Achieving Social Change: The Civil Rights Movement

Social movements are one of the primary means through which the public is able to collectively express their concerns about the rights and wellbeing of themselves and others. Under the proper conditions, social movements not only shed light on issues and open large scale public discourse, but they can also serve as a means of eliciting expedited societal change and progress. Due to their potential impact, studying the characteristics of both failed and successful social movements is important in order to ensure that issues between the public and the government are resolved to limit injustices and maintain societal progress.

The Civil Rights Movement’s primary goal was full legal equality. The struggle of African Americans to achieve civil rights, including equal opportunity in employment, housing, education, voting, as well as access to public facilities, and the right to not be discriminated. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Sr. supported civil rights for all Americans. Kennedy first proposed the Civil Rights Movement in June of 1963, taken over by President Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassination of Kennedy in November of 1963. The Civil Rights Act, signed by Johnson in 1964, ended segregation in public places and banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex,

Civil Rights Movements recollections are responsible for shaping how people behave in society as well as the numerous protests on human rights that are seen in present day. What was evidenced back in the 1950s and 60s was focused on breaking racial barriers which were centered around degrading, confining and marginalizing the minority population of the United States. The case is relatively different in present day, what is conceptualized is a case of people supporting the movement driven by different purposes. With the history of what transpired throughout time is what shapes our daily politics. Social movements of the 19th and 20th Century are responsible for shaping progressive thought. The movements were driven by the need for racial disenfranchisement with legal requirements of segregation were constitutionally inconsistent with a focus on its eradication. What was conceptualized back in the early 20th Century is a case scenario where the women suffrage, environmental protection to dismantlement of Jim Crow laws. These were considered as relatively utopian ideas but that is not the case in present day where they are considered as being common sense. Radical issues for yester years have been considered into mainstream policy formulation of present day. During the 20th Century, the whole process reads as some of the most progress accomplishments until present day. The whole process of social justice was conceptualized

Social movements are vital to the establishment of our societies, and they way we are governed. Social movements help the less privileged band together to create a stronger voice among a sea of political correctness and unlawfully rule that the public supposedly have to abide by without question. Movements create this new form of platform that, if done successfully, are able to create a worldwide frenzy where people from across all walks of life, including politicians, academics, the less fortunate, the homeless, doctors, etc, are able to come together to create change, or to start to create change on a matter that is close to their hearts. One of these matters that has come up in recent years that has been an ongoing battle for centuries upon centuries is Black Lives Matter (Although named various things throughout time such as black civil rights). Black Lives Matter is a movement that started back in 2012 after George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime against a 17 year old boy named Trayvon Martin, and Trayvon was then put on trial for his own murder (Garza, A. 2014, p. 1.). This crime was just the tipping point for three women who wanted to see a change in the way black lives were/are treated. Black Lives Matter is one of the most important socio-political movements of our time, and this is why it is an important movement to connect with and understand. Throughout, I will be going through the strategies and the tactics Black Lives Matter advocates and cofounders have

The Civil Rights Movement was a time when minorities banded together to stand up for racial inequality. Many African Americans faced discrimination from white people, causing a series of protests throughout the country, including the Walk on Washington, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and other demonstrations to show the country of the injustices. During this time, the active voices that demanded to be heard came from a wide variety of people. The mixture of individuals that stood up, spoke and fought for their rights allowed for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the favorable rulings in many Supreme Court cases. Of the many stand-out leaders of the time, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior acted as the most influential civil rights activist, this is due to his continuous promotion of nonviolence and peace.

“A reform movement attempts to change limited aspects of a society but does not aim at drastically altering or replacing major social, economic, or political institutions… a revolutionary movement, in comparison, is a social movement in which participants are organized to alter drastically or replace totally an existing social, economic, or political institutions” (Defronzo 8).

“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time”-Malcolm X. In every movement men and women have crossed paths with others that share their goals, but not everyone shares the same path to achieve it. The civil rights movement of the nineteen fifties and sixties were no different in this case, while many shared the common goal of equality for all, not everyone shared the same style or belief system to achieve it creating sources of conflict within various civil rights organizations as well as between organizations. Freedom activists, Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael sharing the same goal as other civil rights leaders John Lewis

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was a series of sit-ins, boycotts, freedom rides, and marches. They were all used as ways to peacefully protest the fight for freedom and equality for all. These events took place to try and stop the discrimination and racism of all people but especially people of color. A major leader and influencer of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Jr., whom along with many others, participated in many of the peaceful protests and marches put together by the people of the Freedom Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. brought new perspective to the whole fight for freedom through his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most recognized and well known advocates, but there were also many others that led protests and were involved in the movement. Some were into peaceful protests like Rosa Parks, but others wanted to take a more aggressive and loud approach like W.E.B. Du Bois. There were many historical events that shaped the Civil Rights Movement, and these events were the foundations for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. The Montgomery bus boycotts, the freedom rides, and the Selma marches were some of the most memorable major contributing events to the series of protests in the fight for Civil Rights.

