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Lesson 35: How Have Civil Rights Movements Resulted in Fundamental Political and Social Change in the United States?


Primary Sources


Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

From Wikipedia: Civil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government) is an essay by Henry David Thoreau first published in 1849. It argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid letting the government make them the agents of injustice.

Link: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper2/thoreau/civil.html


Alabama Literacy test in 1965

Alabama's Literacy Test in 1965. Such tests were used as a requirement to register to vote until restrictions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made them all but illegal.

Link: https://goo.gl/ns1Qog


Johnson

President Johnson's speech to the full Congress asking for their support to pass a voting rights bill guaranteeing that right to African Americans.

Link: https://bit.ly/2vA6h9w


Letter from Birmingham Jail -- Martin Luther King Jr.

From Wikipedia: The Letter from Birmingham Jail or Letter from Birmingham City Jail, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr., written from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was confined after being arrested for his part in the Birmingham campaign.

Link: http://www.mlkonline.net/jail.html