What was the African American Dream in the 1950's?
The American Dream is a set of ideals of the United States. These ideals are no longer revolutionary but a basic need for every American citizen. They include equality, freedom, and the opportunity for prosperity. The American Dream has been seen as a definite goal and has empowered the hopes for many people (“Library of Congress”). To complete and satisfy a Dream, in the past, many times it meant struggle. As of this moment, the African Americans successfully overcame the racial barriers of their American Dream during the 1950s-1970s. They attained that idea that many Americans fight for.
African Americans are from African descent. They trace their origin back to an area in western Africa. Africa was controlled by three great wealthy black empires which included Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. They were used as slaves and often were traded among western Africa and brought to European colonies. African Americans were also known as blacks and or Afro-Americans. Since the early 1500's they were treated brutally, left with starvation, and no sight of beneficial necessities. This all started to slowly change after 1865, when slavery was finally abolished in the United States, and African Americans briefly gained their civil rights during an era called Reconstruction. After this, they again were demolished and experienced segregation. It wasn’t until the 1950’s African Americans fought for their rights in a strong civil rights movement in the United States (Pratt).
What was the Civil Rights Movement about?
The Civil Rights Movement was the time African Americans’ voices were heard. During their nonviolent protests and civil disobedience many African Americans risk and sometimes lost their lives in name of freedom and equality. The Civil Rights Movement was finally born after African slavery. Their descendants yearned for the prohibition of racial oppression and longing to be treated as an equal. Although American slaves were emancipated as a result of the Civil War and were granted basic civil rights through only the Fourteen and Fifteen amendments to the U.S Constitution, there were still many struggles to secure federal protection of these rights (Carson). However, the ending of World War II helped launch the Civil Rights Movement. For example, many African Americans have served the war with honor and political leaders pointed out that they were still racially discriminated. Secondly, African Americans in the urban North had made economic success by increasing their education and their registration of being able to vote. Lastly, the NAACP had brought many new members and received financial support from whites and blacks (Pratt). Nevertheless, the civil rights movement began to take place in the 1950's to the 1970's (“The American Civil Rights Movement”). If the Civil Rights Movement began, African Americans would have been treated with such brutality and left without any progression. Furthermore, their population would decrease severely and possibly extinct.