The Civil Rights Movement: Why We Can T Wait

The American Civil Rights Movement in the late 1950s and 1960s generated massive international following and controversy, which made the movement one of the most important in U.S. history. The movement’s legacy can still be felt today, with the positive aspects, such as voting rights to African Americans and wide spread desegregation of public facilities, still being felt in the United States, and in many similar models across the globe. Although there were many “battlegrounds” where civil issues were debated, many people who know of the movement today would argue that the movement’s heart was rooted in the Deep South, ironically where it could be argued that the mentality of people living in the area at the time were the most violently opposed to such civil rights. In contrast, those who championed the Civil Rights Movement chose the tactic of nonviolence, at least at first, as a tool to dismantle racial segregation, discrimination, and inequality. They followed models that Martin Luther King Jr. and other activists had commissioned, using principles of nonviolence and passive resistance. Civil rights leaders had understood that segregationists would do anything to maintain their power over blacks. So, in consequence, they believed some changes might be made if enough people outside the

Many African Americans would have separate schools, bus seats, and even fountain drinks for the “colored”. If an African American would ever break these “laws”, they were either jailed, beaten, or killed for it. In response, many Africans saw the negative effects of violence and instead of choosing to fight back violently, they chose to protest through “nonviolence [,] as it grows from Judaic-Christian traditions [and] seeks a social order of justice permeated by love” (Doc. A). Many African Americans believed that through nonviolence it would help benefit the fight for equality because it would help them gain sympathy and support from the people through the sight violence being used on peaceful people. However, many African American’s were getting frustrated at how long it was taking to gain equality, protection of civil rights, and justice in courts so many thought that the time had “come for black people to arm themselves against [violence] before it [was] too late” (Doc. F) Many African Americans then started to turn to violence to try to push the fight for equality, but this was ultimately a disastrous decision because this caused the Civil Rights Movement to lose a lot of support they had from the

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.

Dr. King was looking for support from members of society in order to create an effective change in society’s ethics. Moreover, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s large audience and public movement used nonviolent tactics, such as sit-ins, marches, and freedom rides to put the Civil Rights Movement in action. Before directly acting against the law, Dr. King had used other means to try to obtain justice for all; he used the four basic steps of a nonviolent campaign to decide how he would approach this cultural issue of racism: determination of whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action (King 1). After the first three steps of his nonviolent campaign proved to be ineffective, he decided to seek direct action through a large demonstration of civil disobedience. Dr. King had a tremendous impact on the segregation issue in not just Birmingham, but the entire country, by leading the Civil Rights Movement, which eventually helped influence anti-segregation legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that affected a massive population of the entire country. Although Dr. King’s journey ended in his assassination, his relentless passion for equal rights was empowering to many and helped to create a more just society.

The Negro community has waited over 300 years to achieve equal constitutional rights. Martin Luther King who was their voice and their leader, was invited in 1963 to Birmingham, Alabama, to help assist with a nonviolent direct action campaign. The unjust segregation taking place in the city of Birmingham needed immediate attention. In spite of, King’s efforts to negotiate with the local and national communities as

Through out grade school we as the general public are presented with an extremely small amount of information on the Civil Rights Movement, that of a sample size to give us a general idea of what truly went on through out the country and the Deep South. Our foundation on the education of this historical moment is based on are these big names such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, who are not only known country wide but world wide. There are hundreds, thousands, and quite possibly millions of civil rights activists who are lesser know or even known at all. In Howell Raines novel My Soul Is Rested: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South, Raines expressed the oral history of these lesser-known individuals and their

In 1954, with Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine, legally (but not practically) ending segregation. Buses, schools, theaters… they were to be desegregated, but the fight wasn’t over. African Americans, under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., utilized nonviolent means and civil disobedience to protest their unequal treatment. In his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” and “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King inspired citizens to stand up and fight for equality. From a jail cell in Birmingham, he famously wrote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one

The year was 1963, and although it had been decades since slavery was abolished, blacks were still fighting for freedom. From Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a dream speech” to the events in Birmingham, the civil rights movement was progressing. In 1963, people

“Across the miles they joined hands and took a firm, forward step. It was a step that rocked the richest, most powerful nation to its foundation (x),” starts Martin Luther King’s Why We Can’t Wait with an optimistic tone that reappears several times throughout the text. Although the Civil Rights Movement was the culmination of restless feelings within the African-American population, King describes the movement with hope for the future. Multiple factors triggered the Civil Rights Movement in 1963, but it was the standpoint of individuals within the society that produced its ending result.

