A Protest That Changed Amrerica Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Protest That Changed Amrerica. Answer: Introduction: The American Civil Rights movement is regarded as one of the most iconic social movements of the 20th century. It was a popular mass movement to secure equal rights and opportunities for the African Americans for basic privileges and rights of US citizenship. The movement had gathered fuel in the 1950 and 60s. White men and women along with the African Americans had joined hands to fight for the common cause of this just cause. It took the bravery of leaders like Dr. Martin Luther king Jr, John F. Kennedy and of women like Rosa Parks and the coming together of an entire nation which led to the success of this large movement. They had resorted to civil means of pursuing their objectives. It included negotiations, petitions and non-violent protest demonstrations. . It led to the occurrence of one of the largest protest march, the March to Washington for jobs and freedom. The movement had a major impact in US history. It led to the end of the prevalent de jure segregation (separation en forced by law). Some prime examples are right to register to vote and then actually vote as well as right of using public accommodation like bathroom, bus stations, publically funded schools and colleges. The movement had also influenced the modern womens right movement, the students movement of the 1960s, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Most importantly, the biggest accomplishment of this movement was the change it brought to the lives of more than 5.5 million African Americans of the USA. This essay tends to review the various aspects of this change which was brought in due to the historical Civil Rights Movement. Initial discontent behind the movement: The discontentment which set forth this historic movement had a troubled history behind it. Slavery and racial discrimination were pivotal aspects which had led to this discontent. The abolition of slavery happened only after the passage of the thirteenth amendment and after the American civil war, but the newly freed colored people lacked education, property and voting rights specifically down south, where slavery was rampant. To promote black integration into the mainstream white society, federal and state governments enacted various reforms between 1867 and 1875, but it failed to achieve its basic aims. The white hegemony in south and their contempt was evident in their actions to stop colored people from entering their society through continuous harassment and intimidation. Various racist clans such as the Ku Klux Klan even used extreme measures such as lynching and other violent methods to prevent colored folks to stand for their basic rights. The supreme courts separate but equ al standpoint had given the white people more power to inflict pain to the colored people in their exercise of the most basic rights of citizenship. The deadly Jim Crow law came into the effect because of this white monopoly which caused parks, drinking fountains, cars, theatres, restaurants and other public places from black folks. To answer Jim Crow, among the civil rights activist, the highly intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois, demanded blacks to fight for their rights. He laid the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization that gathered together lawyers, educators, and activists to unite in their fight for civil rights. Through importune, demonstration, and legal action, the NAACP started a steadfast campaign to end segregation in housing, education, and other public life amenities. During the World War I, racial problems continued against Afro-American soldiers, despite their readiness to sacrifice their lives. Thes e events, together with the growth of the atrocities, resulted in an increase of protest from black communities that brought Jim Crow under intense national scrutiny. This Movement gathered further pace and recognition with the two significant events which occurred in the 1950s. The first one is the ruling of the Supreme court in the Brown vs. Board of education case that segregation in schools and educational institutes was unconstitutional as this has hazardous impacts on the psychology and the learning of black kids who used to attend those schools along with their white counter parts,. Many school officials acted adamant and refused to abide by the ruling although, this ruling had created a spark. Secondly, another incident created a nationwide buzz regarding the black apathy, where Rosa parks, a seamstress had created a revolution. She had boarded a bus along with other members of the NAACP on December, 1, 1955. She along with the others had occupied the so called negro seats i n the back of the bus and she specifically, had not vacated her seat for a white passenger, as was the accepted norm because they were racially backward (Alderman et al., 2013). Her defiance and tenacity had set an exemplary behavior across the nation. Gradually, these incidents led to the widespread discontent and thus the birth of a historic movement began. Objectives and goals: The objectives and goals of the Civil Rights movement are varied in nature but were united in bringing a social equality amongst the white and color folks of the United States of America. Some of their prominent objectives were to put an end of segregation for colored people, De-segregation of schools and other public utility services, equal and fair voting rights, right to purchase property just like any other white folk, fair access to jobs and other opportunities in general. Key figures: Some prominent figures of this movement were Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, President John f. Kennedy. Their roles have been discussed below: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr- King was a pioneer of the