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American civil rights movement
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Between 1865 and 1970 leadership; motivating, persuading, encouraging and inspiring the masses to engage with a vision was vital to the progression of the African-American civil rights movement. It is a common notion that individual leaders held dominant roles within the movement and used the power from this to lead the grassroots and make decisions on behalf of organisations. Additionally, it is believed that leaders were the strategists who shaped the methods of the movement; allowing them to win the nation’s allegiance and convince them to make sacrifices for racial justice. However, this traditionalist perspective ignores much of the conditional causes that in fact triggered outstanding leadership accomplishments. More recent historians …show more content…
The Niagara Movement was a radical protest organization; its members were highly educated African-Americans; ‘The Talented Tenth’.This short-lived movement launched a campaign for equality for African-Americans, with an emphasis on political rights. However the movement was unsuccessful due to lack of financial support, causing its dissolution. The NAACP was a coalition of African-American and White educated radicals who sought to remove legal barriers for full citizenship of African-Americans. The NAACP was successful due to its triumph of many segregation and discrimination cases. DuBois was one of the founding members of the organization; he became known for editing it’s publication ‘The Crisis’; in which he denounced White racism and demanded that African-Americans stand up for their rights. DuBois’ publications were socially successful because they increased Black pride and confidence. These two organizations were able to conduct productive political efforts because their members were well educated, thus showing that DuBois’ ‘Gradualist Political Strategy’ was rational. DuBois’ strategy was politically efficient in the sense that it exercised the importance of political equality on the
Both Fannie Lou Hamer and Malcolm X rejected the idea that the main goal of the civil rights movement should be based on an aspiration to gain rights “equal” to those of white men and to assimilate into white culture. They instead emphasized a need to empower Black Americans.1 Their ideas were considered radical at a time when Martin Luther King Jr. preached the potential of white and black americans to overcome “the race issue” together and in a gradual manner. Malcolm X’s attempt to achieve his goals through revolutionary top-down methods and Fannie Lou Hamer’s focus on the need for grassroots movements contributed to the Civil Rights movement significantly by encouraging and assisting Black Americans.
Students form student government associations to represent and voice the needs and wants of the student body. Rappers travel with entourages, and preachers have amen corners. Surrounding one's self with a cluster of like-minded individuals creates a comfortable atmosphere, that fosters confidence, and makes an individual and his/her ideas appear more credible. People have a tendency to connect with others that have common interests and goals. It is easier to fight for a particular cause, when there are people in your corner, who believe in what you believe in. This has been the case throughout history. Baptist Students created the Baptist Student Alliance (BSA), Homosexuals join GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Deformation and women in the LWV (League of Women Voter's) fight for women's rights and encourage active participation of citizens in government. Black people have participated in and created numerous movements and organizations as well. Marcus Garvey's Back to Africa campaign instilled a sense of pride in black people who quoted the Garvey coined phrase "Black is Beautiful." The Black Panther's militant views excited black folk, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a major player in the civil rights movement. Individuals dedicate themselves and their time to organization in order to encourage and create positive change. Though organizations provide structure and a support system they often face their own set of issues, while trying to solve the big problem.
Since the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-nineteenth century, African American leaders have proposed many different theories and methods to address the injustices posed by the white majority on to the African-American population. One point that all the leaders agreed on, however, was that things had to change, the injustice and discrimination that the black community faced couldn’t be tolerated anymore. The most well known of these leaders was Martin Luther King who amongst others started one of the most prominent civil rights groups in the struggle for African American rights in the sixties: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Founded by college students, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
In 1909, a group of supporters who were white formed a different group that would be even more substantial than the Niagara Movement called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that adopted the same goals. The NAACP also hired the Niagara Movement leader, W.E.B. DuBois, who became their editor for the "Crisis" Journal as well as the Director of research and publicity (History.com, 2009). The NAACPs membership grew very quickly during the next couple of decades due to its success with advocating the reversal of Plessey vs. Fergusson in 1954 with Brown vs. The Board of
The Civil Rights Movement had a lot going on between 1954 and 1964. While there were some successful aspects of the movement, there were some failures as well. The mixture of successes and failures led to the extension of the movement and eventually a more equal American society.
The rise of the NAACP, was in effect long before the first members came together as a unit, the spirit of freedom was already being heard through the cries of those lynched, forced to endure public disgrace and ignorance through like of education, the American Negro. Before the first letter was typed, the spirit of writers such as August Meier, and John Hope Franklin were being purged through the blood of their fallen comrades. Yet being in the ground, their voices cry out what does it take for a black man to receive justice as free men. In the spirit of the rise of the NAACP, there were many challenges and obstacles they had to confront, lynching, the Jim Crow laws and educating newly freed slaves of their worth in this hostile society. It is my hope that the voices of Moorfield Storey, Mary White Ovington ans W.E.B. Du Bois will show the validity of the NAACP as a platform to the success of people of color, yesterday, today and whenever needed.
The Black Panther Party was formed on October of 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The Panthers had a very important part in the Civil Rights Movement. The Black Panthers favored aggressive, violent self defense of minority communities against the U.S government. The Panthers saw that Martin Luther King’s non-violence was not successful. The party fought to engage in a political revolution for socialism by organized and community-based programs. The party’s agenda was to promote political equality across gender and color. They were active in the United States from 1966 until 1982. The Black Panther Party would patrol black neighborhoods to keep track of police activities and protect the residents from police brutality.
