For many years in the United States, African American people were discriminated against and treated like second class citizens. This was particularly true in the Southern states while the North was more liberal. During the nineteen fifties and sixties the African American communities began to stand up for themselves and work towards change. Popularity for this new thinking grew and in many places including Minneapolis civil rights were being pushed to the forefront of society. One of the main breaches of basic human rights that were being fought against was racial segregation. Black people were prohibited from using certain services that were reserved for white people. If they were using the same service they often had to use a separate part. For example, buses were divided into white and colored sections. Services for the black communities were often much underfunded. Things began to change when Rosa Parks refused to give up her space on a bus in Montgomery for a white person. A boycott of the buses followed until the segregation rules on public buses were removed. The movement gained momentum and now famous figures like Martin Luther King championed the cause. In Minneapolis, the situation was similar. Blacks and whites were not always treated equally. Black people often worked in very low paid service jobs and they did not earn the same money as their white counterparts. For example black waiters were not entitled to take tips from customers unlike the white waiters. Barbara Mallory Cyrus worked at changing things within the city. She was unusual in that she graduated from high school and from university. She worked quietly at bringing about the change that was needed by inviting important guest speakers to speak at the book club that she ran. Although things were not as bad here as they were in the Deep South of America the Minneapolis civil rights movement still made a big difference. It was part of the overall work to desegregate the country. People like Cyrus helped the cause around the city to grow and to be taken notice of. The Resource Sentinel and The Resource Party back in 1994. We got involved in public service politics in 1979 and after fifteen years of learning what went on at the Capitols in both St. Paul and Washington, D.C. we were very frustrated about what was happening to our nation’s laws and once great Republic. Popularity for this new thinking grew and in many places including Minneapolis civil rights were being pushed to the forefront of society.(http://www.theresourcesentinel.com)
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