Civil Rights movement. He was a clergyman who rose to prominence during the 1950s, when he voiced his anger in protest of the arrest of Rosa Parks, who had deliberately refused to sacrifice her seat in a bus for a fellow white passenger. He used his famous tactics of putting forth his views and methods inspired by Gandhis non violence doctrine. It was due to his painstakingly efforts that led to the establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1955, he was also instrumental in the Montgomery Bus Boycott which had led to the Supreme Court ruling of abolishing of segregation in public transport. He was greatly impressed by the ideals of non violence of Mahatma Gandhi and had used it to fuel the movement (Garrow, 2015). Today Afro-Americans owe a great debt of their freedom to Dr. King. Malcolm X- Malcolm X was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement of the United Sates. He was a great speaker and influential motivator and the nation of Islam. He believed in the usage of aggressive as well as violent means to fight for the rights of the colored people across the America. He was exactly the flip side of the way of working of Kings methods of non violence. Those people who never favored Kings methodologies used to work under Malcolms aggressive methodologies. Eventually he was assassinated after he fell through with the Nation of Islam. John F. Kennedy- President Kennedy initially was not very much involved with this movement because of the fear of losing his present and prospective voters. Nevertheless, he did plant the seeds of the Civil Rights Act 1964. After the riots of Birmingham, which had happened as a mark of protest of the bombings to kill four innocent little colored girls in Birmingham, President Kennedy had decided to fight for this movement irrespective of the results of the next elections and the fear of losing of his vote bank (Austin, 2013). He also had supported the historic march towards Washington on 28th August, 1963 in support of jobs and freedom. Alas its a shame; he never remained alive to see the fulfillment of the full fledged freedom of the Afro- Americans of his country, as he was shortly assassinated after a few months. Achievement of the objectives: The objectives of the movement were achieved after a serious of sacrifice, strategies, petitions, prayers, marches, protests and other non violent methodologies. There were various events which led to the success of this historic movement and these events showcase how the fight of the innocent souls was fought. The formation of the NAACP had laid the initial foundation of this movement. It was formed by various sections of the Black leaders, politicians, lawyers and experts of other fields in defiance to the deplorable state of the colored people across the United States. W.E.B Du Bois, Ida b. wells, Archibald Grimke were the founders of this organization in response to the atrocious crimes and laws like Jim Crow which were happening across the Southern US. The win over the Brown vs. Board of Education case of 1954 was a significant achievement of this organization which led to de segregation of schools for colored children. Secondly, the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama was one of the most important events of the movement, which had happened in protest of the arrest of Rosa Parks, who had refused to give up her seat for a fellow white passenger and was arrested. The boycott had limited success, however it was successful in showcasing what could be achieved by way of peaceful and non viol ent means of protest. The sit in campaign was another milestone. On 1st, February, 1960, four black students had visited an only whites restaurant and had ordered food, but were not entertained by the waiters; in response the students remained seated until closing. This incident highlighted the racial attitudes of the Sothern folks, garnered a lot of nationwide publicity and by the summer of 1960, many food counters had been de-segregated. The Selma March was another significant event of this movement which was aimed at vouching for the constitutional right to vote for the black community. It is regarded as a bloody Sunday because of the kind of atrocities the meted out to the assembled crowd. The use of water cannons, fire hoses, tear gas and police dogs on innocent black men and women were telecasted to the entire world which had shocked humanity to the core. Along with this, the historic march to Washington in support of jobs and freedom was another milestone of this movement. Th e gathering of 250,000 in August 1963 in defiance of lack of freedom and job was historic in nature (King, 2016). The crowd gathered had felt a sense of relief, importance and finality that victory was inevitable. They felt reinvigorated, recommitted and confident after the trials and tribulations which had troubled the colored folks for more than centuries. The speeches of John Lewis, Walter Reuther and specially Dr. Kings the famous I have a dream speech, had fulfilled the crowd with a sense of purpose and importance. A sense of finality surfaced when Dr. King said, that this is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism and the whole crowd had erupted in a sea of joy. All the above events had a prominent role to play in this arena of civil rights for the colored people of the United States. Consequently, in 1965, the Voting Rights Act was finally passed, which was successful in removing most of the prominent barriers to registration. By the close of the year, over 250,000 Afro-Americans were registered as legal colored voters for the first time in the history of the United States of America (Kakutani, 2013). This had officially marked the end of the American Civil rights Movement. Legacy of the movement: The movement was successful in establishing a legacy of its own in many aspects, not only in the form of the