Being black in the early 1950's through the 1960's was not an easy thing to deal with. Imagine being a black parent and having to explain to your child why they aren't seen as being as good as white children and why they aren't allowed to do all of the things the white children could do. That could be devastating to a child, knowing that people don't think you are equal to other children because of the color of your skin. .
Black people weren't allowed to go to the same restaurants, use the same bathrooms or even drink out of the same water fountain as white people because supposedly white people were superior to black people. Life for black women had to be extremely hard because they were not only black but they were women and women had less rights than the men did. A lot of students today take going to school for granted, but many black children back in the 50's didn't have the education that the white children would have because they couldn't go to the same schools. Black people got the worst of everything back then. They got the worst education, the worst movie theaters and the worst houses. White people thought that they were better than the black people so they should have all of the nice things and the blacks that were said to be inferior could have what was left over. African American's faced many hardships throughout their lives because of the color of their skin, for example: If a white man and a black man who had the exact same skills and education applied for a job, the white man would get it over the black man just because of the color of his skin. Black people took the lower jobs as garbage men and things like there whereas white people could do pretty much anything that they wanted to. .
Nothing was equal in the 50's and 60's, it has gotten better due to law that have been enforced that protects people from being discriminated against due to the color of their skin, sexuality, gender etc.