African Americans: Fighting for Their Rights Essay

During the mid 1950s to late 1960s African Americans started responding to the oppressive treatment shown to them by the majority of white people in the country. They responded to the segregation of blacks and whites during that time and the double standards the African Americans were held to. African Americans responded to their suppression by participating in boycotts, marches, sit-ins, and trying to get legislation passed so that they could overcome their degrading situation. They were successful in many of these actions and through them brought around more rights for African Americans. Boycotts were a major way that the African Americans got their voices and wants heard. The most famous boycott was probably the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat to a white man, Martin Luther King Jr. , urged the people of Montgomery to boycott the bus system. African Americans didn’t want to be considered substandard to white people, and they didn’t want to be forced to be subservient to them on buses. They didn’t think it was fair that they had to sit in the back of buses and give up their seats to white people. As King put it, â€Å"[†¦] there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression† (King 347). Because African Americans were ready to do something to support their rights they followed King’s advice to â€Å" [†¦] work with grim and firm determination to gain justice on the buses in this city [through boycotting]† (King 348) The Montgomery bus boycott made the public transportation system realize how important African Americans were to the transportation system. The combined effect of loss of money and pressure from around the country created a victory for the African American Civil Rights movement. The boycott lasted 382 days, until the law allowing racial segregation on buses was lifted and white people and African-Americans were able to sit wherever they wished to on buses. There were also boycotts of businesses where the segregation of African Americans was still very prevalent. Many of these boycotts were successful. The boycotts caused enough financial difficulties that the segregated businesses either had to close or integrate. Diners where African Americans had to sit separate from white people or where African Americans weren’t served at all were boycotted against as well until that diner served African Americans and allowed them to sit wherever they wanted and with whomever they wanted. Diners also faced the difficulty of sit-ins if they refused to serve African Americans. In Greensboro, North Carolina, a black college student named Joseph McNeill was refused service at the counter of a restaurant. The next day he and three of his friends came and sat at the lunch counter waiting to be served. They weren’t served that day. The four of them returned to the lunch counter each day, but were never served. The students were aware each day that they came to the lunch counter that they would probably not be served, but â€Å"they were also aware that this form of nonviolent protest could be a powerful method in accomplishing the desegregation of lunch counters† (McElrath 1). Then, an article in the New York Times, brought notice to this sit-in and many other students joined in on the sit-in. This started a chain of sit-ins around the country to protest the ill-treatment of African-Americans. Despite many hardships, including being beaten and doused with Ammonia, more people kept showing up at these demonstrations. The sit-ins were effective in the fact that restaurants either served the African-Americans at the counter, or closed down. In one case a restaurant took out all of the chairs in the restaurant so that no one could be served anywhere, which ended up causing him to have to close down. In addition to sit-ins, there were also kneel-ins at churches where African-Americans were not allowed to worship due to race. Sit-ins and kneel-ins were very effective. As John F. Kennedy said, â€Å"[the protestors] have shown that the new way for Americans to stand up for their rights is to sit down† (Kennedy 1). Marches were also a prevalent way in which African Americans showed their discontent and fought out for their rights. Black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. led marches on major cities, trying to voice their support of the Civil Rights movement. One of the first marches in support of Civil Rights was the protest march led by three ministers, including Martin Luther King Jr. , in Birmingham, Alabama. The march was met by policemen and dogs and the three ministers were put into jail. This was where King wrote his inspiring, â€Å"Letter From Birmingham Jail,† which set forth the need for the non-violent protest against unjust laws. This call for non-violent protests was one of the major factors that induced people to take the path of non-violent protests in order to promote Civil Rights. Perhaps the most famous march in favor of Civil Rights was The March on Washington. Civil Rights leaders, Bayard Rustin and Philip Randolph, were the chief planners of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. They wanted â€Å"to embody in one gesture civil rights as well as national economic demands. † (Randolph 1). The march was held on August 28, 1963, and more than 200,000 demonstrators gathered in front of the Washington Memorial to protest against the ill treatment of minorities, primarily African Americans, and to listen to many speakers, including Martin Luther King Jr. , who gave his famous â€Å"I have a dream† speech. The march had six official goals, but the major one was the passage of the civil rights law that the Kennedy administration had proposed after the problems in Birmingham. The march gained its purpose, but not without much controversy and struggle. The African American voice could not be ignored though, and many advances for Civil Rights were gained through the March on Washington, a march that would â€Å"go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation† (King 1) Another very effective response to the degradation of African Americans was to try to get legislation passed. One of the landmark cases for Civil Rights was Brown v. Board of Education. This case over-turned the ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson which said that schools could be segregated as long as they were equal in education and facilities. Brown v. Board of Education explicitly said that there is no way that separate can be equal and that by having â€Å"separate but equal† schools, the government was blatantly ignoring the 14th amendment which states, â€Å"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State [†¦]deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws† (Congress 1). This court case caused the schools to be integrated, which was one of the first steps to racial equality. Another important ruling in the fight for Civil Rights was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that, â€Å"All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation [†¦] without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origins† (Congress 350) This meant that. African Americans couldn’t be turned down from jobs due solely to race, their voting rights couldn’t be taken into question due to race, and they couldn’t be denied service in any public facilities. This piece of legislation had a far reaching impact, and furthered along the Civil Rights movement. Another very important piece of legislation was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This outlawed the use of literacy tests to determine the right to vote. This gave more African Americans the ability to vote and to have a say in the government that was ruling them. The ability to vote allowed African Americans to have a voice in government and to elect people that they thought would further their rights. The ability of African Americans to get legislation passed that supported their rights was a major step in the improvement of the treatment of African Americans and made it so that legally people could not discriminate against, segregate, or deny voting rights to them. The different responses of the African American Community, including boycotts, marches, sit-ins, and fighting for legislation, changed civil rights in the United States. The African Americans fought out against injustice, just as our founding fathers fought out against the injustice of the British. Their efforts helped create a more integrated and accepting society where race is not the only thing people see when looking at a person. Although the society today is not perfectly accepting of all races, society is much more accepting than it was half a century ago, and that is due largely to the African American movements in favor of Civil Rights. Works Cited â€Å"Brown v. Board of Education. † Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 2 Feb 2007 . â€Å"African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968). † Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 29 Jan 2007 . â€Å"Brief Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement (1954 – 1965). † Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement. 29 Jan 2007 . King, Martin Luther. â€Å"Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Defends Seamstress Rosa Parks, 1955. † Major Problems in American History Volume II. Edited. Edited. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. â€Å"The March on Washington. † The Civil Rights Movement. 2 Feb 2007 . McElrath, Jessica. â€Å"African American History. † Lunch Counter Sit-Ins. About. 2 Feb 2007 .