In the period after Reconstruction the position of African Americans in southern American society steadily deteriorated. After 1877 the possibilities of advancements for African Americans disappeared almost completely. African Americans experienced a loss of voting rights and political power created by methods of terrorization such as lynching. The remaining political and economic gains that were made during reconstruction were eventually whittled away by Southern legislation. By the 1900s African Americans had almost no access to political, social, or economic power. Shortly after this Jim Crow laws began to emerge, segregating blacks and whites. This dramatic transition from African American power to powerlessness after reconstruction gave birth to two important leaders in the African American community, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. Although these two remarkable men were both in search of a common goal, their roads leading to this goal were significantly different. This is most evident in the two most important documents of the men’s careers: Booker T. Washington’s, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech” and W.E.B. DuBois’ response to this, “The Souls of Black Folks.” These two men were both dedicated to solving the difficult problems African Americans experienced in the post reconstruction south. Both DuBois and Washington wanted economic prosperity for African Americans but they differed on what would be done to achieve this. Both men focused on education as a key to the improvement of black life but they differed on the form education should take. The true difference in these men’s extremely different routes to better the lives of African Americans after reconstruction was a product of their extremely different backgrounds. In this essay I will examine the documents, “1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech” by Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois’, “The Souls of Black Folks” in order to determine the paths that each of these men took towards the advancement of African Americans, and the reasons behind these methods.
Throughout human history, people have been subject to unnecessary and oftentimes unlawful prejudiced attitudes. The American Civil Rights era was no different; African Americans fought for desegregation, equality and an end to systematic racism. Three of the most powerful elements in the fight to end Jim Crow laws was the unity of the African community, the will to fight for equality and the ability to organize. With the help of Federal Government leaders such as John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, civil rights leaders and the African American's, citizen's were able to catapult the United States into the necessary changes in equality.
Organizationally, the Civil Rights movement was very structured and politically integrated drawing upon pre-existing structures and resources to create new and visible methods of voicing their opinions. Staggenborg emphasizes the importance of movement infrastructure “consisting of leadership, indigenous resources, and local organizations” (Staggenborg, p. 64). Movement leaders were able to construct a very efficient organization that proved the method could work.
My reaction to the NAACP organization was inspirational and educational. Personally I did not have a lot of prior knowledge of the NAACP organization before this assignment besides for knowing that they advocate for justice amongst the minority populations. I was able to personally relate to the local, state, and national practices of this organization. I currently live in Kankakee County, and President Theodis Pace invited me to attend monthly meetings and participate in activities. As a social worker, I stand by social justice and the NAACP has strived to accomplish social justice for all. Some of those efforts are the anti-lynching bill, and the Voting Rights Act. The values and purposes of the efforts correlate with social justice and equality
“It should come as no surprise that Washington’s historical conflict culminated as a struggle between him and DuBois” (Gibson III 66). To say the least, both men were very active in the upbringing of African-Americans, but their differences in displaying out the solution was what brought them apart. Washington wanted the education system to enforce industrial teachings that started at lower economic power, while DuBois had more abstract ideas of equality and voting for African-Americans. Washington was conservative in the matter of African-American inclusion into society, hoping that given enough time and progress, people would learn to accept them, rather than fight for social power like what DuBois stood for. Despite Washington’s program that appealed to White-Americans, he was involved in politics and spoke about the disfranchisement of African-Americans. His idea of easing tensions with the superior gathered him more publicity, as to DuBois’s plan of protesting. As a result, DuBois’s idea became more prominent as it branches into what we know now as the civil rights movement. Historically, Washington and DuBois has made a name for themselves, through their intentions for the good will of African-Americans, and that is something that will always hold true in these two notorious
The African American civil rights movement was a long journey for African American nationwide. The success involved many people, hardships and time in order to advance the African American community in America. The purpose of the movement was to achieve their rights, cease discrimination, and racial segregation.
In order to make a case that the Black Power Movement was a logical extension of the African American freedom struggle based on the longstanding African American strategies and goals for change, it is important to look at the longstanding strategies and goals, and compare them to the Black Power movement, using the examples of strategies taken by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) in Alabama. Knowing this, it can be determine whether the Black Power movement built upon those strategies, or went against them. There are several noteworthy strategies used in this comparison. The names of these strategies are based off of the people who are synonymous with them. They comparisons are as follows: W.E.B DuBois’ Talented Tenth Plan, Booker T. Washington’s “Cast down your bucket” Plan, Thurgood Marshall’s Legal Campaign, and Dr. Martian Luther King Jr.’s Non-Violence Movement. In addition to determining whether or not the Black Power movement utilized these strategies, it is equally imperative to ask, assuming that the movement went against these strategies, if it was practical or logical, given the circumstances faced by SNCC and the LCFO, not to implement them.
The Black Power Movement grew out of black dissatisfaction with the Civil Rights Movement in the second half of the 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement was a movement that emerged in 1890 after the system of Jim Crow which included exclusion and degradation of the citizenship rights of African Americans. The main aspects were racial segregation – upheld by the United States Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, voter suppression in the southern states, and private acts of violence aimed at African Americans, unimpeded by authorities. The efforts made by organisations like the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), the Students’ Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC) and leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. to conquer the ‘separate but equal’ principle were significant as they gained the black people of the USA two acts, the Civil Rights Act by the American Congress in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Significant acts of civil disobedience helped significantly in securing these acts e.g. the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, the sit-ins of 1960, the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 and Selma-Montgomery marches of 1965. Despite these efforts the Black Power Movement emerged out of contempt with the Civil Rights Moveme...