Terrence Hardee

Affirmative Rights: the Future of Civil Rights Organizations in the Twenty-first Century Terrence Hardee

In 1909, with the creation of The National Association for the Advancement of Color People, the first civil rights organization was commissioned to fight for all minorities civil rights. After many legal victories by 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 later following the Emancipation Proclamation, the United States Congress passed and President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was created to provide equal constitutional protection for minorities who had been discriminated against for years. The objective of this dissertation is to evaluate the usefulness of the civil rights organizations created to combat discrimination in twenty-first century. This dissertation explores 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?