Nicole: “Good morning, good afternoon and good evening my treasure hunters!

Welcome or
welcome back to my series of history podcasts my name is Nicole and you are now listening to
“History Talk”. Todays episode is a little bit different from the other episodes that I normally do,
today I have a special guest with us, a great friend of mine that who has spent her entire life
studying history and just as passionate about it as I am, graduated from Harvard University, the
youngest winner of the noble prize in 2021 for her outstanding merits as an epic writer, the most
respected professor in the world, Dr. Christina Sun.“

Christina : “Hi Nicole, hello everyone.”

Nicole: “Hi and thank you Christina for being here with us, it’s a big honor to have you today.
Ok so now that I’ve have introduced Dr. Christina, I’m sure that everyone is dying to know what
topic we are going to discuss today, which is actually one of my personal favorites.”

Christina: ”Wait, is it the one that you’ve liked since high school?”

Nicole: “Oh my god you still remember. I didn’t expect that but yea it is that one. Ok guys, today
we are talking about The civil rights movement in America that started in mid-1950s and ended
in the late 1960s.

In the southern states of the United States, centuries of slavery and decades of segregation
created a legal and political system that was characterized by the dominance of white people.
African Americans were kept out of the ballot by various means. There were laws, for example
Jim Crow Law, according to which African Americans could not study at schools and
universities with white people, and had to take specially designated places for them in public
transport, etc. Many shops, restaurants and hotels refused to serve African Americans, while
being told to call white people “Mr.” or “Ms.” to show respect. The white people counted on
their obedience, the resistance of the African Americans seemed unthinkable. Many white
Southerners people were convinced that African Americans were resigned to the role of second-
class citizens, and they even like it.

In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that school segregation
subjected African American children to a "stigma of inferiority" and that southern states should
swiftly establish integrated schools for white people and African Americans. However, southern
politicians were against this choice. Citizens' Councils were established, organizations that
imposed financial penalties on any African Americans or white people who dared to support
integration.

The civil rights movement has successfully put an end to racial discrimination in numerous
contexts after twelve years of nonviolent struggle. This movement helped achieve understanding
between white and black US citizens by reawakening in African Americans a sense of pride, self-
confidence, and self-respect.”

Christina: “Although it's great that people learned how to respect each other, but there have still
been some protests regarding human rights. Many people's lives were changed by the global
social movement "Black Lives Matter" in 2020, but few are aware that it actually began in
2013.”

Nicole: “Yea, I found out about it a few months ago, and I must admit that I was pretty shocked
that it has been going on for a long while now. I've heard that you're studying significant
individuals from the era of the civil rights movement who had an impact on how people live
today, can you tell us about them?”

Christina : “With pleasure, one of my favorite individuals of that time is Rosa Parks.

Rosa Parks was an activist in the American civil rights movement and has been called the
"godmother of the civil rights movement" by President Barack Obama. She is best known for her
refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955.

African Americans were instructed to sit in the back half of city buses at the time, and if the front
half designated for white passengers was full, they had to give up their seats to white passengers.
Rosa Parks' act of refusal launched the Montgomery bus boycott movement, which served as a
crucial catalyst for the civil rights movement, when she refused to give up her seat to a white
individual in such a circumstance.

Nicole: “She is really brave for doing that, what happened next?”

Racial segregation in American society at the time was deeply rooted, and while it was unfair, it
was also a social principle that had long existed in the society at the time. Whites had a strong
sense of superiority when dealing with African Americans, and African Americans tended to
submit and humble themselves when dealing with whites. Because the law at the time also had a
tendency to enforce racial segregation, Rosa Parks' actions directly opposed this social concept,
which took great courage because she ran the possibility of being arrested or even killed.

Following her arrest and punishment, which prompted fury and opposition from African
Americans, Jo Ann Robinson, head of the Women's Political Council, organized a bus boycott,
with 17,000 black people demanding bus desegregation. African-Americans, who made up 75%
of bus takers, chose to walk instead of taking the bus, and black taxis only charged black
passengers the same price as bus.

The boycott lasted 381 days, and finally, the United States Supreme Court judgment in 1956's
Browder v. Gale case that Montgomery's segregated bus ordinance was against the Equal
Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and that segregation on buses was unconstitutional.
The boycott's legal victory established a precedent for overturning segregation laws, tipped the
incredibly unequal racial scales slightly in favor of blackes, and illustrated the effectiveness of
nonviolent resistance and group action in bringing about social change. Rosa Parks became an
icon, influencing activists working for equality and justice all across the world.

The boycott served as a model for other actions like the sit-ins and the freedom rides, all of
which had a significant impact on racial equality and desegregation, gradually bringing about the
nearly desegregated society we have today. Thanks to Rosa Parks' Montgomery bus boycott,
which made a more equitable transportation system feasible, today, people of all races can enjoy
equal access to safe, convenient, and inexpensive transportation.”

Nicole: “Thanks to Rosa Park for making things more equal for everyone regardless of their race
or color. Is there any other individuals who fought for justice of people?”

Christina: “Another great individual in that period is Malcolm X.”

He is a well-known member of the Nation of Islam movement, was crucial in mobilizing and
organizing the group's members. He was the minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, and his
oratorical skills and sermons of pro-self-defense won the organization a new cult following as
the Nation of Islam grew from 400 members in 1952 to 40,000 members in 1960.

He spoke at conferences and rallies while on his travels, promoting black pride, self-reliance, and
desegregate. He supported "by any means necessary" and necessary resistance, in contrast to the
non-violent acts stated above. To create global solidarity and develop resistance movements
against racial injustice, he sought alliances and linkages with leaders of other underprivileged
communities all over the world. In the wake of the civil rights movement, in June 1964, he
established the Organization for African American Unity, a group that saw racism as the
opponent of justice rather than whites.

Malcolm X's speeches and ideas expressed empathy with people looking for understanding and
acceptance of their racial and cultural heritage; he also clarified the extreme racial oppression
that African Americans experience; and he encouraged political awareness and resistance among
marginalized populations, with more ferocious resistance. His speech and ideas also influenced
later activists a lot and significantly aided in the development of racial equality until today.”

Nicole: “Wow, thank you Christina for explaining what was really happening to them and how
they took the first step toward equality. There are so many details that I didn’t even know about.

And so we came to an end of our journey about the Civil Rights Movement. It is a story of
common people who fought for equality and stood up against injustice.

As we gaze into the future, we should not forget the importance of the lesson that we learned
though the Civil Rights Movement. It has thought us that working together, showing empathy,
and pursuing justice can result in lasting change. It reminds us that despite how hard the
challenge may seem, we, as people, have the ability to change the world to a better place, simply
by working together.

The Civil Rights Movement, which represents the determination and tenacity of those who
fought for human rights, continues to be an important chapter in American history. Their
unwavering commitment to justice and equality continued over many years, serving for us as a
constant reminder that we must keep fighting for our freedom and dignity.

Thank you for joining us on this expedition through the depth of the Civil Rights Movement. A
big thank you to Dr. Christina for being here with us today and teaching us more about this topic.
Have a wonderful day, afternoon or evening and If there are any particular topics you wish us to
talk about, we encourage you to reach out to us via +1 (725) 498-3092 or by writing to us at
historytalk@gmail.com.

Do you want to say the line, Christina?”

Christina: “May the fortitude of great leaders and the wisdom of bygone eras guide your path.”

Nicole: “See you in the next episode.”

Both: “Good bye.”