Civil Rights

Civil Rights
Citizens within a country have civil rights that allow them to own property, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and to be treated as equals by governing bodies, groups, and other people. Men and women alike have civil rights, but the Civil Rights Movement started the racial equality issue. “The most turbulent liberation movement of the twentieth century addressed the issue of racial equality- an issue so dramatically reflected in the African-American experience that some observers have dubbed the century “The Race Era” (Fiero, 2011, Ch.36, Pg.100). During this time the Harlem Renaissance was born. This developed after World War I and African-Americans found new educational and employment opportunities. According to Fiero (2011), the African Heritage was reborn during this time and the quest for intellectual and racial equality was initiated. Many individuals moved to New York, particularly Harlem, and the creative arts like poetry, painting, dance, and music were being created again. With the competition for jobs between the races becoming larger, race riots in more than twenty-five cities developed in the summer of 1919. “A leading figure of the movement was the writer, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)” (Fiero, 2011, Ch.36, Pg.100). The novel written by Hurston, titled Their Eyes Were Watching God, is considered a classic in black literature.
Just after the Harlem Renaissance Richard Wright moved to New York, his novel Native Son, written in 1940, tells of an African-American make that kills the daughter of his white employers. Mr. Wright was no stranger to abuse and allowed those feelings out through his writings. In 1955, Dr. Martin Luther