The United States of America is a nation that values freedom above all, yet it fails to allow a portion of its population to be free. For centuries, African American slaves endured severe physical and mental abuse under the hands of their masters. The demise of slavery was followed by the end of the Civil War. Even though African Americans were finally emancipated, they were still unable to enjoy their newly granted freedom due to the unwillingness of white Americans to accept them as their equals. Being an African American in the U.S meant being denied basic Civil and Human Rights: the right to vote, social freedom, and equality. In order to ensure these rights for all, many great leaders, such as the late Martin Luther King Jr., rose to help …show more content…
King’s choice of methods to gain freedom (for the black community), one must understand who influenced him as a young college student. Henry David Thoreau, Booker T. Washington, and Mahatma Gandhi’s literary works and teachings left a long lasting impression on Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King took their teachings of love, peace, and civil disobedience, and used them to lead African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Within Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” essay, he elaborates on his belief that the State will never truly be “free and enlightened” until the state is able to grant individuals with power and treat them with the upmost respect; he dreams for a State that would be “just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor” (Thoreau, Henry T. Para. 48). This is true for the United States of America, because until it is able to treat the African American community with the humane respect they naturally deserve, there would be no peace. In July of 1959, Dr. King visited India and published his experience in his article “My Trip to the Land of Gandhi.” Dr. King was sure that the path towards the imagined State, which Thoreau dreamed of, would be through civil disobedience and peace after his visit to India:
I left India more convinced than ever before that non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom. The Aftermath of hatred and bitterness that usually follows a violent
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King himself, was the campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. Back in the 1960’s, Birmingham was a city filled with pure hate, ignorance, and racism. It was a city in which being an African American meant being destined to a life of inferiority, discrimination, and daily victimization. The city of Birmingham, as King described it, was “the most thoroughly segregated city in the country” (qtd. in Oates 210). Anything black and white was segregated (Should be reworded doesn’t make sense, society was heavily segregated): schools, buses, diners, music, and even books. Bull Connor, the Public Safety Commissioner of Birmingham, and the Ku Klux Klan, terrorized the African American community without any repercussions. Bull Connor imprisoned a large portion of the colored community for petty crimes, and racist/predatory whites bombed the homes in African American neighborhoods. The bombings occurred so often “that one Negro section became known as Dynamite Hill” (Oates 209). Black people here “lived with the constant fear of threat [and] suffered from the full range of discrimination,” and their white colleagues stood mute in fear of having their own lives endangered (Oates 210). Dr. King and his advisers chose Birmingham because they knew that if they were able to confront the bitter hate and violent
Chapter 5 showed the contrast between King and fellow black civil rights leader, Malcolm X. Malcolm X did not believe in nonviolent protest and did not sit well with "integration". King believed in conciliatory efforts between blacks and whites while Malcolm X was a separatist and believed in "Black Nationalism". King needed to succeed and force action from Kennedy to prevent other people from becoming extremists. Birmingham, Alabama nicknamed "Bombingham" held a lot of racial tension during the civil right movement; King and his forces decided to take action there. King led marches which in turn brought on confrontations from white authorities. Again, The plight of black people under white savagery tugged on the moral strings of viewers and brought more sympathizers to the cause. The gains won in the struggle in Birmingham reignited black hope and confidence in the power of "mass social dislocation to overcome white intransigence"
Everyone that has been through the American school system within the past 20 years knows exactly who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is, and exactly what he did to help shape the United States to what it is today. In the beginning of the book, Martin Luther King Jr. Apostle of Militant Nonviolence, by James A. Colaiaco, he states that “this book is not a biography of King, [but] a study of King’s contribution to the black freedom struggle through an analysis and assessment of his nonviolent protest campaigns” (2). Colaiaco discusses the successful protests, rallies, and marches that King put together. . Many students generally only learn of Dr. King’s success, and rarely ever of his failures, but Colaiaco shows of the failures of Dr. King once he started moving farther North.
“In spite of my shattered dreams of the past, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and with deep moral concern serve as the channel through which our just grievances could get to the power structure.” This appeal seems logical enough, the church is typically the first to offer aid and is usually quick to join a cause that benefits mankind. However in the case of Birmingham King said, “But again I have been disappointed.” This is because of the inaction of the southern white church who stood passively as their Christian brethren struggled, this is perhaps the greatest cause of King’s frustration. The idea that Christians would ignore the suffering of those around them was, perhaps, novel to King, who strongly believed in loving thy neighbor as thyself. For him this inaction was possibly similar to a slap in the face, to be ignored by other Christians whom he should have been able to rely on based on principle. King does mention a few noble white churches whom helped in the struggle such as “Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand this past Sunday in welcoming Negroes to your Baptist Church worship service on a
...of religion, the freedom to assemble and civil rights such as the right to be free from discrimination such as gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Throughout history, African Americans have endured discrimination, segregation, and racism and have progressively gained rights and freedoms by pushing civil rights movement across America. This paper addressed several African American racial events that took place in our nation’s history. These events were pivotal and ultimately led to the establishment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Civil Rights Act paved the way for future legislation that was not limited to African American civil rights and is considered a landmark piece of legislation that ending racism, segregation and discrimination throughout the United States.
