The civil rights movement gained momentum in the 1950s, nearly ninety years after Reconstruction. Explain why the movement finally took off in the 1950s. What caused it to do so?

The civil rights movement gained momentum in the 1950s and 60s because of several reasons. One was the gradual achievements and legislation of earlier blacks. This is in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. Another boost came in 1941, when FDR issued executive order 8802. It prohibited racial discrimination in the defense industries. Then it was not until 1948, when Truman desegregated the armed forces. In 1954, the spark that lite the chain reaction was the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, that ruled that separate but equal facilities was not constitutional, this event would spur the EO 10730 to desegregate schools, and in 1957 Eisenhower using the National Guard to get nine black students to their classes at Little Rock Central High School. From then on, the Civil Rights Act got a crucial foothold. Through a series of boycotts, marches and Campaigns led by black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr and Philip Randolph, the civil rights movement began moving at a rapid pace. In 1961, Kennedy issued EO 10925, which took affirmative action in equal employment practices regard less of race. The 24th amendment passed by congress in 1962, banned poll taxes in federal election. With the 1963 March on Washington, the Civil Rights act of 1964 was passed. It outlawed racial and sexual discrimination and ended unequal voting registration and school segregation. Then came the Voting Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory Voting practices. Johnson issued EO 11246 to require contractors of the government to give equal opportunists in employment regardless of race. One of the last legislation passed by congress for civil rights was the Civil Rights Act of 1968. It provided equal housing opportunists.

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