In the years 1961 to 1968 the campaigns to advance the civil rights of African Americans made only limited progress in the face of bitter opposition. [25 marks]

The Civil Rights Movement during the 1960’s made significant progress in advancing the rights of African Americans, which reduces the validity of the statement. Bitter opposition can be defined as the white opposition these campaigns dealt with; Southern racists, White Citizen’s Councils and intervention from police chiefs such as Bull Connor. The only major movement which failed its goals was Albany, which faced opposition from the Police Chief, which adds validity to the statement. However, this essay will argue that African American’s made substantial progress in the advancement of civil rights, even though they faced opposition.
Predominantly all of the campaigns launched to advance the civil rights of African Americans during the 1960’s were successful. The Greensboro sit ins organised by the younger generation had one goal – to desegregate restaurants in North Carolina. They managed to organise sit-ins on the ‘white only’ seats in Woolworth’s. The four college students refused to move without having service. This movement was replicated in thirty different venues across seven states. It gained excessive amounts of media attention and white resistance. However, the movement was successful as Woolworths had lost $200,000 in sales and thus counters were quickly desegregated. Although this campaign made limited progress in the grand scale of the Civil Rights movements it still was a significant move forward. This takes away validity from the statement as the students’ goal was achieved but also Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNCC was founded in 1960 by Ella Baker which helped to advance Civil Rights. However, it can be argued that this was not only because of white resistance, decreasing validity, but also because of the loss of profit faced by Woolworths, taking away validity from the statement.