The Importance And Power Of Resistance In 'Glory'

In MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, the civil right’s leader can be seen using logos and the literary device of parallelism to support nonviolent resistance in the battle against racism. One of MLK’s many uses of logos can be seen on page 8 where King states, “For instance , I was arrested Friday on a charge of parading without a permit.” This example gives a real life situation that shows an experience MLK went through, which also shows that other African Americans have gone through things similar because if he is a high ranking leader, than those “below him” must have gone through events like that as well. MLK’s use of a literary term can be seen when King writes, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded

Rosa Parks once said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall overcome.” Rosa Parks was an African- American women in Montgomery, Alabama, who believed in civil rights for African-Americans. It was a time of segregation, the separation of blacks and whites. For instance, blacks were required to sit in the back of the bus, and white people sat in the front of the bus.

The important theme of resistance that is shown by African Americans in the struggle for racial equality traces back to 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to the white man and was arrested for breaking the segregation laws(History). Rosa Parks did not fight the police officer that arrested her but instead peacefully

In the text, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. creates a clear, persuasive claim on why non-violent protest are ethical using the rhetorical appeal of pathos. Martin Luther King Jr. also enhances creativity through the use of literary devices such as antithesis. The text states, “All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality,” (King 7). The language of the passage reveals the author’s want for the reader to feel certain emotions while reading. For example, words such as distort and damage illustrate feelings of sadness and anger. Overall, the use of pathos in the text allowed Martin Luther King Jr. to connect on a personal level with the reader. Along with rhetorical

I surely do not know the author’s thesis on civil rights, I just understand that he knows Rosa Park's thesis and view on civil rights and how she contributed to creating them. The author tells the reader how Rosa Parks was always modest about her role in the civil rights movement, giving credit to a higher power for her decision not to give up her seat. the author ends with Rosa Park quoting, “I was fortunate God provided me with the strength needed at the precise time conditions were ripe for change. I am thankful to him every day that he gave me the strength not to move.” An article in the New York Times explains that: For Rosa Parks, her decision not to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery Alabama, bus on Dec. 1, 1955 wasn't the first time the seamstress had chosen not to give in. They also explain how Parks had been an active member of the local NAACP chapter since 1943 and how they had marched on behalf of the Scottsboro boys, who were arrested in Alabama in 1931 for raping two white women. It goes on to say with a simple act of refusal, a move which landed Parks in prison, a motion like the Montgomery Bus Boycott who set off to start the Civil Rights Movement. They end the article by saying when the bulldogs and water hoses were unleashed a decade later, in the streets of

In his article, Brooks strongly focuses on how protesting work with music based on moral, physical and perceptual. A song is written not only to sell, it is also composed depend on individials’ speeches that about peace, avoiding violence and war. Brooks expresses people against themselves when they protest because they would be arrested by violence, so people should not protest and ask themselves why they have to protest. However, actually, people need to protest because it is also their benefits that they must protect. Protesting and avoiding against themselves, it seems to be impossible, but it is not. Protest music can make impossible to possible. Brooks analyses how majority, chorus, and footnote impact to a protest music. In addition,

“We Shall Overcome” by Peter Seeger, many would describe to be the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement or 1960s Civil Rights Movement (sometimes referred to as the "African-American Civil Rights Movement" although the term "African American" was not widely used in the 1950s and 1960s). It encompasses social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law. During this period many folk and blues artistes’ music were protest songs, to speak out against the justice of Blacks and other unconstitutional acts. These music not only protested the injustice but it brought together people of all ethnicity/race, social class and regions, in solidarity to form a major campaigns of civil resistance. The conventional protest melodies in the United States goes way beyond the nineteen century and into the colonial period, the American Revolutionary War and the corollary. In the nineteenth century topical subjects for protest songs included abrogation, subjugation, destitution, and the Civil War among different subjects. In the twentieth century civil liberties, women 's rights, financial injustice, governmental issues and war were among the well-known subjects for protest songs. This paper will explore the protest song “We Shall Overcome” and its impact on the civil rights movement and the

Selma Our founders envisioned a country where the people would be free from a tyrannical government and set up a society where its citizens would be able to exercise each of his/her rights. As government suppresses the rights of its own citizen’s, to increase its power, individuals unite to form movements and organizations to end the government’s act of tyranny, and to restore their freedoms as originally intended. The events in Selma, Alabama in 1965, exemplify this phenomenon as Dr. Martin L. King Jr., along with thousands of other black Americans, protested in order to stop the government’s act of suppressing voter rights. The events of Selma, inspired the song, “Glory”, by John Legend and Common, hopes to raise awareness about the events

