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An essay on the civil rights movements
Civil rights movement in the USA
Violent vs non-violent protest
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Throughout the millenia, there have been several revolutionaries who have prefered the actions of nonviolence protest to that of violence. These ranks include those of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and the list goes on and on. However, in modern day America, African Americans are constantly fighting for more rights and equality. In 1865, the 13th ammendment was passed and slaves were given citizen ship. Since then, there has still been racism amongst the people and battles for equality. On the other hand, another form of revolution is that of violence and to force your voice to be heard. The most prominent person for the African Americans was that of Malcolm X. He voiced his opinion very strongly and made his voice heard amongst his opposers as well as his followers. These two methods are very different, but in the end, Malcolm X made a stronger point to benefit the African American's. …show more content…
We are to know what is Civil Right, or just, and what is African Americans, or unjust. However, what if you are doing what is Civil Right and something bad happens. One doesn't mean to do a African Americans in this situation, yet it happened; so is someone at fault? In trying to do what is Civil Right, someone can mess up and do what is African Americans. There is one memory that I possess that resonates more than any other, one that was Brobdingnagian in it's impact on me. This mistake almost cost my Malcolm X 30,000 dollars in replacements and issues that followed. My Malcolm X was a big man, standing at six-foot-two, and weighing about three-hundred pounds. He had a full beard at the time and rarely smiled because of the time of the year. This is a story of the time where a mechanic, Malcolm X, who ended up ruining a piston and the housing for it in a Komatsu diesel
The Civil Rights movement was a movement against racial segregation and discrimination in the southern States that became nationally recognized in the middle of the 1950s. Though American slaves were given basic civil rights through the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments of the Constitution, African Americans still had a hard time trying to get federal protection of their newly found rights. A man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the American Civil rights Leaders who used nonviolence in order to reach a social change. He used nonviolent resistance to overcome injustice against African Americans like segregation laws. He wasn’t just fighting for the equality of all African American but was also fighting for the equality of all men and women. Malcolm X is another great leader who fought for what he believed in. He was a black activist who, unlike King, promoted a little violence. Malcolm X wanted the nation (African Americans) to become more active in the civil rights protests. Both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had different methods for gaining civil rights. I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. method was more effective thanMalcolm X methods. In King “’Letter from Birmingham Jail” King defends himself on writing about why he is using nonviolent resistance to racism. Throughout the letter he shows his reasoning using logic, emotion, and ethics. Throughout his life King used this same method to reach how to hundred of thousands of African Americans.
¬¬¬Though most American people claim to seek peace, the United States remains entwined with both love and hate for violence. Regardless of background or personal beliefs, the vast majority of Americans enjoy at least one activity that promotes violence whether it be professional fighting or simply playing gory video games. Everything is all well and good until this obsession with violence causes increased frequency of real world crimes. In the article, “Is American Nonviolence Possible” Todd May proposes a less standard, more ethical, fix to the problem at hand. The majority of the arguments brought up make an appeal to the pathos of the reader with a very philosophical overall tone.
Malcolm X should be everyone’s hero, someone people like myself should look up to as a human being. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either a racist or is extremely ignorant. Malcolm X wore his heart on his sleeve and whether right or wrong he was never afraid to say what was on his mind to anyone who cared to listen. I personally believe Malcolm X’s beliefs give me strength to do what's right and carry myself with dignity. I remember, as a kid, my parents had tons of books about Black History books. The first book I read was a Malcolm X biography. I realized Malcolm X was truly a powerful, significant, and essential work for all time.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a prime example of this act of disobedience, and said, “The end justifies the means, even though the means are regrettable.” He however did not question the legitimacy of the American government but rather the particular laws that he and others felt were unjust. The civil rights movement was started by Dr. King, in which he found that it would be against
“I’m for the truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole” (X). This quote by Malcolm X represented his attitude towards equality and self-empowerment. The true Malcolm X was a passionate human rights activist as well as an extremely outspoken man during the fifties and sixties. X encouraged millions of African Americans to fight for what they believed in and to take pride in their ethnicity. X persuaded a multitude of African Americans that they are supreme and should not be degraded for their skin color. He learned at a very early age if he wanted something in life, he had to make some noise
Malcolm X was particularly firm in his opinions of the nonviolent strategies advocated by Martin Luther King, Jr. During a November 1963 address, Malcolm ridiculed the theory that African Americans could achieve their freedom nonviolently. "The only revolution in which the goa...
