Civil+Disobediance

Civil disobedience is defined as opposing a law one considers unjust by peacefully disobeying it and accepting the resultant punishment- was a very popular method of displaying opinions during the time of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. (Rosa Parks' bus boycott, MLK's marches.) Violent demonstrations and riots during the 1960s were what got civil rights on the national political agenda, but because of the violence, many whites fought against making any concessions to "lawbreakers", "troublemakers", and "rioters". This deadlock was broken by four things: 1.) Public opinion changed. The percentage of whites who were willing to let their children attend schools that were half black increased sharply (although the percentage of whites who were willing to let their children attend predominantly black schools increased more slowly.) Young, college educated people led these changes in opinion. 2.) Violent reactions by white segregationists to black demonstrators were vividly portrayed by the media, especially television, in ways that gave a powerful moral force to the civil rights cause. Pictures of the Birmingham, Alabama police using attack dogs and high-pressure fire hoses to stop a peaceful march by African Americans created a national sensation. 3.) President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas helped build support for efforts by new president Lyndon B. Johnson to obtain passage of a strong civil rights bill as a memorial to Kennedy. 4.) The 1964 elections sent a huge Democratic majority to the House and retained the large Democratic margin in the Senate, making it possible for northern Democrats to outvote or outmaneuver southerners in the House. Effect of these changes: five civil rights laws were enacted between 1957 and 1968. Three protected the right to vote, one was aimed at preventing discrimination in housing, and one (1964), the most far-reaching of all, dealt with voting, employment, schooling, and public accommodations. The passage of the 1964 act was the high point of the legislative struggle for civil rights. Since the 1960s, congressional support for civil rights legislation has grown- so much so that labeling a bill a civil rights measure now almost guarantees its passage.