From congregating in a church hall for personal benefit, to singing in a prison with a conviction for change, the sound of the African-American struggle could be heard across a nation. During a speech in 2010 celebrating the music of the Civil Rights Movement, U.S. President Barack Obama stated that “…the Civil Rights Movement was a movement sustained by music”. It retained the ability to stir action in sectors of the community that were afraid of consequences (Reagon, 1975). Protesters took enormous risks to integrate into ‘white’ society, which did not go without repercussions (Reagon, 1975). “Music…put [protesters] on the front lines of the civil rights battle. Ironically, it was the music that motivated them to stay on the front lines so that others would one day have the rights and protection they were denied” (Rose, 2007, p. 61). The songs were not only about freedom, but also equality, employment, and justice (Fenner, 2012). African-American poet and teacher, Eugene Ethelbert Miller (cited in Fenner, 2012) spoke about the power of this peaceful resistance in the face of inhumanity: “Nonviolence is not passive. I think it’s a very powerful image, because it shows the sense of the times. It’s not a passive position. It is one of occupying space and being defiant.” When over 200,000

Meaning in music is derived from parenthetical analysis of several technical aspects including lyrics, form, historical context, emotional content, and personal connection. A hermeneutical approach to the Star-Spangled Banner can yield only interpretational results. Therefore, we must examine the more concrete details of the work, and how the music relates to the meaning of the protests as stated by Colin Kaepernick in August of 2016.

The folk music of the Civil Rights Movement “came out of tradition, common experience, and generations of resistance” (Dunaway 2010: 140). The songs used throughout the movement derived from the shared experiences and struggles of African Americans while connecting “the gentle, idealistic world of folk music and the integrationist world of civil rights” (Dunaway 2010: 145). Songs, such as “We Shall Overcome”, were put through the folk process, where a song is passed on and alterations are made to verses (Dunaway 2010: 141). These folk songs evolved to embody the movements they were used for: “Those songs came out of the movement. The songs came out of very specific movements” (Dunaway 2010: 139). Folk music, which can

The novel “Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, highlights the struggles and social injustices faced by the poor farmers in 1930’s. In the poem “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol, the imagery of lynching is used bring to light the violence and terrorist attacks that southern African Americans faced in the 30’s. Both Meeropol and Steinbeck comparably use protest literature strategies to portray the central argument of both the novel and poem. One of the comparable strategies used by both authors is symbolic action. In an article forwarded by John Stauffer, he writes that: “Symbolic action is implies indeterminacy of meaning, rich ambiguity, and open endedness in the text, which goes beyond the authors intent.

In his speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” Martin Luther King Jr. reminds his audience of the agony, strength, and resentment they feel due to racial discrimination through personification, imagery, equivocation, and anaphora. In doing so, King persuades his audience of protestors to apply nonviolent methods of reform to gain equality while propelling a newfound sense of energy and motivation into the movement. King begins his speech by integrating personification and imagery to emphasize the pain and destruction that such unfairness creates in order to unify and convince his audience to make a change in the world. Through equivocation, he stresses the strength in the unified force of the African American community to demonstrate that passive resistance enough to achieve success. King alludes to the audience's anger in order to rally the protesters and incite energy in their tedious journey of reform. The rhetorical strategies of highlighting the various pathetic appeals works for the intended audience of demonstrators because this movement for equality has a very emotional origin.

After a white passenger boarded and there were not enough seats for everyone, J. Fred Blake, the bus driver, commanded four African Americans to stand in the back of the bus to let the white passenger sit. The three other African Americans preceded to do so, however, Rosa Parks did not move (“Montgomery Bus Boycott,” 2010). There were many actions like hers before this, yet hers started the conflict of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In contrast, it is not particularly definite how her action, instead of others, mobilized African Americans all over Montgomery, Alabama. Many say that she was a respectable, well-mannered lady, unlike others which could be one reason why she inspired many. Even stated by the former president of the United States,

In the second chapter of “Domination and the Arts of resistance” the author James C. Scott argues for how we could “more successfully read, interpret, and understand the often fugitive political conduct of subordinate groups.” (Scott 17) I will offer my understanding and critique of his arguments largely focusing on the second chapter specifically, titled “Domination , Acting, and Fantasy.” Scott discusses the relationship between the elites and the subordinate by using the terms public transcript and hidden transcript. Public transcript is the often flattering self-image of the elites as they would have themselves be seen. Hidden transcript refers to how the subordinates act or feel “off stage” where they are removed from the direct gaze