Women In The Civil Rights Movement

1259 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: women and the civil rights movement

Women, although hardly acknowledged, played such an important role during the Civil Rights movement. Three of the women who have helped shape the Civil Rights movement in one way or another, whether it was fighting for rights or participating in the NAACP and other organized groups, are Unita Blackwell, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Mae Bertha Carter. These activists started from the fields as sharecroppers and eventually realized that they wanted a better life for the next generation. Unita Blackwell fought for voting rights and other political issues as well as Fannie Lou Hamer while Mae Bertha Carter fought for equal education rights. The Civil Rights movement was a very difficult time for African Americans due to the amount of prejudice, discrimination and hatred Whites felt towards them. Throughout the entirety of the movement Africans were abused physically, emotionally and mentally. They were treated poorly and had all of their rights violated by the government, especially their voting rights. White people didn’t really trust African Americans, they thought they were vicious, low class, and not intelligent. They mainly wanted to capitalize, stay rich, leave Africans in the bottom of the hierarchy and rule the country themselves even if that meant sabotaging other people’s rights as U.S. citizens. Unita Blackwell, born in Mississippi, was a woman who got involved in the Civil Rights movement and fought for certain political rights. Blackwell received an education until the eighth grade, and then she worked with her parents in the fields as a sharecropper and chopping cotton while at the same time starting her work as an activist. Unita Blackwell was associated in many organizations such as the Student Non-violent Coordinating Co... ... middle of paper ... ...). “The realization of human injustice moved back women to action; they view their roles as activists as a natural extension of their fundamental rights as human beings. In this manner, these women sought to take back what they felt was rightfully theirs,” (Barbara Woods, 25) . Heroic women like the ones mentioned above worked as revolutionists to help themselves and those who were too afraid to get up and walk with them. These women changed people’s lives tremendously and even though they struggled and their lives were in danger no matter where they were, they were arrested and beat but they still continued to march on. Unita Blackwell, Fannie Lou Hamer and Mae Bertha Carter all reached many accomplishments and even though they aren’t as recognized as the men activists they are appreciated by the people now living in a country with freedom and protected rights.

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast Hillary Clinton And Susan B Anthony

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever wondered how women helped our country? There was and still are women who changed or change the world today. Like Shirley Muldowney,and Rose Will Monroe, or Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, maybe Hillary Clinton. Some of these women changed little things and some changed big things, but they all made a difference in their own way.

    Read More

  • Ida B. Wells and Mary Mcleoud Bethune

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...ing to survive. Their militant demeanor and strong willed nature foreshadowed the coming modern civil rights movement. They realized the importance of education and utilized it to change the climate of their time. I think these to women defined the term "ordinary to extraordinary". They had both broke through color and gender barriers and earned the respect and admiration of colleagues, politicians the African American people. Who knows what would have happened if these two brave women did not stand up and accomplish what they had done. Would "White Supremacy" prevail in a post WWII society. It is hard to quantify the contribution of these women to the civil rights movement but I think it is safe to say that we were fortunate as a nation to have these great crusaders, as well as many other notable figures, to educate us and force us to see change in the United States.

    Read More

  • Sarah and Angelina Grimké

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.

    Read More

  • Susan B. Anthony: The Women's Suffrage Movement

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women’s Suffrage Movement was the fight to allow women the right to vote. The movement happened in the 19th century. Both women and men fought for women’s rights.A lot of time and effort went into trying to get women their rights. They finally won the fight when the 19th amendment was passed.

    Read More

  • Ms. Lucy Stones and The Woman’s Suffrage Movement

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the birth of our nation, all citizens trying to obtain a goal had to do something to attain it. Citizens of colonized countries had to organize themselves and fight by means of revolution to attain freedom. Slaves who longed for equality had to fight for their freedom. Employees who aspired for better terms and conditions had to form unions that went on strikes and picketed before their rights were recognized. The fight for equal rights caused decades of struggle and massive publicity caused by and in favor of the leaders and its members so that their goal would finally be achieved. The Woman’s Suffrage movement also would not have succeeded had they not woke up and realized that their rights were being violated. One of the first and perhaps most important woman to start the fire of Woman's Rights was Ms. Lucy Stone.

    Read More

  • Mississippi Mavens Stand Against Racism, Injustice, and Segregation

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mississippi history is full of strong African American women who made a stand against racism, injustice, and segregation, or paved the way for others to achieve the American Dream. Ida B. Wells, Ruby Bridges, and Oprah Winfrey each fought for equality of African-Americans in different ways and different time periods, but each has made a major impact on Mississippi and elsewhere in the United States.

