Primary Reasons For The Explosion Of The Civil Rights Movement

Register to read the introduction… The GI Bill granted WWII veterans new educational opportunities and greater chances for economic stability or prosperity. “Thousands of African-American veterans took advantage of this benefit and then discovered after graduating from college that whites received better-paying jobs.” Encouraged by their new educations and optimistic for the future, many African Americans were let down when they found that even with a college education, equality was still far off. The GI Bill, which they had viewed as a “way out” of poverty and, hopefully, discrimination, had done nothing but accentuate the blatant racism still popular in America. …show more content…
They had a cause to fight for and now all they needed was someone to lead them into battle. Enter: Martin Luther King Jr. “During the 1950s and the early 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as an important leader of the Civil Rights Movement.” King first appeared on the civil rights scene in 1955, as a key organizer of the Montgomery bus boycotts. The “militant nonviolence” strategy preached by King became a powerful forced in the movement. King believed that if the fight for civil rights was fought peacefully, that it would be looked upon favorably by other races. Kings movement encouraged peace and equality throughout the nation and Dr. King became the face of the civil rights movement. A rallying point for all those willing to fight for the rights and liberties assigned to them in the