Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The civil rights movement usa
African American Civil Rights Movement
African American Civil Rights Movement
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The civil rights movement usa
The Civil Rights Movement represents a “mass movement” were blacks unified to combat the ideologies of white supremacy, racism and discrimination. During this movement when challenging the social and political framework of society, blacks faced may obstacles. The books Walking with the Wind by John Lewis and Civilities and Civil Rights by William H. Chafe demonstrate the obstacles faced by the participants in the sit-ins and those faced by the Freedom Riders. Both the sit-ins and the Freedom Rides are examples of non-violence resistance used to show “firsthand the kind of anger and ugliness that the peaceful movement for civil rights was promoting in the South (Lewis, 99)”. Participants in the Freedom Rides and sit-ins faced social, political and economical obstacles as they experienced white resistance in the forms physical abuse, mental cruelty, and strategic manipulation. The sit-ins were examples of non-violence resistance, created by the youth, to bring awareness to the issue of segregation. Different from the legalistic approach adopted by the NAACP, the purpose of the sit-ins were to enact quick changes. As a form of direct action, during a sit-in, students sat at an all white counter and refused to move unless they were forcefully removed by police or told to go home by their group leader. Socially, the sit-ins faced obstacles generated by white communal resistance to desegregation. In the beginning of the movement, whites were annoyed by the sit- ins but no violence was inflicted on the participants. However, as the sit-ins progressed whites began to take physical actions against the partakers. Participants constantly faced the obstacle of maintaining their composure, and sticking to non-violence ideologies... ... middle of paper ... ...ntrol, and the obstacle of not fighting back when being brutally beat by your oppressor were among the obstacles that Freedom Riders faced. As Ghandi said, “in the end people must each decide for themselves what they will and will not do, and no one else should try to force them or shame them into acting (Lewis, 164). The purpose of the non-violent movement was to show people blacks were civilized and deserved the same rights as whites, a movement based on morality, compliance and control. The sit-ins and Freedom Rides were two examples of the non-violent movement that attempted to change people ideologies in relation to the treatment of blacks. This “new stage of black insurgency” would bring about a more direct approach towards desegregation, obtaining immense resistance from the white community and generating many obstacles for participants along the way.
This rally became a massive label during this period and even in today’s society. Recently there was a riot in Baltimore due to African-American, Freddie Gray, who died of severe spinal cord injury after police arrested him. The protestors marched down the streets and “chanted ‘No Justice, No Peace’” (Alcindor). The meaning behind the rallying cry, “No Justice, No Peace” was that as long as injustice prevails, acting peacefully is nothing but a mere impossibility. It is a citizen’s obligation to take a stance against injustice, even if that means the use of violence. When the African-American society feels they are being served unjustly, they will stop at no means until they acquire equal rights and opportunities. Some thoughts that may pass through their minds might be, “why should we act accordingly if we are treated unfairly.” We see two examples of complete injustice through the Rodney King case and Latasha Harlins. Countless African-Americans are rioting and will continue to do so until they feel they are receiving equal treatment from the white
After World War II, “ A wind is rising, a wind of determination by the have-nots of the world to share the benefit of the freedom and prosperity” which had been kept “exclusively from them” (Takaki, p.p. 383), and people of color in United States, especially the black people, who had been degraded and unfairly treated for centuries, had realized that they did as hard as whites did for the winning of the war, so they should receive the same treatments as whites had. Civil rights movement emerged, with thousands of activists who were willing to scarify everything for Black peoples’ civil rights, such as Rosa Parks, who refused to give her seat to a white man in a segregated bus and
This documentary is based on Raymond Arsenault’s book “Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice”. It was a radical idea organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) that alarmed not only those who challenged the civil rights but also deliberately defied Jim Crows Law that were enacted between 1876 and 1965, by challenging the status quo by riding the interstate buses in the South in mixed racial groups. This law segregated public services like public transportation, public places, public schools, restrooms, restaurants, and even drinking fountains for black and whites. Though these activists were faced by various bitter racism, mob violence and imprisonment, they were successful in desegregating the buses and bus facilities in the Deep South in September 22, 1961. They strove for nonviolent protest for justice and freedom of African Americans freedom.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott can be viewed as a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, as neither one’s success was due solely to the work of the political system; a transformation in the consciousness of America was the most impactful success of both. Passionate racism ran in the veins of 1950s America, primarily in the south, and no integration law would influence the widespread belief that African Americans were the same level of human as Caucasians. The abolition of racism as a political norm had to start with a unanimous belief among blacks that they had power as American citizens; once they believed that to be true, there was no limit to the successes they could see.