King does a great job bringing his audience to reality when he talks about how he has been labeled as an ?outsider coming in? by the Clergymen. King argues that he is part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference serving as their President. King states that they were asked by affiliates in Birmingham ?to be on call to engage in nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary . . . the hour came and we lived up to our promise . . . I was invited here, I am here because I have organization ties here.? King definitely feels that he had a genuine purpose to be there because of his organizational ties to the people of the community. Probably more so because of the responsibility to do something about the injustice committed in Birmingham. King had a strong belief that people should never be oppressed and the people of Birmingham have been oppressed for far to long. King felt that ?Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.? In this he was saying that if you allowed the unrighteous treatment of people to occur in one area that it will only spread to new areas and affect more and more people. If people see this unjust treatment being committed with out consequences over and over they will come to accept it as okay and something that is accepted. This would in turn be a great tragedy to all mankind.
In April and May of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was a focal point for the civil rights movement. Birmingham was home to one of the most violent cells of the KKK, and violence against black people was so commonplace (especially in the form of explosives) that it was referred to as “Bombingham.” It was these conditions that led Martin Luther King to arrive and organize a series of non-violent protests in the city. These protests were relatively low-key and weren’t very well attended. This was due to the political rivalries between King’s organization, the SCLC, and other civil rights’s organizations like CORE and the NAACP.
In 1963, living in Birmingham, Alabama was tough to live in due to how segregated it was. Everything from businesses, diners, libraries, churches, and even bathrooms were segregated. Martin L. King went to Birmingham because he was called by affiliates from the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights contacted him in aiding them on a nonviolent direct action program. He wanted to help because of the injustices there and was said that anything unjust in Birmingham ultimately affects everyone. King and others paraded around Birmingham protesting against this when he was arrested for doing so after a court ordered that Martin L. King could not protest in that area. While in jail, he wrote a letter that later becomes a big part of history during the struggles of segregation.
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. had faith in his beliefs of equality, and that all people, regardless of race should be free and governed under the same laws. In the later part of the 1960's, Birmingham, Alabama, the home of King, was considered to be the most racially divided city in the South. "Birmingham is so segregated, we're within a cab ride of being in Johannesburg, South Africa", 1 when King said this he was only speaking half jokingly. In Birmingham the unwritten rule towards blacks was that "if the Klan doesn't stop you, the police will."2 When King decided that the time had come to end the racial hatred, or at least end the violence, he chose to fight in a non-traditional way. Rather than giving the white people the pleasure of participating in violent confrontations, King believed if they fought without violence for their rights, they would have a faster success rate. King also saw Birmingham as the major problem in America.
Since the beginning of American history, citizens who resided the country lacked the basic civil rights and liberties that humans deserved. Different races and ethnicities were treated unfairly. Voting rights were denied to anyone who was not a rich, white male. Women were harassed by their bosses and expected to take care of everything household related. Life was not all that pretty throughout America’s past, but thankfully overtime American citizens’ civil liberties and rights expanded – granting Americans true freedom.
Throughout history, African Americans have encountered an overwhelming amount of obstacles for justice and equality. You can see instances of these obstacles especially during the 1800’s where there were various forms of segregation and racism such as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan terrorism, Jim- Crow laws, voting restrictions. These negative forces asserted by societal racism were present both pre and post slavery. Although blacks were often seen as being a core foundation for the creation of society and what it is today, they never were given credit for their work although forced. This was due to the various laws and social morals that were sustained for over 100 years throughout the United States. However, what the world didn’t know was that African Americans were a strong ethnic group and these oppressions and suffrage enabled African Americans for greatness. It forced African Americans to constantly have to explore alternative routes of intellectuality, autonomy and other opportunities to achieve the “American Dream” especially after the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed after the Civil War.
For as long as I could remember, African Americans have succumbed to some of the cruelest treatment seen in America’s history. This mistreatment has taken on many forms particularly in respect to social and racial discrimination. Examples of prior struggles for equality of African Americans in America may include: the pursuit of their freedom and equal treatment that was attributed by slavery, attaining voting rights, and being able to secure a job that would not discriminate based solely on their skin color. A number of Key figures were instrumental in making American what it is today and here are just to name a few: Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.
Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.’s essay “Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience” has two main features. The first feature of King’s essay is a call for action; action to bring about change. The second feature, the more easily viewed feature of this essay is a call for a specific type of action to bring about a specific type of change. The change King wishes to bring about is a peace and equality brought about through non-violent actions.
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.
It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s. During the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place, it was the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools....
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 ...