Meaning Of Freedom In America

On Good Friday, April 12, 1963, The police arrested and jailed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers for demonstrating against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. That same day, the local newspaper published a statement by eight prominent white Alabama clergymen that portrayed Dr. King as an outside agitator whose actions incite hatred and violence and as a result, urged the African American citizens of Birmingham to withdraw their support for the demonstrations and instead rely on the courts and negotiation the achieve change. Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” responds to this criticism and serves to awaken the American conscience to the injustice and marginalization that African Americans suffered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Thesis Statement: In this paper, I’m going to explore how the Civil Rights Movement first started, and the brutal events and forms of protest during this monumental moment in history. Looking at first-hand accounts from pivotal figures such as the leaders of the social movement organizations, I can properly recount the conditions and struggles in the fight for equality for African Americans. Covering these topics, I can properly describe the effects that came from each movement and the change that subsequently followed. Brown v. Board:

The Civil Rights Movement was a critical time in the history of the United States of America. In this time of fighting, brutality, and injustice, leaders arose to fight for equality for all, one, in particular, was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King is well-renowned for believing in something and standing up for it, even though the repercussion of his actions resulted in serving time in jail. While he served his time in Birmingham, he wrote a lengthy letter to inspire and admonish the nation. This letter was addressed to two groups, the Church and the White moderates, that contained wisdom in the form of three themes, one of which is let them have more time almost always means never.

“Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly” wrote Martin Luther King, Jr. in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” At the time, King, being the president of the Southern Leadership Conference, was an influential leader in the Civil Rights Movement and was imprisoned for holding a nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama. On April 16, 1963, from his jail cell, King wrote this famous and lengthy letter, which was a response to a statement issued by eight white clergymen. Although the letter was directed towards these clergymen and represented his rebuttal, King’s letter had a much greater audience, which was all of those who were exposed to his powerful words. His letter spoke of many controversial issues involving racism at the

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “A Letter From Birmingham Jail,” depicts the fight for equality by African Americans during the civil rights movement. In this letter, King uses tone, rhetorical questions, and allusions to discuss the racial segregation sweeping the nation. King’s letter is a response to “A Call For Unity,” a condemning message written by eight white clergymen who frowned upon the peaceful protests conducted by many African Americans. Although Dr. King is presently seen as an American hero, during the civil rights movement he was simply seen as just another negro attempting to break the social norm. “A Letter From Birmingham Jail,” counters the arguments made by the clergymen in a very effective way by appealing to their

In “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr extensively establishes his ethos and proves his authority on the matter of racial injustice. “I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. We have some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the South, and one of them is the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights” (King 1). King was the focal point of the Civil Rights movement and continues to symbolize the equality of all races to this very day. His authority to advocate on the

The main goal of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was to coordinate and support nonviolent direct action to end segregation and provide new leadership for the now prosperous civil rights movement. Between 1957 and 1968, King covered over six million miles and gave over twenty-five hundred talks, showing up wherever there was an issue of protest, injustice, or action(Martin Luther King Jr.-Biography). It was also in these years that King organized a monumental protest in Birmingham, Alabama. drawing enough attention that soon enough the entire world was aware of what was going on, providing what he called a “coalition of conscience”(Martin Luther King Jr.-Biography).

As an African American growing up in a multi-generational household I appreciated the stories my grandparents told me about the Civil Rights Movement through their eyes. They acknowledged that Martin Luther King was not just for people of color; but all human beings who were being treated unjustly. He is known for many speeches, but The Letter from a Birmingham Jail” written in 1963 was phenomenal in my opinion; this letter, written in response to “A Call for Unity,”(Carpenter et. el, 1963 ) an article written by eight, white, Alabama clergymen, was to serve as a response to those who believed that King acted inappropriately for coming to Birmingham, Alabama, as an outsider, for creating immense tension with his demonstrations, and for the inopportune timing of his marches. Even though, the clergymen agreed that social injustice did exist, it was their opinion that these types of matter should be handled in the judicial system rather than in the streets.

The definition of freedom according to the Dictionary.com definition number 17, is “the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination”. Freedom is the base of American society, it is something that is taken for granted, not every country has this luxury, others must demand freedom and fight for it. The people that don't have this luxury of freedom have to demand it then fight and struggle for it, it will never be just given, it is worth too much, it is being held back to benefit a higher power. In Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream Speech African Americans have some but very little freedom, they can act with free will to an extent, and they have to speak with extreme

All around the world people talk about freedom; America has more freedom than Russia, twenty-one years old as more freedom than a fifteen year old. What does “freedom” mean? Many have different definitions of “freedom”. For some it could be the freedom to speak and act as you want and others it could be to go where ever you want.

In the Political essay “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. explains his reasoning behind coming to Alabama with members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Furthermore, he justifies taking direct action instead of negotiating with local authorities, confronting the subject of segregation immediately rather than waiting for a more convenient moment, and his belief that the state of mind of churches and the white majority hold distorted values. From a cell located inside of the Birmingham city jail, King justifies his presence in Birmingham by informing the clergymen of the city that he is there with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to aide the Alabama Movement of Human Rights. Invited by the Alabama

In the art and literature memorializing the Civil Rights movement, no one individual is more prominently represented than Martin Luther King Jr. . He is remembered in books, statues, and even streets bearing his name in almost every city. One historian said, “We trapped King in romantic images… frozen his legacy in worship.” King has become the martyr of the Civil Rights Movement and his legacy has thus overshadowed the legacy of the other activists and groups who helped move the Civil Rights movement forward, including the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, an organization created by southern black youth. Though King’s actions were powerful tools in the push for racial equality, his efforts were only a part of the overall impetus driving the United States towards equality. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (“SNCC”) led activism in a community based, long-term protest fashion. At the same time the Southern Christian Leadership Council (“SCLC”), the group led by Dr. King, used a media-powered and more presentation-based protest method to rally Americans at the national level. Towards the end of the Civil Rights Movement SNCC became more radical in its approach, eventually leading to its own demise, while the SCLC stayed religiously peaceful. The different ideas and sometimes-contradicting actions of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference eventually helped lead to the racial equality as we know it

From the Civil Rights movement to the Tea Party Movement, “those stressed against unjust laws have betrothed in acts of deliberate, open disobedience to government power to uphold advanced principles concerning human rights and societal justice” through non-violent protests. Birmingham, Alabama became the focal point of the Civil Rights Movement, although it was known throughout the South because of the unequal treatment of African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). They started to have demonstrations on a daily basis, which led to many protestors being arrested, along with Dr. King. In August of 1963, after being arrested, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Dr. King gives four basic steps that should be followed in any nonviolent campaign. These four steps were used in Birmingham during the protests. Each step has unique reasons for why and how they are used in the process. It has been continuously asked whether they should or should not be used in today’s society. The four

Today we accept that freedom is a basic right human right but what exactly is freedom. 1On one hand, there is physical freedom. People who are not imprisoned or enslaved are free. On the other hand, there is freedom as a the right to act, speak or think what you want. People cannot reach their full potential if they are not free in both senses of the word.

Freedom bears no sole definition. It could be defined as the right to free will, or to liberty. Even so, freedom is subjective and relative to one’s perception of the meaning of the word. For African Americans, the civil war can be interpreted as their “crossroads of freedom”, but were they truly free? The Union and Confederates had been enthralled in war mainly for the cause of eliminating the horrific institution of slavery (the south fought for the opposite), and though the end of the Civil War brought the amendments that made African Americans autonomous from a legal standpoint, they hardly could be considered free from an all-encompassing point of view. Socially and economically, African Americans were poised to be unequal even though the law said otherwise.