Media Influence During The Civil Rights Movement

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Since radio, television, and all other forms of media began, their presence in the world has been constantly growing. The media today has become part of everyday life, and is continuing to expand its domain. The United States since the start World War 2 began has been shaped and altered by newspapers, radio, television coverage, and more. While it was once made up a small portion of the average person’s life and could be avoided, now media coverage is unavoidable with cell phones and laptops giving constant updates of what is going on in the world. However, since media began, there has been a struggle to decide if it has been a positive or negative influence of the United States as a whole. The coverage helps to expand the average American’s …show more content…
African Americans from the majority of America’s life have been discriminated and had their rights taken away due to the color of their skin. Up until the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement began, African Americans were trying to gain more rights, but their efforts resulted in extremely slow changes. The expanding media influence during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s resulted in more change than the black community had accomplished in one hundred years. The nonviolent actions of civil rights leader Martin Luther King brought with it angry racist whites looking for violence. Whites were reacting violently to the African American’s nonviolent actions such as sit-ins and the violent actions were broadcasted across the country by news stations. The broadcast of the nonviolent protests continued to grow with the freedom rides in Birmingham, Anniston, and Montgomery Alabama in 1961 as the news exposed the inhumane actions of many white people who attacked the peaceful protestors. The broadcasting of the countless nonviolent action such as the Birmingham Movement in 1963, the enrollment of 9 black students at the Little Rock School System in 1957, and the brutal murder of a young African …show more content…
Because of the media unveiling information all Americans have the right to know that the government has hidden, propelling Americans to contribute to World War 2, and uniting the people of this country to push for more rights for African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement, the expansion of all types of news has ultimately helped the United States grow. Today, without media affairs away from one’s own town or state would seem unimportant; however, with the many different forms of media, everyone can understand and see life in other parts of the world and other’s perspectives. Media is detrimental to the growth of the United States, and its usage will continue to expand and help unite people from across the

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