April is often thought of as a month known for jokes. However, we should not forget all the hard work and sacrifices that made America the way it is today. Here are some of the most important and influential moments in history that were the foundations of civil rights movements.

 April, 1968, starts off in the heat of the civil rights movement in Memphis Tennessee, where Martin Luther King Jr. has been one of the head figures of the civil rights movements. After on of Mr. King’s riveting and uplifting speeches, James Ray, sitting across the river looking at the balcony of Mr. King’s hotel, shot Mr. King in the upper chest. Ray was caught and tried a year later and pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison for his heinous crimes. While MLK had tragically died, his memory carried on in the hearts of millions of Americans around the country, now pushing even harder for civil rights.

While MLK’s death saddened the hearts of the civil rights community, their sacrifices and hard work had finally begun to pay off. Just a week later, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, had just been signed by Lyndon B. Johnson, finally making any forms of major discrimination illegal. The act particularly focused on discrimination in the housing market and many groups of minorities being treated unfairly and years later the act would include gender and those that are disabled. While this wouldn’t fix every issue the black community was facing, America would finally be able to heal and unite as one people, regardless of race or sexual identity.

While April is known for its civil rights movements, it should also be recognized as a month of peace and conclusion of wars and other major conflicts in human history. On April 9th, 1865, the American Civil War had come to an end as General Grant had just closed in on Robert E. Lee, the general of the confederate union. He would then surrender, finally ending the bloody conflict that had brother fighting brother. President Abraham Lincoln would hold a speech at the end of the war in Gettysburg, the site of the bloodiest and costliest battles in the war. He spoke to both Union and Confederate troops not as soldiers and enemies, but as citizens, advising them that all the losses and destruction must not be in vain, but as a moment to remember and move on from as not just a united people, but a united country.