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This was a movement that lasted from approxamately 1955 - 1968, and what had started it? Well, it can all be traced back to a single woman who was determined for change, and determined to have her voice heard. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was done for the day at her job as a seamstress and was just completeing her normal routine of taking the bus home after a long day of work. =Now, the buses were divided into two or sometimes three sections, whites sat in the front, while blacks (African Americans) sat in the back. Sometimes, if there were enough whites on the bus, then the African Americans could sit in the middle, but that wasn't very often. Rosa had happened to take a seat just behind the white section of the bus, and not too long after that, the bus was filled, when a white man came onto the bus, the conductor asked Rosa to move so that the white man could have her seat. When she declined, the conductor called for the police, and she was arrested and taken to jail.

Later, a man named E.D. Nixon, (former president of the NAACP) approached Rosa with a proposition. he wanted to challenge bus segregation in court, he told Rosa that, "with your permission, we can break down segregation on the bus with your case." Rosa of course gave her consent saying, "if you think it will mean something to Montgomery and do some good, I'll be happy to go along with it." Thus began the challenge of segregation. After her challenge of segregation, a chain of reactions happened that would soon end segregation. One of the many people who would be willing to fight for African American Rights is Martin Luther King jr. He led a bus boycott in Montgomery, he established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957 and it's purpose was to eliminate segregation from American Society and to encourage African Americans to register to vote, fight for their rights, (non-violently of course). He also gave his famous "I have a dream" speech on August 28, 1963, with more than 200,000 people attending. The powerful speech was delivered in Washington near the Lincoln Memorial. His powerfully moving speech was part of his march to Washington. Martin Luther King made his mark on history with that speech. However, on April 4th, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee he was assassinated by a sniper. Ironicly enough, when he held a meeting at a local church, he said to the people there, "I've been to the mountaintop. . .I've looked over and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land." King, Parks, Kennedy, and Johnson, along with countless others helped put segregation to a halt, forever changing American Culture.

1968 Olympics