| In 1909, with the creation of The National Association for the Advancement of Color People, the first civil rights organization was established to fight for all minorities' civil rights. The NAACP followed a judicial strategy for pursuing equal rights. After many legal victories by the NAACP and changing political times, in 1942 the Congress of Racial Equality was created to combat racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other peaceful means. One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the United States Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This act created to provide equal constitutional protection for minorities who had been discriminated against for years.;The objective of this dissertation was to evaluate the usefulness in the twenty-first century of these civil rights organizations created to combat racial discrimination. This dissertation explored the following question: With the progress made in enforcing Equal Protection laws, and the changing economic and social structures in America, have civil rights organizations such as the Congress of Racial Equality outlived their usefulness in twenty-first century America?;After first exploring the history of civil rights cases before the United States Supreme Court, the dissertation turned to a history and analysis of these two organizations, their tactics, and their current structures and activities. The findings clearly indicate that civil rights organizations have not outlived their usefulness in twenty-first century America, although their structures, goals and methods may be inefficient and inappropriate for the current era. However, even with the advancements made by minorities, they are still significantly behind their white counterparts.;Conclusions are drawn from statistical information gathered from the Department of Labor, the National Urban League and surveys taken at a college in southern New Jersey regarding their opinions of civil rights organizations in twenty-first century America. The dissertation concludes with some recommendations about what should constitute the future priorities of the organizations. |
