Protests: A Social Movement

People fighting against injustices are something that happens every day it is inevitable unless the injustices cease to exist. As stated before social movements happen because of a certain injustice. This can be from people feeling oppressed from their race, sex, or sexuality. They have had many contributions to society mainly helping those and they get rid of oppression. While inspiring others who are oppressed as well to set up and speak up again their oppressors. Mainly helping other groups use the same successful tactic that other social group has done in the past or present. Some of these groups that are looked back upon on how successful their tactics were are the early Women's movement, Africa American movement, Chicano Movement, and

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.

One of the most known leaders of the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King, Jr. His nonviolent methods of protesting racial injustice allowed for many people to join the cause due to the high moral approach that he utilized (Brinkley, p.745-749.) The Civil Rights Movement contributed to the major changes in American society. The reason that this is statement is validated is because the efforts of this turmoil during this period is realized today. They accomplished their goals, which were to end racial segregation and stand for equality for all American citizens. While Martin Luther King didn’t live to realize his accomplishments himself, he left behind a legacy that showed many that goals can be accomplished through nonviolent methods. The political changes are that laws were put into place to ensure the goals of Civil Rights activists are upheld. The social changes are that in most cases people are treated equally in regards to race.

There were several social movements in the historical backdrop of the United States. One movement that stood out the most is the civil rights movement. African Americans and whites alike battled for social equality against the bigotry of the American culture amid the mid twentieth century. Following years of struggle they at last were allowed flexibility and equivalent rights with the new amendments in the constitution. However, this didn’t stop them from being segregated. The south was completely against granting African Americans the rights they deserve.

In the letter from the eight Alabama clergymen, they felt as though those protesting should refrain from nonviolent protesting until the court system decides on their matter. The undersigned clergymen issued an "appeal for law and order and common sense," directing it towards the racial problems in Alabama. The clergymen made it clear that they felt, extreme measures in Birmingham will not be the resolution to the Negro community's problem, despite how peaceful they might be. The letter was meant to sound as considerate as possible, despite attempting to strip the Negro community of their first amendment god-given right. The clergymen feel as though it would be better to have have local leaders act on the matter, instead of gatherings

Now is the time the nation needs to come together, but the people are separated. People are too busy arguing over the Republican and Democratic parties and race. Kneeling for the national anthem because they want to make a statement that not all lives matter, but black lives matter and their president are, “not their president”, is disrespectful to the people who fought and who died and their family. The NFL football players should not have the right to protest during their job, they should protest on their own time.

In the case of the civil rights movement, the specific reform envisioned by the actors was an end to segregation. Non-violent, civil disobedience was utilized as an organized system of pressure applied to the politicians attempting to maintain the status quo. The acts of disobedience were targeted as a deliberate campaign to create change, by forcing the political and legal system to respond and by educating the majority about the inequities of the existing system. "A charming myth has risen about Parks as the seamstress who was simply too tired to move to the back of the bus and whose arrest set off a spontaneous demonstration that ended happily with integrated bus service. Such an account misrepresents a carefully planned and well- organized movement for social change (Moss & Thomas, 2010, pg. 84)."

As society redevelops as we go further and further into the 21st century, Society itself, progresses to keep up with the ever-changing dynamics of its citizens on a daily basis. Social movements are popping up all over the world today as an outlet to hopefully bring change within the law. Social movement is a broad term that many people hear from media sources, they have specific goals and targets in mind, in which they have a specific outcome that they are hoping to desire. They are collective groups that seek a common goal or express a common identity; targets that may include states, society, corporations, and or social norms and values.

There are many social movements that happen changed the society. For example, feminist movement, civil rights movement, Arab spring movement, children’s rights movement, ect. Civil rights movement is one of an important movement that change society and the ideas that were related to slaves, black, and African American people.

What determines a movement? Malcolm Gladwell defines what pushes a movement to make a difference. He analyzes the concept of “strong ties” and “weak ties” and how these relationships affect an individual’s willpower and determination to help a cause. Gregory Orr puts these ideas into context in his memoir, “Return to Hayneville”, in which he recounts his experience and involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Malcolm Gladwell’s “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted”, focuses, in particular, on the civil rights movement concentrates to the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina. Gladwell’s ideas and opinions of social and political emancipations are given a real world setting, as

The women’s suffrage movement fought for and eventually secured suffrage, or the right to vote and run for political office, for women. During the 19th century, women were steadily becoming more educated and more politically aware; as a result, they also became a great deal more concerned about their freedoms, rights, and treatment as individual persons and as a collective entirety. As a social movement, the suffrage movement mobilized through the strategic organization of activists working within both the abolitionist movement and the broader women’s rights movement. It is important to note that achieving the right to vote was not initially the women’s movement’s primary concern; gender equality was of foremost significance and has continued to be an overriding issue within the ongoing global women’s movement. Women’s suffrage began rising to prominence as a social issue “In 1848, [with] the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s convention” and “[b]y the time of the first National Women's Rights Convention in 1850, [..] suffrage was becoming an increasingly important aspect of the movement's activities” (Wikipedia Contributors, Women’s suffrage in the United States, 2017). Although the suffrage movement faced many obstacles and struggled to establish public awareness and notoriety, it continued to gain momentum and traction after these critical events.

This reading was about social movements, how they are started and why, which is ultimately, to bring about important social changes. This chapter also talks about the important social movements which took place in America, from the women's suffragette movement, to the civil rights movement, to the legalization of same sex marriage and the LGBTQ movement. These chapters also defined social movements as “collective challenges, based on common purposes and social solidarities, in sustained interaction with elites, opponents, and authorities”. These two beginning chapters also delve into what is to be expected later on in the book. These first two chapters made me realize just how many different social movements there are, whether in the past

The Civil Rights Movement within the mid-late 20th century were protests for social change brought to the national level by the most marginalized group in America. Black people were not truly given rights and had to utilize one of the core facets of their constitutional rights: the right to assemble peacefully. Through this utilization, many magnificent civil rights advancements were made such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Through peaceful protest and civil disobedience, social change was achieved. Although there is still dispute over the logistics of the acts, the protests in the modern day will surely succeed as they had in the past. More and more change will inundate as people find their voice and the resolute issue to fight for. The Civil Rights Movement in particular and that desire to acquire equity in a world with systematic injustice is what led to the development of the Black Lives Matter movement, demonstrating the ability for a protest to transition or evolve into

As the birthrate increased during the post-World War II era, a new generation known as the baby boomers would grow up to morph the traditional values of America into a massive counter-cultural movement shaped upon democracy, self-indulgence, and world peace. By the late 1960s, the majority of the baby boomers, who were college students, fully fledged a cultural rebellion because they were unhappy with their current political and cultural standards. Therefore, many students formed radical student organizations to move them from resistance to liberation in order to increase the political prominence in America’s society. For this reason, a student activist organization called the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was established to protest the to demonstrate their vigorous protest against racial discrimination, economic inequality, big businesses, trade unions, political parties, and the power elite in America.

Social movements are the essence of human rebellion for justice. From Malcolm X to Deray in Baltimore, social movements play a huge part in how we get our voice across to the elite. Even though some sociologists like Doug McAdam believe social movements alone aren’t sufficient to generate a successful result(McAdam,1982). Others believe that social movements play a big role on how we pursue and impact societal change. For instance, MADD – Mothers against Drunk Driving is a successful campaign that started with social change and reduced drunk driving by advocating for change in their own backyard. MLK, Rosa parks, Malcolm X all played a huge role in getting rid of discrimination and racial division by way of social movement. From the million-man