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Proving God's Existence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Principles of Economics.Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve Essay Example for Free

Principles of Economics.Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve Essay Investment and consumption decreased during the 2007 and 2009 recession. Government expenditure can increase Aggregate demand because it increases liquidity in the market. The government may operate below full employment when job seekers are more than available job hence end up accepting low wages. The multiplier can have a negative effect when people lose jobs as a result of government cut spending. This causes initial decrease in national income. The relationship between marginal propensities and multiplier is that an increase in MPC leads to an increase in multiplier. Similarly, increase in MPS causes a decrease in the multiplier (Farmer, 2008). 2. Fiscal Policy                9/11 attack led to decrease in aggregate demand, in United States. An example of a sector that was hit hard is entertainment and travel sectors. It also led to decrease in personal consumption. The attack caused an increase in equilibrium price levels. This is because there is an inverse relationship between Aggregate demand and equilibrium price levels.An Expansionary fiscal policy and Contractionary fiscal policy is used to increase aggregate demand. Expansionary fiscal policy is a policy used during the recession to increase AD by increasing government spending or decreasing taxes. Contractionary fiscal policy is used during inflation in order to decrease AD by decreasing government spending or increasing taxes (Farmer, 2008). After September 11’s attack, the government increased expenditure in different sectors such as national defense. 3. Money and Banking                Factors that led to the mortgage default crisis is much borrowings and flawed financial modeling majorly based on an assumption that prices of homes only go up, greed and fraud. Mortgage defaults affected lending banks in that their loans were not repaid leading to huge losses. In many cases, they got real estate that was valued far below what mortgage was when borrowers had a note. Default of bonds income backed by mortgage loans was interrupted banks were left with unwanted real estate (Friedman, 2010). Securitization is pooling different types of contractual debt. TARP is a program formed by the government of US to buy assets and equity from institutions that offer financial services in order to strengthen the financial sector. TARP opened a window of opportunity for banks to pay their own debt and acquire other businesses instead of lend money to private sectors. The Federal Reserve injected funds into the credit markets in order to help them lend again. It also reduced the target federal funds rate. Major provisions in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act include Office of Insurance which creates Federal Insurance Office that monitors aspects of the insurance industry and Consumer Protections that creates Consumer Financial Protection Agency which protects Americans from unfair financial products and services. 4. Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve                The Federal Reserve System refers to the central banking system of United States. Fed was launched in response to a series of financial panics. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta covers the states of Alabama, Georgia and Florida, 74 counties in Tennessee, 38 parishes of Louisiana, and 43 counties of Mississippi. William H. Rogers, Jr is the current Chairman of this Fed. This fed should remain politically independent because its rate is determined by market and is not explicitly determined by the Fed. The target for federal funds is adjusted by 0.25% or 0.50% at any given time. Fed give liquidity to banks to enable them gives credit in times of recession. Federal Open Market Committee is a committee in Federal Reserve System that is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the country’s open market operations. Fed should decrease their rates to help spur the economy of US. This is expansionary monetary policy (Axilrod, 2011). 5. Free Trade                I support free trade and the NAFTA. They are based on comparative advantage. Countries produce what they can export cheaply. US exports goods like corn and meat to Mexico. Some of goods imported into USA include snacks and processed fruits. However, despite the having the benefit of increasing growth and collaboration between countries, free trade has the cost of dumping goods into the country and destroying infant industries. Free trade should be restricted on some goods like natural resources. 6. Foreign Exchange                US dollar is currently losing value against the euro. This is because the European Union is finding solution to Euro crisis. Dollars are supplied by the Central Bank of USA. A dollar loses value when its demand goes down. For example, whenever US citizens buy products from Germany, the demand for Euro goes up against the Dollar. A falling US Dollar increases ones travel expenses. This is because has to use more dollars to buy a foreign currencies which are expensive. However, a cheap dollar is bad for the US economy because it discourages exportation. A free floating exchange rate refers to a monetary system whose exchange rates are free to move due to forces of the market without intervention by the government (Friedman, 2010). References Axilrod, S. H. (2011). Inside the Fed monetary policy and its management, Martin through Greenspan to Bernanke (Rev. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. APA formatting by BibMe.org. Farmer, R. E. (2008). Aggregate demand and supply. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research. Friedman, M., Heller, W. W. (2010). Monetary vs. fiscal policy. New York: Norton. Starr, R. M. (2011). General equilibrium theory: an introduction (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. Source document