Gandhi said, “Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.” (Gandhi). The Civil Rights era was filled with a slew of various protests attempting to bring equality to the African American race in the United States. During this period in history, African American people of all social classes and places across the country were racially oppressed and were denied basic rights that were available to their Caucasian counterparts. People began to protest this oppression and decided to fight back against the suppression held upon them by law and by societal norms. The injustice of these laws and acts was battled via a medium of peaceful protest, a way to cause the single voice of the masses not only to be heard, but for the voices of these people to make change and fight for change, not only to accept being less but to fight for what they deserved. These protests were not limited to just marches, people across the nation united to make a statement and to fight for what they knew was right in every way they could. They refused to leave restaurants when they were not served. These people refused to accept that they were treated as less, and they did not stop when faced with violence. In the face of bigotry, abhorrence, and loathing they stood tall and fought for the rights they deserved, so that they too could have the rights that the whites had. These protests were met with

An aspect often overlooked by the majority of the population is equality and freedom. Many people do not take the time and appreciate the struggles faced to provide these freedoms because they happened so long ago; irrelevant in the current world. However, the Civil Rights Movement was a vital turning point in not only the history of African Americans, but also everyone in the United States. The book written by Andrew B. Lewis, The Shadows of Youth, examines the adversities throughout this time; however, he did not focus on the older generation, but rather the youth. Highlighting the lives of seven influential leaders of this youth movement, Lewis was able to take an issue lingering in the shadows and bring it to the light. This story starts

Not just deferred for you, but likewise deferred for your parents, and their parents, and their grandparents, and their grandparents’ grandparents — deferred now for your children and your children’s children. What happens when substantive and far-reaching gains for Blacks – socially, economically and politically are deferred? How about when access to quality education and quality health care equal to that of Whites is deferred? How much longer shall we wait for full equality? How many more generations - deferred liberty? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his letter from a Birmingham Jail, rationalized that the required engagement needed to fight for equality could not be placed on the back burner. To wait, he concluded, “has almost always meant ‘Never’.” “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor”, Dr. King advised, “it must be demanded by the oppressed.” What happens when “demanded by the oppressed” is deferred? Did righteous Black Power and Critical Resistance dry up like a raisin in the sun?

The world we live in today wasn't made overnight. After achievements were made by Dr. King and his adherents, we anticipated that those achievements would just help us through the following 50 years, and that was an error. Whenever Dr. King was alive, the message of his fantasy was louder than any time in recent memory. In 1963, the March on Washington touched the hearts of a huge number of Americans. In 1965, Dr. King and a large number of supporters walked from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama where 600 African Americans were mercilessly beaten and manhandled as they demonstrated their relentless devotion to uniformity. Once the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed, we celebrated, however then we halted. Dr. Kings fantasy

Throughout its existence, the United States of America has gone through its fair share of intense times. In the two-hundred and forty-one years as a country, we have engaged in plenty of war and strife, both within our borders and internationally, in attempt to preserve rights and liberties that are at the basis of our foundation. However, our country has not been blameless within our granting and enforcement of these fundamentals principles to our own people. We see our mistakes of unequal and discriminatory treatment to groups that are deemed “inferior” due to things that they have no control over, such as their gender or the color of their skin. It is through these great divides that we see revolutions arise, such as the Civil Rights movements, led by extraordinarily brave citizens willing to raise the curtain to expose the injustices that most of us are too cowardly to take action against. One of these prominent individuals was Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He, his supporters, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference worked diligently around the clock to bring awareness to the ill treatment of minorities, specifically African Americans, to America’s attention, and fight for change through their message of non-violence. After being put in a Birmingham jail after one of his public demonstrations, Dr. King writes one of his most famous letters as a specific response to some of the criticisms against his platform and action, defending his cause and calling out

Ever since the colonization and settlement of the Americas long before the United States was formed, the roots of social inequality for African Americans were planted deeply. For most of our history, it was commonplace for blacks to be treated as less than human or second class citizens. For hundreds of years, this was the status quo that they frustratingly accepted due to the lack of power in society. This oppression was all going to be challenged in the 1960’s, which would be known as the Civil Rights Movement, where many influential people, groups, and events would occur to bring justice to not only blacks, but the American society as a whole. The largest figure, Martin Luther King Jr, would lead his following in a fashion rarely seen before, where violence for change would be rejected, and peaceful protests leverage the minds of the people and the polices of government. While many remember him as a great leader who was able to make great strives for the black community, many question how far he was really able to advance blacks in today’s America. Seemingly every day, reports of black poverty, education, and targeted police brutality make us question the equality of blacks in the modern day. So, to see how effective the greatest leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr, was in progressing African American rights, this paper will analyze his success in using nonviolent protests and civil disobedience to further African American rights.