The Role Of Civil Disobedience And The Civil Rights Movement

Social movements are not spontaneous events, and they must build towards their goals over time on a series of phases and preconditions. Successful social movements rely on a number of micro and macro factors including efficient organizational structures, the ability to mobilize human and material resources, as well as effective leadership and rapid diffusion of ideas. As it will be shown, the presence of mobilizing structures, movement frames as well as suitable political opportunities combined with reactionary incentives during the Civil Rights Movement helped culminate both short and long term societal changes.

Civil disobedience is present in our day to day lives. During the civil rights protests occurring in Birmingham, AL, Eugene Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety who publicly attacked African Americans with fire hoses and dogs. The Boston Tea Party was a rebellion which led to major tax reformation. Another moment in history of disobedience would be the Civil Rights movement. Oscar Wilde claims social progress is promoted through disobedience and rebellion which is valid.

In Thoreau 's essay Civil Disobedience he makes the point that bystanders are just as bad as criminals and that people should stand against unjust crimes even if it means going against the law. And to some extent I do agree because in the past people have broken unjust laws and have created change. A well-known example would be when Rosa Parks sat on the bus in the "White-only" seating area, which lead to important events that helped push the Civil Rights movement forward. But I think that it depends on which laws they choose to break and how far they choose to go with it.

African American protests challenged the Jim Crow act during the Eisenhower administration. Several cases and organizations were created to fight against segregation. For example, the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was raising funds to challenge segregation in education, and the Plessy v. Ferguson court case led to the creation of “separate, but equal.” Earl Warren thought the “separate, but equal” was not a good idea because black and white people were very different. Thus, the Ferguson court case was illegal because it was violating the 14th amendment. In March, 1956, the Southern Manifesto was signed by up to 100 men in the government to complain about the court’s abuse of judicial power. According to google, the Montgomery bus boycott lasted for about a year from 1955-56. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., responded with a boycott of the city bus system that started with Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat to a white person. The Montgomery bus boycott made MLK Jr. a good leader and became the leader of Southern Christian Leadership Conference in

As a people our national history was written, for the most part, as a result of civil disobedience. Breaking the laws that England imposed on the colonies was the first step in a revolution that established a new form of representative democracy. Most of the great social changes that have come about over the 200+ years of our existence had its roots in the embracing of breaking a law of the land dutifully enacted by a legislative body.

It is imperative to understand that the United States of America was born through acts of civil disobedience. And because American freedoms are constantly in danger of being encroached on, it is also important that citizens are aware of the worth that civil disobedience can possess. Civil disobedience is when a person or people refuse to obey a demand or restriction by the state that conflicts with higher law and conscience. The act requires that the disobedient one accept whatever may be the consequence of refusing, whether it be imprisonment, moral condemnation, fines, even perhaps death. It should be done when one’s spiritual searching and sense of rightness permit no other response. (Day 65: Disobedient Friends – Quakers and Civil Disobedience) There have been many instances of civil disobedience throughout American history which have had a powerful influence on the legal system and society as a whole.

While growing up, our parents taught us what was right and what was wrong based on their beliefs and views. When we were younger, we were taught to follow and obey those who were older than us and possessed a higher authoritative status. One’s reasoning for being obedient includes: religious beliefs, background, and work ethics. Civil disobedience played a large role in America. Creating protests, riots, and sit-ins, America had many examples of disobedience. In America, we value our rights as citizens and individuals. We have the right to protest as stated in the first amendment of the United States Constitution, which is called Freedom of Speech. According to the Webster Dictionary, civil disobedience is said to be “the refusal to obey government demands or commands and nonresistance to consequent arrest and punishment.” Citizens are willing to accept the legal consequences associated with their disobedient actions. How does the law respond to people who engage in civil disobedience? Fining and jail time are the legal consequences enforced by authority but also there is a trend of change. I believe civil disobedience is justified simply by your own personal beliefs and the rights you attain as a citizen. The law is the law, if you disobey; the authoritative figure is responsible for giving a consequence.

In a Newseum article on Rosa Parks, it states that after the Montgomery bus boycott "...bus segregation was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1956." Because of this instance of resisting the inequalities in society, positive change took place.

During the Civil Rights Movement, King and many of his followers and fellow activists deeply followed the path of non-violent protest, otherwise known as civil disobedience. After being arrested during the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, King received a series of critiques from fellow clergymen stating their disapproval of his actions. Of course, King addressed a letter, now more commonly known as “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, to his critics as well as the nation in order to defend his ideology. Though King does a great job at explaining to his audience the essence of his ideology, he fails to address the practicality or universality of civil disobedience.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began with the remarkable effort to attack and dismiss the principle of separate but equal (Piven and Cloward 1979, p. 207). Credited to the aftermath of the effort, Frances Fox Piven denoted, “Protest had become possible; victories had become possible” (Piven and Cloward 1979, p.208). The significance is laying the groundwork to reject any type of possible segregation in the future, making equality in society tangible rather than abstract. The civil rights movement later went to display tactics more in the public grounds, on highly influential boycotts. Rosa Park’s arrest sparked the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, a large scale boycott led by Martin Luther King (Piven and Cloward 1979, p. 209). The successful Montgomery boycott was then followed by the similarly successful Tallahassee boycott of 1956 (Piven and Cloward 1979, p. 212). Both successful boycott demonstrated the expansion of power that the movement needed to gain political influence. The wide variety of actions by the protest groups ignited the success of the civil rights

What does it mean to be civil disobedient people have many different interpretations of it? To be civil disobedient is to refuse to follow certain laws or to not pay any taxes or fines. It is a form of peaceful political protest you are trying to get someone 's attention, in this case, the government. You are trying to make them listen to you and when they do not listen you do not do what they say. That’s what Thoreau did he grabbed their attention the only way he knows how he criticized their policies and did not pay taxes. He wanted to no part of the government and their actions he dissociated himself from them. He believes when the government or law is unjust people should refuse to follow the rule. And distance them. I believe civil disobedience has come a long way, but it is still to me the same thing when it was first mentioned. It Is expressed in certain American literature and throughout history, such as the civil rights movement.

As compatriots of the United States, it is our responsibility and commitment to overthrow any type of social or civil injustice. In that process, we as American’s must ensure our rights by practicing a form of civil disobedience. In other words, we should not remain quiet in the roars of prejudice against a certain group of people. Leaders that derive from the civil rights movements like Martin Luther King Jr, Cesar Chavez, Malcolm X, Eleanor Roosevelt, and others have shown us that nothing we want will come into our laps, as humans we must work for the things that we want. In 1950’s through the 1960’s, there was a wave of activist who fought their way to the end of civil injustice, many used their orating skills and others recruited members

Throughout American history, from the time of our nation's creation all the way to today, citizens have affected serious change in the United States' laws and morals through civil disobedience. Their courage in standing up to injustices of the society they were mired within fundamentally affected their community and country in the best possible way.

During the 1960s, there was great confusion to the civil right movement, the cold war, and changes in laws and lives. One group that caused a lot of change was young people, who were raised during this changing time. African Americans were getting more rights and women, black or white wanted more rights to. The Feminist movement has been happening for a long time, but it got a big push during the Civil Right movement. All these groups wanted more freedom and better protection of their rights.

Would you fight for what you believe in no matter the denouement? Would you go against the odds, disobey society and the law to improve the lives of others? In the words of Oscar Wilde, disobedience is a valuable human trait that leads to social progress. Disobedience results in freedom, equality, and civil rights.