Civil Rights Movement Reflection

Through humiliation and mistreatment, most protesters had to tolerate such actions without engaging within the violence. But why nonviolent actions if violence is surrounding it, and it is the reasoning behind oppression? In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King responds to the criticism of his method on his tactics to fixing the situation African Americans were living. He states, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to

In 1865, the 13th amendment was ratified which officially abolished slavery that therefore marked the beginning of racial discrimination which further led into the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. During the late 20th century, racial prejudice and segregation was highly common all across the United States, but the majority of racial prejudice and segregation was in the South due to the South previously relying on slaves for labor work. The Civil Rights Movement was led by many African American’s seeking equal treatment, but the most famous of all Civil Rights leaders was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was an American pastor, activist, and a supporter for desegregation and civil

“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

Many people turned to violence during this time, but Martin Luther King, Jr., a legendary front-runner of this movement, advocated for peace. In his “I Have a Dream” speech, one that is still quoted by American citizens today, he voiced his wish that “one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will he able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (King). Rather than using his position of power to communicate rage to the masses of people gathered before him, King relayed messages of optimism. As a result, the Civil Rights movement was one built on the notion that peaceful resistance was the key to equality. The Montgomery bus boycott, marches in Selma, Birmingham, and Washington, D.C. were all intentionally nonviolent. Protesters, calm in the face of brutal police retaliation in order to defend their rights, eventually achieved equality under the law (Simkins). Footage from the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, displaying passive African-American protesters being beaten down by police, was rapidly spread through the media, eventually reaching President Lyndon B. Johnson and motivating him to take action against racism, passing measures such as the 1965 Voting Rights Act (History.com) Though radical protesters did resort to violence during the movement, we remember it and teach it for its emphasis on

One example of the success of peaceful protest is Brown vs. Board of Education. In the case Plessy vs. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that the issue of segregation in schools did not violate the constitution, that it was “separate but equal” . The reality of segregated schools is not equal it segregated children with a different color skin from white children, and deprived them of a proper education. Brown vs. Board of Education was a very important United States Supreme Court case it stated that the state laws that made segregation legal were said to be unconstitutional. Through time and togetherness the people of topeka chose to peacefully address the issue

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution form what is known as the Bill of Rights. In essence it is a summary of the basic rights held by all U.S. citizens. However, Negro citizens during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950-70’s felt this document and its mandate that guaranteed the civil rights and civil liberties of all people; were interpreted differently for people of color. The freedoms outlined in the Constitution were not enforced the same by the government of the United States for the black race as it did for the white race.

As more people are exposed to the arguments of these protesters, pressure mounds onto the government to see the problem and respond to it. In fact, in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “not … a single gain in civil rights [was made] without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.” Additionally, these individuals are not negatively affecting society because they express the utmost respect for the law and advocate for change peacefully while fully accepting the consequences of their actions. They risk enduring denunciation by the media and being labeled as radicals by others. King describes the process of a nonviolent campaign in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action.” The self-purification aspect of the nonviolent campaign emphasized an acceptance of the consequences that come with breaking the law such as “[accepting] blows without retaliating” and “[enduring] the ordeals of jail.” The right to peaceful protest respectfully allows these individuals to express their concerns and influence other people with their ideas.

The latter part of the Civil Rights Movement was characterized by action and change as it was no longer centralized in the South or only fought for by black individuals. Rather, northerners were active in achieving black equality and the white community was campaigning for integration. Although many lost their lives in this struggle, their valiancy did not go unrewarded and soon enough African Americans were able to vote, work, study, and simply eat lunch beside white individuals.

Dr. King claims that peaceful protests such as sit-ins and marches create a tension that eventually dramatizes the problem so much, it is acknowledged. In addition to Dr. King appealing to logos, he also establishes his credibility as an African American who has been discriminated against, and has took part in these nonviolent protests.

In the nonviolent civil right campaigns of the 1960s, African Americans and whites peacefully and bravely tolerated one-sided violence and malice directed at them while they execute carefully organized sit-ins, boycotts and marches. By using such direct and strategic forms of civil disobedience, these activists forced America to realize the evil and injustice of segregation and discrimination as well as acknowledge the virtue of African Americans as equal citizens who deserve compassion and respect like everyone else. Civil disobedience is thus effective because it publicizes racial discrimination in its true. real form and introduced the public to images they could no longer pretend to be blinded to. The most powerful of such images would be the Birmingham marches. In the spring of 1963, Americans watched on their TV screens as thousands of men, women and children in Birmingham were hosed down by high-pressure water and attacked by police dogs for marching for their civil rights. Months later, the city that was notorious for its history of racism finally started to desegregate. As for the movement as a whole, the effectiveness of nonviolent campaign can be concluded when overwhelming majorities of Americans supported racial integration by the 1970s and the cries for equality were

On the other hand I agree that peaceful protest was responsible for the successes of the civil rights movement to a large extent form the significant event of Birmingham 1963. King was largely involved in this die to the influence of non-violent demonstrations and tactics. King chose

After years of remaining silent and waiting for their rights, all the while living in a society that viewed and treated them as inferior, many African Americans were cautious. And not without reason, they had seen the violence that was dealt when a black person acted out of turn. But some of the virtues of youth are recklessness and an acute sense of justice, exactly what was needed to help a beginning civil rights movement. The youth understood that “some [struggles] are a necessary part of the great movement we are making toward freedom” and that “there can never be growth without growing pains (King, 1956).” In 1962 students at Miles College initiated a boycott against downtown merchants and mobilized the support of many other African Americans (King, 2000, p. 50). The young people’s sense of justice served them well in the face of serious consequences. One young man, after being forbade by his father to participate in the marches in Birmingham, said, “If you try to keep me home, I will sneak off. If you think I deserve to be punished for that, I’ll just have to take the punishment. For, you see, I’m not doing this only because I want to be free. I’m doing it because I want freedom for you and Mama, and I want it to come before you die (p. 116).” This sense of duty despite consequences of young people allowed the civil rights movement to fulfill the Gandhian principle of “fill up the jails.” The “radical”

This week we have looked at some of the activities and actions taken by the protestors of the Civil Rights movement to perform non violence acts to fight for African American rights in

From the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the Civil Rights Movement and the Pro-Life Movement of the 1960s, to the Tea Party Movement and Occupy Wall Street Movement of current times, “those struggling against unjust laws have engaged in acts of deliberate, open disobedience to government power to uphold higher principles regarding human rights and social justice” (DeForrest, 1998, p. 653) through nonviolent protests. Perhaps the most well-known of the non-violent protests are those associated with the Civil Rights movement. The movement was felt across the south, yet Birmingham, Alabama was known for its unequal treatment of blacks and became the focus of the Civil Rights Movement. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., president of

Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice president Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens: