During the 1950s and 1960s what methods did African American use to Essay

During the 1950s and 1960s what methods did African American use to get equal treatment - Essay Example frican-American leaders and organizations armed themselves with traditional and non-traditional methods of activism and engagement with a unified call for freedom, justice and equality. They sought good opportunities through lawsuits and labour organizations their aim was to end racial segregation through legal mechanisms and lobbying. Their best moment was the legal victory (Brown vs. Board of Education 1954) where the Supreme Court refused to separate white and colored school systems. The African-American leaders utilized the constitution guarantees and protections of the fifth and fourteenth amendments to overcome the prescribed second-class lifestyle that was largely enforced and accepted way of life among Africa-Americans. They used a host of intra-community resources and tactics which picked up through the use of; marches, sit-ins, bank-ins, protests, freedom rides and boycotts. These strategies that relied on the principles of non-violence radicalized a country comfortable with the use of violence and intimidation to keep the African-American in place. The first phase of the African-American protest began in December, 1955 when Rosa Parks from Montgomery, refused relinquish her seat to a white passenger in a bus. In so doing, she had defied the southern custom that required black passengers to give the white people seats that were towards the front of the bus. She was subsequently jailed and the boycott of the city buses’ commenced. Martin Luther King Jr. led the protest that lasted for more than a year. The boycott demonstrated the unity and determination the black community had to press for equality. This inspired other black community; even the advocates of the liberation viewed the black freedom struggle in global terms, as a movement for human rights and national self-determination for