Timothy Tyson's Blood Done Sign My Name

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When we examine the various approaches for the Civil Rights Movement that are discussed in Blood Done Sign My Name we find that there is no one clear answer as to which is more affective, because it was the combination of all three: radical, liberal, and conservative that finally pushed some of what the Civil Rights Movement strived for. No approach on its own was able to do anything, whether it was the nonviolent marches and demonstrations which were not able to grab the attention of the white power structure, or the racially driven violence which simply terrified whites, and which most likely would have done nothing were it not paired with the nonviolent demonstrations as well. Blood Done Sign My Name focuses around the killing of Henry Marrow, giving the image of the town of Oxford before the incident and after. One could say that the first approach taken, long before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s took place, was that of a radical approach, with slave uprisings happening well before the emancipation of slaves. The atmosphere leading up to and around the murder of Henry Marrow is a very harsh one, with tensions running extremely high because of a clear denial of rights for African Americans. When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, there were most likely many people who thought that the problem was now solved. However, it became clear to the black people of Oxford that despite there being federal laws regarding their rights as citizens, there was really no way for the Federal Government to enforce those rules upon the smaller, local governments. Tyson talks about how the federal laws, while they did have something to do with the Civil Rights Movement, were certainly not all of it. As pointed out by Tyson... ... middle of paper ... ...only way for blacks in America to get the attention of whites and to finally get enforcement of laws that were in place for a while. Violence, while it might have also done some harm to the movement, for the most part was what got the whites to wake up and see that the blacks were not to be pushed around, and that something had to be done to change the racial system in the United States. Works Cited Kennedy, John F. Civil Rights Address. King, Martin Luther Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail. Powell, Adam Clayton. Speech On Civil Rights. < http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/powell-civil- rights/> Tyson, Timothy B. Blood Done Sign My Name. New York: Three Rivers, 2004. X, Malcolm. The Black Revolution.

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