Continued Mistreatment of African Americans Throughout History

African-American people have been treated unequally compared to people of European descent. For example, african-americans could not use certain public things like water fountains; when it comes to restaurants, black people had to go to the back to eat. Another thing, black people had to attend different schools than white people furthermore, the schooling was not as good as the others. The way african-americans were treated was not justified in any way at all. To explain, the african-americans probably felt horrible about the mistreatments they experienced. When they had to go to the backs of restaurants it was very inconvenient and they were basically being shamed and ridiculed all day no matter where they went. Some of them weren’t even

In Sophocles’ Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used resistance against powerful leaders to follow their morals and make a statement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s approach towards the reconstruction of society’s cultural understanding of segregation by speaking truth to power used civil disobedience in a more public and large-scale approach, whereas Antigone’s use of civil disobedience defied the law in a much more private, small-scale way to do what she believed what was right. In addition to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s advocacy for equal treatment and Antigone’s dedication to obey the gods, they used their determination to refuse to obey the laws of the land in order to stand behind their own morals.

Martin Luther King, Jr. defines “civil disobedience” as a way to show others what to do when a law is unjust and unreasonable. As King stated in the letter from Birmingham, “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” When Negros were being treated unfairly, Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped in to show people how to peacefully protest and not be violent. The dictionary definition of civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest (Webster Dictionary). That is what Martin Luther King, Jr. did when nothing was changing in the town after the law for public school to be non-segregated. In

Following The Civil War, close to four million slaves were freed, but they were still faced with the systematic oppression of their past. Due to President Johnson’s support of state’s rights, many white southerners were able to place authority over newly freed slaves by establishing Black Codes, the KKK, and segregation. The new freedoms gained by African Americans following the civil war were insignificant because white superiority was heavily present. After the passing of the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery, Black Codes enabled white southerners to legally control blacks.

From Cherokee Indians refusing to abandon their homes in 1838 to the Sit-ins of the civil rIghts movement in the early 1960s, people have been using acts of civil disobedience to stand against injustice they saw in their communities. Although there are many examples of people abusing this benefit and causing more grief and shame than progress, many have used it to their advantage to bring about positive change for the greater good of society, therefore acts of civil disobedience can positively impact a free society if they remain peaceful, respectful, and justified.

King explains what a just and unjust law is as “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”. For 340 years the blacks were denied their constitutional rights as the color of your skin was not mentioned in this great document. Unfortunately, the government pushed segregation in the class rooms therefore many black people had no idea the constitution existed. Not even children could understand why they were denied entry into public places and why white people hated them. Black people lived in constant fear. A law must follow a moral guild

Slaves were whipped, shackled, beaten, mutilated and branded. Slaves were seen as the bottom of mankind and viewed as undesirable because of the color of their skin. In 1865 after the civil war, the 13th amendment which declared Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction(Citation) and slavery was abolished African Americans faced many more social injustices. Between 1877-1960s Jim Crow laws existed . The Jim Crow laws segregated the African Americans from the white people in the south and claimed to be “Separate but Equal”. Under the Jim Crow laws, public parks were segregated; separate schools, hospitals, and other public institutions and in poorer quality compared to whites (Citation). In 1955 a girl named Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man and was arrested. This event started a year-long boycott of the Montgomery buses. A local pastor named Martin Luther King begin the spokesman of this boycott, Martin Luther used his leadership skills and religious

Dr. King's effort to make non-violent campaign and to end racial segregation led Negroes to protest together for equal rights. Appeal of emotions in letter the King use have shown anger and sadness from broken promise and injustice law. The King clearly stated that disease of segregation will never end after all suffer, “For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”(King 275).

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Junior uses logos and allusion to persuade the reader on the values of civil disobedience. A prime example of logos in this text is, “An unjust law is a code inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because they did not have the unhampered right to vote(MLK, 13).” This example of logos shows the reasoning for civil disobedience and why people act upon it. For a minority to be targeted by a law that they had no part in is intolerable. The primary value for civil disobedience is equality. For a country to have a law against a minority is against the beliefs and values of civil disobedience. “There are just and there are unjust laws… An unjust law is

Modern day racism and hatred against African-Americans can be traced back to slavery in the Colonial Americas. Over 10 million slaves were taken and brought into the New World. These slaves if they were to survive the way would face a harsh life of servitude to their white masters. Africans slaves were and plentiful and cheap labor source in the 1700’s. Slavery was very controversial in the colonies. The practice had many believers and critics. Slavery was a brutal but big part of American history.

Dr. King believes and advocates non-violent protest as the best way to get the message across to the authorities on the issues of segregation, unequal treatment of African-American people, from the white people in the country. His argument states the reason very clearly in his statement that "Non-violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue." King placates fellow civil rights leaders by explaining his actions, and why they were necessary for the overall good of the cause. King emphasizes the stubbornness of the local government, and their unwillingness to grant rights and liberties to African Americans despite the fact they are specifically enumerated in the Constitution. King writes, "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights." He reasons that the non-violent way of protest was

Before the Emancipation Proclamation, the blacks were rushed to enlist for the Union during the Civil War but they are not allowed to join the army because of the Federal law dating from 1792 barred Negroes from serving for the US army. Although they already joined the war since the American Revolution and the war of 1812. After the first Emancipation Proclamation was executed, the African-American could serve the Federal Army, the first regiment was the 54th Massachusetts, though there were all black soldiers but there were no black commissioned officers-only whites. In that regiments, the blacks are not paid as equal as the whites, they were only being paid 10$ per month from which 3$ was deducted for clothing while the whites were paid 13$ and no clothing allowance was drawn.

“Civil Disobedience” is an essay written by Henry David Thoreau in 1848. Thoreau protested many issues at the time such as slavery, the Mexican war, and taxes; he stood for peaceful protests or civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the act of publicly, peacefully, and conscientiously breaching any corrupt and or unequal law(s) in order to bring about a change in said law or policy. Almost one hundred years later, on April 16th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail;” a response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white religious leaders of the South. King, in the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” conveys to his readers that the laws set against the African American are unjust and

America from the colonial days to the Civil War era was not the land of the free. Many groups in America were not treated equal to their peers. African Americans were the prime example of unequal treatment. African Americans were almost always treated as less than any American citizen, whether they lived in the North or the South. Women were also treated almost exactly the same as slaves. They did all the housework and barely had any rights at all. America, at that time, was clearly anything other than the land of the free.

Not only were many laws changed and created, but even more were broken in an attempt to better our once unjust society. Martin Luther King Jr., arguably the most influential leader of this movement, was an avid supporter of civil disobedience during this era. He participated in countless sit-ins and protests, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956, in which he and almost one hundred other activists were arrested for peacefully protesting discrimination in the Montgomery public transit system. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, written in 1963 after he was arrested for partaking in a nonviolent protest, King offers explanation as to why he practices civil disobedience and what he hopes to achieve in doing so. In this letter, King admits, “In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law…that would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty”. However, he also stated that in this fight, it is necessary to “[stand] up for what is best in the American…thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence”. In his words, civil disobedience is more than ignorance of law; it is just one of the necessary measures that must be taken to restore equality in a