Brief History of Civil Rights
Civil Rights advocates were forging the way for social justice way before Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s. Desegregation of schools started with native conquests and the "non-white" ethnic minority.
Historically, the inequities of civil and human rights against people of color have been forging since 1848 when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was broken by the U.S. when they "institutionalized the legacy of discrimination" (Moreno, 2010, p. 24). Desegregation of schools actually began in 1925 in the lawsuit Romo v. Laird (Valencia, n.d.).
However, segregation was happening as early as the 1500s during the Spanish and European conquests of Mexico and the early colonial Americas. During the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the mid 1500s the "racialization" of people of color including Mexicans, Indians, mestizos, and afromestizos (mixed heritage of Indian, Mexican, African) occurred in which there was an assignment of racial order (Moreno, 2010).
Historically, the inequities of civil and human rights against people of color have been forging since 1848 when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was broken by the U.S. when they "institutionalized the legacy of discrimination" (Moreno, 2010, p. 24). Desegregation of schools actually began in 1925 in the lawsuit Romo v. Laird (Valencia, n.d.).
However, segregation was happening as early as the 1500s during the Spanish and European conquests of Mexico and the early colonial Americas. During the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the mid 1500s the "racialization" of people of color including Mexicans, Indians, mestizos, and afromestizos (mixed heritage of Indian, Mexican, African) occurred in which there was an assignment of racial order (Moreno, 2010).
Jim Crow
Who is Jim Crow? Rather, what is it all about? Institutionalized segregation laws emerged after the U.S. Civil War during the Reconstruction (1870s), and were enforced among black people. These laws created a barrier to equal rights separating the races of black and white.
This resulted in discriminatory comments, media lynchings and public practices such as separate facilities--water fountains, bathrooms, buses--and even schools. It was not until nearly 100 years later in 1954 that "Jim Crow Laws" became invalid by the U.S. Supreme Court and became the peak of the Civil Rights Movement.
Civil Rights Movement During the 1960s
An Oral History
Video Source: The King Legacy - Marching Forward by Voice of America