he and his associates were staying, by a sniper’s bullet to the neck. Both of these great mens deaths had a great impact on their followers which extended outwards to key parts of society in general. The impacts of these great African American leaders and activists continue on to this very day in maintaining racial equality among the people of the United States of America. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had very different approaches to tackling the issue of racial equality in the American society. Malcolm X did not believe that a