In the 1960s, the nation was faced tumultuous times. There was racial tension between the white citizens and black citizens of America. Whites could not understand why the African Americans were so upset; they had their freedom from slavery and job opportunities. However, the African American was dissatisfied with the small crumbs of God given rights that all American citizens were entitled to. Two men propelled to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement as leaders; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Their agenda was to seek equal rights for all Americans. But both men differ on the approaches needed to reach these goals; one believed using nonviolence was the answer while the other advocated violence Many people argue that the
After putting up with political discrimination for decades, many African Americans were willing to “raise the terrible weapon of self-defense.” (The New Negro) Although they should have received equality promised to them after the Civil War, they were left empty handed and instead struggle against biased laws. Their demand for political progress itself is a step forward because white people supporting political equality were uncommon and groups such as the Ku Klux Klan intimidated them out of doing it. Their peaceful protests, and reasonable pleas were often overlooked and ignored. With their demands neglected and scoffed at they wanted to prove they were serious. By refusing to accept their problems forcefully they would not be thought of as bluffing. The problem with this is that even though there were African Americans demanding it, they were a minority and many white people did not want to help them because they benefitted from it and racism was still rampant. One evidence of white people benefitting from racism was when Wining Boy tells a story of how after an African American buys land with berries growing, the former white owner would “go and fix it with the law
In the issue of Civil Rights, civil disobedience is a better way to go that aggression. When the African Americans were passive, they were able to achieve more civil rights. People saw that these African Americans were regular people struggling to get rights that they had been deprived of for hundreds of years. Martin Luther King Jr.'s mark on history still is seen today, while Malcolm X was just a spark of anger, blown out by the reciprocation of violent responses.
the segregationists, resulting in the injury and deaths of many of King’s followers. With these points in mind, King came to the conclusion that the best strategy in gaining the rights of African American was the use of non-violent protest. He believed that violence only “intensifies evil,';
Malcolm X Malcolm was born on May 19, 1925 in an Omaha hospital. He was born into a world of hatred and violence toward his kind, and from he was little, he knew that he would die in a similar manner. Malcolm’s father who was a large black man was a Baptist Minister. Though he and his family on many occasions were threatened by members of the Black legion and the Ku Klux Klan, that if he did not stop starting preaching of Marcus Garvey, that they would kill him. Malcolm’s father was not a scared man, and he continued to preach. Ever since Malcolm was little, he never had much respect for the Christian religion or the followers of it. One of Malcolm’s earliest memories was an afternoon in 1921 when he had seen his mother and father fighting. In a fit of rage Earl stormed off, and was never seen alive by the members of the Little family again. Members of the Black Legion murdered him. Malcolm’s mother was a strong woman, and refused to give up her children, and though they were poor, she attempted to support the large fatherless family without the charity of others. Because a white man rapped Malcolm’s mother’s mother, Malcolm’s mother had a Very light complexion that was easily mistaken for white. Though Malcolm’s mother hated every drop of white blood in her, she was thankful that it made it that much easier to get jobs doing things Negroes normally wouldn’t be trusted to do.
The Civil Rights Movement brought many accomplishments to African Americans such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The key issues that African Americans fought for were voting rights, integration and racial equality. They were tired of the discrimination and humiliation they received as a result of the segregation laws imposed on them. “State laws mandated racial separation in schools, parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels, public transportation, theaters, restrooms and so on” (Blumberg 40). Lawsuits had been tried to gain rights such as the unsuccessful Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 and the successful Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Although, the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka declared the “separate but equal” clause unconstitutional, de facto segregation continued in the South. During the 1960s, two methods were used: nonviolence and violence. Violence proved to be ineffective since it perpetuated social tensions among Whites and Blacks. Nonviolence was the most effective method in bringing social change in America during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement because it attracted sympathy towards Black people, provoked positive media attention, and promoted unity among African Americans.
There are people in America that make us wonder why there is a world to begin with. There are people who represent the greater good of the world, and there are others who are unfortunately not for the greater good of the world. We have to constantly deal with those whose only goal in life is to bring the lives of others down to the ground; to shatter and to break them. This is what is happening now in the world, and this most likely will never change. As a result of trying to change the ways in which we live and interact with these people, there was a movement that wanted to change the lives of African-Americans, as well as other races.
There was no justice and human dignity between blacks and whites because blacks became victim of brutality by those who are depriving them of their rights to do whatever necessary to protect themselves. An example Malcolm stated when the police were putting water hoses on blacks and throwing tear gas at them and they met a hail of stones, a hail of rocks, a hail of bricks in Cleveland. Black American realized that the only way for them to gain their respect and freedom was to fight back and Malcolm gave an example how George Washington fought for independence violently. Malcolm realized the need to fight for all blacks over the world since if one black gets treated anyhow and nothing is done, another black in another country or place would face the same fate and get treated anyhow without any consequences hence freedom must be attain violently and he did not care if it would involve shedding of blood. Malcolm stated, “What happens to a black man in America today happens to the black man in Africa. What happens to a black man in America and Africa happens to the black man in Asia and to the man down in Latin America”. Over all, about twenty two million African Americans were ready to fight for
Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for economic and social equality.