    Read More

  • 1960s Dbq

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine yourself being denied of having the freedom to own civil rights and liberties due to your indifference of having a different skin colour.The Civil Rights was one of the most influential periods of American history.The civil rights movement was the fight for freedom against the struggle for social injustice that was present during the 1960s for coloured people to gain the same privileges and opportunities rights of an American Citizen.But it was not until Malcolm X and Martin Luther King(MLK) created the momentum that was needed for the movement to spread worldwide gaining media attention. Without doubt the two most influential African Americans of its time used their voices

    Read More

  • The Impact Of The Women's Suffrage Movement

    1824 Words  | 4 Pages

    Pioneers of the women’s rights movement provided the present freedoms the United States offers today such as voting in federal elections, owning property, containing custody of their children, and holding public office. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Carrie Chapman Catt were one of the first crusaders of the movement, who sacrificed their own time and happiness to pursue the respect women deserved. The suffragists inspires thousands of individuals to lead the country that offers independence and justice for all men and

    Read More

  • The Great Migration And The Civil Rights Movement

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout history, there are many instances of African Americans being mistreated in America. It started during the 1600s and it can be argued that it has not stopped since. Over the years, many African Americans acquired the resilience to make changes. The Civil Rights Movement was one of the most important parts of African American history. It was also important to world history. If it was not for the Civil Rights Movements, African Americans would not have the rights that are available today and the world would be completely different. There were many events that led to the creation of the Civil Rights Movement. After Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing current slaves, there was an uprising in the south. Slavery

    Read More

  • The Feminist Movement: The Civil Rights Movement

    212 Words  | 1 Pages

    This feminism movement occurred at the same time as the Civil Rights movement and both had an impact on each other. The Civil Rights movement fought for equality of African Americans. Many of the feminism activist and the feminism organizations also rallied support for the Civil Rights movement. It was with this support that the feminism movement was able to piggy back off its success. The original Civil Rights Act had no protection against discrimination based on sex, only based on race, but feminists lobbied vigorously for this addition to the act (Article 4). Many male African Americans feared that this addition to the bill would kill it entirely but women like Pauli Murray, who “coined the term Jane Crow to describe her own experience of

    Read More

  • Brave Women Research Paper

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are few people in this world that will go out of their way for other people, but these three women did just that. These women influenced people to look at their way of life differently. The brave women stood up for what they believed in no matter the opinion of those surrounding them. They were determined to save people some from sickness, slavery, and unfair treatment. Each of these ladies dedicated their lives to something different, but their effects were the same: empowering, educating, and saving the individuals of the world. These three influential people are purely determined to help others.

    Read More

  • Women In The Black Power Movement

    181 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jacqueline Wood an African American Literature teacher at the University of Alabama, spoke with Sonia Sanchez about her life and involvement within the black community. She also provided her readers with background information about many of her historical writings. During the interview she asked Mrs. Sanchez questions pertaining to her involvement in the black militant movement. Women who were doing work for the movement also had to figure out a way to get these things done, too. There were a lot of issues that women began to raise (Wood 129). Sonia Sanchez spoke of the many responsibilities women held during the black power movement. She used words such as sexism to provide insight into what it was like for women during that time. During that

    Read More

  • The Role of African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement

    2574 Words  | 6 Pages

    The African American Civil Rights Movement was a series of protests in the United States South from approximately 1955 through 1968. The overall goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to achieve racial equality before the law. Protest tactics were, overall, acts of civil disobedience. Rarely were they ever intended to be violent. From sit-ins to boycotts to marches, the activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement were vigilant and dedicated to the cause without being aggressive. While African-American men seemed to be the leaders in this epic movement, African-American women played a huge role behind the scenes and in the protests.

    Read More

  • Women's Rights Thesis

    203 Words  | 1 Pages

    As previously mentioned, the labor of feminist movements were bearly recognized and dawdling in progress. However, such reform as the temperance and abolitionist movements revealed feminist interest. In 1883 activists African-American Sojourner Truth, not well known, gave life to the previously mentioned movements. Nineteen years later, "Elizabeth Cady Stanton (d.1902) drafted the Seneca Falls Declaration outlining the new movement's ideology and political strategies."???(www.pacificu.edu)???? Yet another, December 1955, in Montgomery, Al., the much-publicized Rosa Parks acted out in civil disobedience, "Riding a crowded bus bomb from work, she refused to give up her seat so that a white man void sit

    Read More

  • Essay On Civil Rights Movement

    2889 Words  | 6 Pages

    The America¬¬¬n Civil Rights movement was a movement in which African Americans were once slaves and over many generations fought in nonviolent means such as protests, sit-ins, boycotts, and many other forms of civil disobedience in order to receive equal rights as whites in society. The American civil rights movement never really had either a starting or a stopping date in history. However these African American citizens had remarkable courage to never stop, until these un-just laws were changed and they received what they had been fighting for all along, their inalienable rights as human beings and to be equal to all other human beings. Up until this very day there are still racial issues were some people feel supreme over other people due to race. That however is an issue that may never end.

    Read More

More about Women In The Civil Rights Movement

Open Document