As Dr. King stated in Letter from A Birmingham Jail, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. I must confess that I am not afraid of the word, tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive tension that is necessary for growth. The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.” Such as in the case of the 1969 student site-in against the Vietnam W...
Foner, Eric and John A. Garraty. "Freedom Rides." The Reader's Companion to American History. 1 Dec. 1991: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 19 May. 2014. .
The debate between silently obeying the law and loudly resisting in the face of injustice is one that has existed since the birth of this country. Those who resist see the obedient citizens as ignorant of what goes on around them. On the other hand, those that are obedient see resistors as radicals. I believe that resistance, whether it be peaceful or violent, is justified. In this paper, I will refer to works by Frederick Douglass, Stephanie Camp, and Deborah Gray White to show that resistance is important to challenge injustices, whether it be slavery in the 1800s or inaction against racism at colleges in 2015.
“American civil rights movement.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2013. .
Harrison, Robert Pogue. “The Civil Rights Movement” . Chicago: U of Chicago, 2014. 98-111. Print.
Success was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement. Starting with the year 1954, there were some major victories in favor of African Americans. In 1954, the landmark trial Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas ruled that segregation in public education was unfair. This unanimous Supreme Court decision overturned the prior Plessy vs. Ferguson case during which the “separate but equal” doctrine was created and abused. One year later, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. launched a bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama after Ms. Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat in the “colored section”. This boycott, which lasted more than a year, led to the desegregation of buses in 1956. Group efforts greatly contributed to the success of the movement. This is not only shown by the successful nature of the bus boycott, but it is shown through the success of Martin Luther King’s SCLC or Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The conference was notable for peacefully protesting, nonviolence, and civil disobedience. Thanks to the SCLC, sit-ins and boycotts became popular during this time, adding to the movement’s accomplishments. The effective nature of the sit-in was shown during 1960 when a group of four black college students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in hopes of being served. While they were not served the first time they commenced their sit-in, they were not forced to leave the establishment; their lack of response to the heckling...
The focus of the video documentary "Ain't Scared of your Jails" is on the courage displayed by thousands of African-American people who joined the ranks of the civil rights movement and gave it new direction. In 1960, lunch counter sit-ins spread across the south. In 1961, Freedom Rides were running throughout the southern states. These rides consisted of African Americans switching places with white Americans on public transportation buses. The whites sat in the back and black people sat in the front of the public buses. Many freedom riders faced violence and defied death threats as they strived to stop segregation by participating in these rides. In interstate bus travel under the Mason-Dixon Line, the growing movement toward racial equality influenced the 1960 presidential campaign. Federal rights verses state rights became an issue.
One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation was written, African Americans were still fighting for equal rights in every day life. The first real success of this movement did not come until the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954 which was followed by many boycotts and protests. The largest of these protests, the March on Washington, was held on August 28, 1963 “for jobs and freedom” (March on Washington 11). An incredible amount of preparation went into the event to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people attending from around the nation and to deal with any potential incidents.
The book, “My Soul Is Rested” by Howell Raines is a remarkable history of the civil rights movement. It details the story of sacrifice and audacity that led to the changes needed. The book described many immeasurable moments of the leaders that drove the civil rights movement. This book is a wonderful compilation of first-hand accounts of the struggles to desegregate the American South from 1955 through 1968. In the civil rights movement, there are the leaders and followers who became astonishing in the face of chaos and violence. The people who struggled for the movement are as follows: Hosea Williams, Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, and others; both black and white people, who contributed in demonstrations for freedom rides, voter drives, and
Political protesting within today’s society is often relegated to mass marches, social media usage, and other large acts. Unfortunately, small and simple everyday acts of protest are often overlooked or deemed useless in the long run. Sadly, this diminishes most of the protests that take place within America. However, this is not a new trend, but one that can be seen throughout American history, specifically within Jim Crow laws and segregation Deep South during World War II. Within Robin Kelley’s “Congested Terrain,” the way lower and middle-class black citizens fought for their rights to the public spaces within Birmingham Alabama are explored. Because the space in buses was much less defined that other public, segregated spaces, black
Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s. This movement started in centuries-long attempts by African slaves to resist slavery. After the Civil War American slaves were given basic civil rights. However, even though these rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment they were not federally enforced. The struggle these African-Americans faced to have their rights ...