Many believe that the civil rights movement began with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and ended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, though there is debate about when it began and whether it has ended yet. During the 1950s and 1960s several laws were passed in congress concerning black Americans and segregation, but whether the movement achieved a great deal is questionable. To produce a firm conclusion on this, we must examine sources A to F and decide what the success criteria were. At that particular point in history it was unlikely that the immediate aim of the movement was to achieve social and economic equality, it was more likely that they aimed for equal opportunities within the schooling and voting systems.
Source A is an extract from a history textbook published in Britain in 1984. The source shows estimated figures of black people attending integrated schools in 11 southern states between 1957 and 1962, it also shows the percentage for this in December 1961. Some of the figures in this source do not add up correctly and this undermines the value of the statistics. The source shows little improvement between these years and hence it does not prove that the movement was achieving. It also only gives figures for 1957 to 1961 and does not take into account the rest of the 50s and 60s so this source is not really relevant to the question.
Source B is a photograph taken on the 23rd of September 1957; it shows a black girl being verbally harassed by several white people. It is evident from the photo that the black girl is still facing racism in 1957, which gives a negative impression of the achievements of the great deal. But if the success criteria of the movement were mainly to desegregate education, then this photo would prove that the barriers are beginning to be broken. This suggests that the movement is beginning to achieve something.
