Affirmative Action Persuasive Essay

Affirmative action is the result of the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950’s and 1960’s. Affirmative Action is a policy that gives minority groups advantages over people who have typically not been discriminated against in the past. This policy is needed in order correct the past defamations against women and African Americans to ensure their individual rights and freedoms are secured for the future; the same rights Caucasian Americans have had since the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783.
A need for civil rights statues came to the attention of government officials in the late 1950’s and 1960’s.   May 17th ,1954 the decision made by the Supreme Court on the case of Brown v. Board of Education declared laws establishing separate school facilities for African Americans and Caucasians unconstitutional (Brown).   This overturned the previous decisions made on the case of Plessey v. Ferguson, which allowed for state sponsored segregation that paved the way for the soon to come Civil Rights Movement.
The Civil Rights Movement was a time of raging emotions, violence, and resistance. African Americans were trying to combat the social adversity which plagued them with poverty and made them slaves to society (Brunner).   In August of 1955 Emmett Till was brutally beaten, shot, and his body dumped into a nearby river for allegedly whistling at a Caucasian woman (Sykes).   An NAACP member with the name of Rosa Parks refused her seat (at the front of the colored section), to a Caucasian male and was immediately arrested (Sykes).   In response to Park’s act, a group known as the Freedom Riders was established.   Their intent was to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (Boynton), which declared segregation in interstate bus and railroad stations unconstitutional. These participants (black and white) were blatantly beaten upon their exits of the bus, some killed (Fullinwider).   Busses were set fire with people trapped inside and many other harsh...