I don't think
55 years of racial equality for minorities is such a monumental accomplishment for a
243 year old country that has always claimed to be founded upon freedom, liberty and justice for all.
For 188 years in the United States, black people and other minorities were racially oppressed, subjugated, segregated, discriminated against and denied equality to white people.
For 89 years in the United States, slavery was legal and black people were believed to be inferior to white people. They were enslaved, beaten and killed because of the color of their skin.
For 99 years after slavery was abolished in the United States, the descendants of the freed slaves were then denied equality to white people and they were legally segregated from white people until the Civil Rights Movement in 1964. Black people were also denied the right to vote (despite the Thirteenth Amendment) until the Jim Crow Laws were abolished by the Voting Rights Act in 1965. It took three years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 for black children to finally be allowed to attend public schools with white children. No more Separate but Equal.
For 148 years in the United States, Native Americans were denied United States citizenship until the American Indian Citizenship Act in 1924. Native Americans were also denied religious freedom for 202 years until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. Native American religious dances such as the Ghost Dance and the Sun Dance were both illegal and punishable by imprisonment.
It has been an ongoing struggle and battle for LGBT American citizens to obtain
civil rights and equality and it has been an uphill battle for them to fight against religious-based discrimination.
There are specific reasons why a multitude of
civil rights groups and
social justice groups still exist in the United States, despite being supposedly founded on freedom, liberty and justice for all.