During the past 40 years, black Americans have endured the painful
             process of having to fight for what has been considered the rights of every
             man since our nation's founding. The right to be considered equal with
             person's of a different skin color, the right to have access to the same
             facilities, and to be treated with respect are elements of American life
             which are the cornerstone of what we consider our national identity, yet
             only a generation ago, one group of American's were denies these building
             blocks of personal identity. For the African American, the journey has been
             Only a generation ago, the unjust principle of separate but equal'
             was the best white Americans were willing to do. After the war, when
             Americans of all nationalities fought and died along side of each other,
             black Americans were given a measure of personal freedom and recognition.
             Bit the separate but equal approach was still just another way of telling
             the black man that he was not welcome to join white American life. White
             America was only willing to let the darker skinned brothers so close, and
             give them access to only a limited amount of personal freedom. These
             policies were unjust, and taught black American's to consider themselves as
             less than or in some way inferior to the white Americans.
             In 1963, social forces, legal efforts and a handful of charismatic
             leaders all arose from within the black community at the same time and
             together brought in lasting change. The discrimination which the black
             American felt did not end in 1963, not by any measurement. Separate but
             equal, and the centuries of legalized discrimination which occurred prior
             had left a deep wound in the heart, soul, and personal identity of the
             American black community. But due to the courageous work of men like
             Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, all of whom gave their lives
             in the pursuit of a dream of equa...