The civil rights movement was a political, legal and social struggle for African-Americans in the United States to be full citizens and it was possible because of the union between grassroots activists and the black population. This movement was the first and most important as a consequence of the racial segregation that separated African Americans from whites. African Americans had schools, transportation, restaurants and parks just for them, but of worse quality than those of whites. Grassroots activism influenced the success of the civil rights movement because; the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was possible, A. Philip Randolph directed with grassroots activists the March of Washington of 1963 in which he Martin Luther King Jr, gave his famously known discourse “I Have a Dream” which became the key element for the success of the Civil Rights Movement and it also brings up the Supreme Court and presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman in their respective time to take action in order to ensure the protection of black people liberties.

Throughout the 1960’s, the widespread movement for African American civil rights had transformed in terms of its goals and strategies. The campaign had intensified in this decade, characterized by greater demands and more aggressive efforts. Although the support of the Civil Rights movement was relatively constant, the goals of the movement became more high-reaching and specific, and its strategies became less compromising. African Americans’ struggle for equality during the 1960’s was a relentless movement that used change for progress. In essence, the transformation of the Civil Rights Movement throughout the 1960’s forwarded the evolution of America into a nation of civil equality and freedom.

In modern America, equality is becoming more of a realization however; racial and civil rights issues are still existent in today’s society. The civil rights movement, which originated in the 1960’s, involved public movements in the United States which the goals were to terminate racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to obtain and secure legal acknowledgement and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the constitution and federal law. Current racial issues have sparked movements such as the “Black Lives Matters” movement and the controversial killing of black men from

Institutions (such as schools, prisons, hospitals, churches, military, mass media, etc) are all collective systems meant to dictate how the masses who believe in and follow them, live and act. Each institution has its own collective set of rules, often times mostly unspoken, to guide what others in the institution should be doing in terms of right and wrong. But these rules are never fixed and may fluctuate with changes in leadership or environment among other things. The fluctuations of these rules mean that they must often be tested by people more on the fringe of the institution in order to determine where the heart of the institution stands at any given moment. That testing of boundaries, in and of itself, constitutes deviance and helps to explain how institutions meant to discourage it accidentally encourage it.

White Supremacy isn't a series of attitudes or opinions, it's a structural-systemic-institutional problem. Indeed, most of the activists and writers on the Left treat racism as if it's a personal fault. It's not. It's a structural issue. The difference between individual racism and structural racism is important.

The American Civil Rights Movement is personified through several prominent personalities. These figures exhibited strong character throughout their careers in activism that revolutionized the ideals and opportunities of the 20th century, standing as precedents for courage and perseverance in the face of widespread systemic oppression. However, not all of these figures received the acknowledgment and acceptance that their legacy deserved. One such figure was Bayard Rustin, a lifelong Civil Rights activist in the African American and LGBTQ communities whose experiences exemplified the hardships faced by American minorities. His career was defined by perpetual conflict and confrontation as both sides of the Civil Rights Movement attempted to demonize and discredit him. Despite this obstacle, Bayard Rustin’s controversial decision-making and sheer tenacity made him an influential force in the ongoing fight for equality in the United States of America.

The Civil Rights movement is one of the most important acts to change the way not only African Americans were able to live their lives but all races and colors. It would slowly break down the social, economic, political, and racial barriers that were created by the The Age of Discovery and Transatlantic Slave trade. I believe without the Civil Rights acts our country would result to be no better than what it was when the Emancipation Proclamation just took effect. In the 1950s and long before, Southern folk, who were white had created a system that would interpret them as a superior race over blacks. The system would defend whites rights and privileges from being taken away from them while establishing terrible inhumane suffering for African Americans. In the South blacks were controlled in all aspects economic, political, and personal, this was called a “tripartite system of domination” - (Aldon D. Morris) (6) Though it isn’t as prevalent racism and discrimination towards other races that aren’t white is still found in America and can be in schools, the workplace, even when you are in the general public but you no longer see discriminating signs saying “Whites” or “Blacks” or Colored” along the front of bathroom, restaurants, and shopping malls doors. Nor do you see people being declined the right to buy a home based on their color or access to school and an equal education being declined because one didn’t meet racial requirements. The acts of violence towards