Misconceptions About Civil Rights

Many people think that the Civil Rights Movement was only an issue that happened during the 1960s due to social unrest.  Most people believe that civil rights was a movement that was started by people like Martin Luther King and Rosa Park and was dominated by black power. In actuality, the issue of civil rights began in the early 1900s and has been discussed by various people with similar opinions. For example, legal challenges to segregate schools began in 1933.This was two decades before the Brown v. Brown board of education decision in the Supreme Court. People who were against Jim Crow laws also argued about Gandhi's principles during the 1920s. North Carolina historians believe that the era of the first civil rights movement began in the 1920s. Also, many people don't realize that the world wars placed a great effect on civil rights. In the years after World War 1, feminism, communism, and civil rights were all ideas that brought up the the topic of equality internationally. Black soldiers found that they weren't being treated equally and faced racism during their time at war. This caused outrage as black publications during war published letters from black soldiers' complaints about the way they were treated. This helped influence a need for civil rights to be made known in the black communities. Another misconception about civil rights is that civil rights began in black churches and was dominated by middle class black men. Also, it was believed that issue of civil rights and equality didn't make itself an important issue that was known to the public until the 1960s when televisions were in use. Another example of the civil rights struggle is of "Pauli" Murray. Pauli battled the civil rights movement during the 1930s as one woman. She would make lectures and fought for her causes of black civil rights, communism, feminism, and sexual liberation and identity. Murray applied for graduate studies at the University of North Carolina, which was an all white and all male school. She challenged white juries and the Jim Crow laws. Surprisingly, Rosa Parks wasn't the first woman to give up her seat in the bus. Murray also refused to give up her seat when she was sitting in the white section of the bus, and therefore was arrested in 1940. This shows that many people have struggled against civil rights and various people have emphasized on the issue of equality for all.

sources: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/02/the-first-civil-rights-movement/
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