This RP will focus on the Civil Rights movement, beginning in 1954 and achieving the height of it influence in 1968. We’ll be covering chugach standard SS 7.1, “Understanding the social impact of the Civil Rights Movement.” If this is the first post you have read that uses RPG forums, you can check out my guide on RPGing and other related posts, here.
The Civil Rights movement was a reaction against institutionalized racism in the United States. Institutionalized racism in society wasn’t minor, and often led to violent acts perpetrated against blacks, more often, it came down to segregation of schools, denying jobs, denying services and denying positions of power. To end this inequality, the civil rights movement’s ultimate goal was to end both institutional and violent racism in the US through non-violent protests and acts of civil defiance.
The racial equality laws passed after the civil war gave African-American’s their freedom, outlawed slavery, and gave male African-Americans the right to vote. This caused an uproar with democratic whites and quickly the Ku Klux Klan emerged attempting to suppress African-American and white supporters through violence and intimidation. The white supremacists controlled the democratic party and also dominated the south, which allowed them to resist the republican support for the African-American community. This lead to racial segregation, violence against non-white communities, disenfranchisement (removal of blacks from any position of economic or political power), and general exploitation of African-American communities.
The African-American community used boycotts and sit-in as “weapons” to peacefully demonstrate the oppression and segregation of their community. Through the efforts and collaboration of major African-American leaders (Martin Luther King, Jr, and Rosa Parks are just a few of the notables) they managed to gain African-American voting rights, non-segregated education and proper economical, and political status. These were passed into law under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
Rosa Parks was considered to be the mother of the Civil Rights movement. Her initial fame came in 1955 when she refused to move to the colored section of a bus for a white man. She was then arrested, but never sent to jail. She became a figurehead for the civil rights movement and fired the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott into high gear. Martin Luther King, jr became the leader and speaker for the bus boycott, he then led an unsuccessful protest against the segregation in Albany, Georgia in 1962. Later that year he organized the nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama which attracted the attention of the government when the brutal police response was filmed live on national TV. The next year he helped organize the 1963 March on Washington while delivering his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. On April 4th 1968 he was assassinated, becoming a martyr for the greater cause leading to the passing the civil right acts.
The goal of this RP Is to play through the larger picture of events during the Civil Rights movement. From the start of the movement, 1954 to 1968. Players roles will have to be split up for each side of the movement, those being the African-American supporters and those that attempted to suppress them. Being a complicated and conflicted topic the teachers role will be a mediator to maintain a RP of education and not an argument.
Player Roles:
Civil Right Movement influential leaders:
Civil Rights Movement Groups:
Opposition leaders:
Opposition Groups:
Character Sheet:
Character Sheets will follow a normal format:
Name (Your character's Name, make sure to keep in historically accurate):
Age (Your characters age, keep in mind the average lifespan of people back then) :
Gender (Male or female):
Company/nation/pirate:
Position:
Skills:
Appearance (Writing up two to three paragraphs that describe your character is common):
Personality (Same as the appearance for descriptive):
Biography (Same as the descriptives for personality or appearance):
Resources:
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