The Fight Against Racism

A Brief History

Atharva Sangle
The Dot Lit
Published in
3 min readJun 4, 2020

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A timeline:

The Jim Crow Laws

By 1870 blacks had equal protection by law and the right to vote. Many whites were unhappy with this. To separate blacks and curb their progress the Jim Crow Laws were made. Blacks couldn’t use the same public facilities as whites and were discriminated in every aspect of their life.

Rosa Parks sat still

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old woman, refused to give up her ‘white section’ seat on a bus. She was arrested and this resulted in outrage and protests by black people. The famous Montgomery Bus Boycott followed. Rosa Parks became the “Mother of Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement”. The boycott lasted 381 days. The Supreme Court declared segregated seating unconstitutional.

Woolworths Lunch Counter

On February 1, 1960, four college students fought against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina when they refused to leave a Woolworths Lunch Counter without being served. These protests were known as Greensboro sit-ins. The boycott made the lunch counter cave in and serve black people.

Martin Luther King Jr

The Montgomery Improvement Association was led by Baptist Minister Martin Luther King Jr. He eventually became the front of the fight for civil rights. On August 28, 1963, the famous ‘March on Washington’ was organized.

Over 2,00,000 people, black and white, had a peaceful march with the purpose of civil rights legislation and the establishment of job equality. This is where Martin gave his “I Have a Dream” speech which became a slogan for equality and freedom.

Civil Rights Act

President Lyndon Johnson signed this Act in 1964. It was initiated by John F Kennedy. This law guaranteed equal employment for all, voting rights, and integration of public facilities.

Bloody Sunday

On March 7, 1965 people were protesting against the killing of black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer. The march was from Selma to Montgomery. Around 600 protestors were viciously beaten and teargassed by police. Many of them were hospitalized. This incident came to be known as ‘Bloody Sunday’.

Fair Housing Act

Just days after Martin Luther King’s assassination this Act became law on April 11, 1968. It prevented discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, and national origin. This was the last legislation of the Civil Rights era.

UCLA classroom sit-ins

On 25 February, 2014, Students protested against racist flyers and hate being spread in the university. The flyers encouraged people of a different color to fight with each other.

I Can’t Breathe

People all around the world unite and protest against the killing of George Floyd, a black citizen of America who was killed by asphyxiation when a Minneapolis Police Department cop forced his knee on George’s neck for 8 minutes.

written by Atharva Sangle

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Atharva Sangle
Atharva Sangle

Written by Atharva Sangle

student, writer, overthinker Instagram: @authorva.s

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