African-American Civil Rights Movement Now, when we watch NBA games, we have got used to the black’s domination in this game. 80% of the basketball players are African-Americans, the white however, become the minority. But, do you know, sixty years ago, the situation is totally different. In 1950, when the first black figure Roy Florida appeared on the court, who could have imagined, 58 years later, when the Boston Celtics once again won the NBA champion, there is no single white in the team? In the same year, the US welcomed its first black president.On Nov. 5, 2008, Barack Obama was elected the president of the United State. However, we can say that his success was on the fundamental of generations of black men.1、In 1619, the first group of Africans were transported to North America as slaves, and this marked the beginning of the centuries’ slavery in the continent.2、During the American Civil War(1861~1865), the Africans began their first try of getting their own rights. With the great leadership of Lincoln, the African-Americans finally got rid of the slavery, and this lead to the theoretic equal between the black and white.After the Civil War, American capitalism greatly developed, so did the social structure. More and more of the black left the South and a large colony of black intellectual had grown in the North at the beginning of the 20th century.3\In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(美国全国有色人种协进委员会) was founded. From then on, the civil rights movement in America had come into a period of well-organized, well-led state.5、After the World War Ⅱ, in the fifties and sixties of the 20th century, America came into a period of maximum development. During this period, the civil rights movement of the black were constantly developing and growing.I、On May 17, 1954, to change the image of America in the international state, the US Supreme Court declared that it was unequal of the pubic schools’ segregated education II、On Dec. 1, 1955, the later world famous mother of the African-American Civil Rights Movement--Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white in Montgomery and was arrested. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King, the whole 500,000 black in the city united to strike not to use buses for as long as one year. Eventually, the bus corporation cancelled the racial segregation.III、On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students in North Carolina went into a “white only” restaurant, the servant ordered them to go out, but they remained there. Their brave action instantaneously won the support of the black students and they united to launch a sit-down strike on a large scale. This forced restaurants in nearly 200 cities called off the racial segregation.IV、In 1963, on the square of the Lincoln Memorial, 250,000 people gathered to fight against the racial segregation. There, Martin Luther King addressed his famous speech I Have a Dream; this marked the climax of the civil rights movement.V、Under the great pressure of the civil rights movement, the US congress passed the in 1964 and in 1965, formally ended the discrimination against black in the aspect of voting rights and other public facilities.Since the 1970s, the African-American civil rights movement had a new change; their fight for equality had gone into a new state.In 1983, the democrat Harold Washington defeated the republican white man to become the first black mayor of Chicago--the third largest city of America.In November of that year, the democrat W. William Goode also defeated his white competitor to become the first mayor of Houston—the fourth largest city of America.On November 6th of that year, Chicago civil rights leader, the then 42 year old Rev.Jesse Jackson announced to participate the Democratic nomination. In 1984, he only got 12% voting. In 1988, he tried again, and this time, he won 29% of the votes. Through he failed both times; the political meaning of his participation cannot be eradicatedLater on, the American NEWSWEEK published the Gallup polls, 62% of the black and 56% of the white believed that, before the year 2008; the United States would receive its first black president. This prediction indeed came true on Nov. 5, 2008.Obama’s success is stood on the ladder which is built by generations of American black’s lives, he realized the ultimate dream of several generations of the black.Nowadays, more and more black figures take action on the international stage. We have got so used to these facts, that most of the basketball players in the NBA court are black, that the most famous and successful talk show hostess is a black, that the former secretary of the United States is a black, that the incumbent president of the United States is a black…We have got used to so many things. However, does this means that there is no discrimination existing?The past centuries’bloodstears seem to tell us that racism has gone. However, when Hamilton defeated Alonso, the Spanish would establish a net to insult the first black F1 champion. The organizers explained that the Spanish auto fans were just joking. But, Hamilton couldn’t laugh; he knew very well that the ghost of racism wouldn’t disappear because of a black president.Many statistics indicate that recently the black middle class are reduced to underclass; the adult black men’s imprisonment rate is as high as 30%. The New York Time reported that, in America, once arrested, the black men’s possibility of being condemned is three times higher than the white under the same circumstance. Moreover, under the same accusation, the term of the black is three months longer than the white.The ghettos for black are very common in America, half of them cannot finish their high school education, a quarter of them live under the poverty line, one out of nine of them is serving a prison sentence.From these, we know that the secret anguish of racism has never disappeared in America, even if we have got used to all the black figures. We are only got used. Obama’s success isn’t an end of the racism in the United State.2009 is a commemorable year for both America and American black, it marks the 80th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the 200th anniversary of the birth of President Lincoln. This year, also, is the first year of the first black president’s presidency.。
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