Racial discrimination still existed in both the north and the
south. City schools with many blacks were still poorly funded
and blacks did not have fair chances at many jobs. In the later
1960s riots erupted in cites across America. In 1964 Harlem came
to New York City. Many riots erupted in different cities in 9
months of 1967. One in Detroit ended with 43 dead bodies.
April 4, 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by a rifle shot
as he stood on a balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Anger
exploded in black neighborhoods. After the assassination of Martin
Luther King Jr. the civil rights movement was weakened. The movement
brought many changes in history that help give rights to African
Americans citizens. Since the Voting Rights Act of 1966, more
than a million African Americans were on the voting lists in the
South in 1968.
Thought thereafter there seemed not much left to change., but
in the 1970s and 1980s many battles would be won over lunch counters,
colleges, and corruption of boardrooms, and many more civil rights
leaders would come along a give their contributions to society.
The civil rights movement ended but in a sense it still lives
on. Fights are now fought against the injustices done against
certain races, religions, and other minority groups. These acts
known as "hate crimes" are being committed everyday. And there
are leaders out there whose job in life is to help victims.