tangible laws and changes but also a sense of freedom with a new dawn was ushered by the united people of the United States of America. Today most of the members of the black community are allowed to go to schools, colleges, public places, and the era of racial tension is almost over but the total eradication of this disease has yet not taken place (Russell, 2013). No other community has suffered because of racial discrimination than the black community of this nation. Recent killings and violence subjected to the black school and college goers by the cops show a different picture. According to Legendary basketball player, LeBron James, racism has no religion and it targets every black person from the prince to the pauper. He recently said to the media that, No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in Am erica - it's tough ("LeBron James: Racism is 'part of America'", 2018). He has recently been a victim of racism when his house was attacked in broad day light in the United States. Although, the impact and the legacy of the brave men like Dr. King, Rosa Parks cannot be tarnished but racism is still present in some of the prominent pockets of the United States. Analysis of the movement and inspirations: If we carefully analyze, the movement, we shall see that at the core of the movement, it was the principles of non violence of Dr. King which was able to bring a growth of conscience in this war of putting an end to racial discrimination. His ideals and involvement were one of the most significant aspects of the success of this movement. Dr. King was a devout servant of the non violence. He was greatly influenced by the ideals of non violence preached by the great Indian freedom fighter, Mahatma Gandhi. When we delve deeper into this scenario, it can be seen that Dr. Kings methodologies had a positive impact on the movement. Most significantly his famous speech, I have a dream had cemented his legacy as a leader of peace non violence. One of the famous excerpts of the iconic speech which resounded with the black community was, I have a dream that one day my four little children will live in a country where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of thei r character (King, 2017).The boycott of the bus, the sit in campaigns, the infinite peaceful marches in that time period in defiance of black atrocity had an important non violent connection underlying each of them. Perhaps it can be argued that King was accepted dearly by the Whites because of his peaceful protest methods more than the methodologies of Malcolm X and his Nation of Islam (Kimmel, 2017). Moreover, Malcolm X was sentenced to prison for burglary when he was just twenty one years old, and there in the prison, he had encountered the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam. He was impressed upon by his teachings of white people being devil and a black person could not live with them. These assertive teachings had a profound role to play in the ideologies and working of Malcolm X. Here the non violent teachings and methods of Martin Luther King were gleefully accepted by both the black and white folks of the United States. When seen critically, the peac eful and disciplined side of the black community was exposed in these tested hours. The entire world bears testimony to this fact that the black folks were kind, sympathetic, disciplined, united and were genuine peace lovers who have been constantly tagged as the violent creators by the whites since time immemorial (Silva, 2015). It was because of the major role played by King and his scions that the peaceful protests of Selma to Montgomery and the march to Lincoln Memorial to Washington had happened in such a peaceful way. It was pretty evident that specially in the Selma movement that the ruckus and the violence in the form of tear gas and attack dogs were being created by the oppressors and not by the oppressed which mainly consisted of black people mostly old and young men and women in defiance of racism (Bonilla Rosa, 2015). Views about Americans: A recent poll was conducted by telephone among a random sample of 1207 adults nationwide across the United States, on behalf of CBS news by SSRS Media, P.A("Have the goals of the civil rights movement have been achieved?", 2018). A number of significant facts were brought into the limelight because of this poll survey. It had aimed at evaluation of the prevalence of the civil rights movement on the modern United States of today. The interaction between black and whites had seen astonishing results, only eight in ten whites have close black friends, whereas, blacks themselves are more likely to have more number of white close friends. In the terms of the progress since the movement took place, three in four Americans believe theres been real progress since the 1960s in the context of racial discrimination (Woodson, 2017). There are stark differences and beliefs by race. Nearly three in four whites think blacks and whites are treated in a similar way, when it comes to voting, while 57 percent of blacks have more trouble voting than their white counterparts. These can tell a lot about the Americans about their mindset regarding racism. Stains of racism can still be found in American heartland, although in a subdued way due to advancement and globalization (Harris, 2015). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the heroic achievements of Stalwarts like Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and countless others were instrumental in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It is largely due to them that the black community of United States are living and breathing in an air of freedom and democracy. The sit in campaigns, bombings of the four innocent girls, Rosa Parks staunch defiance of refusing to sacrifice her bus seat, March to Selma and the March to Washington for jobs and freedom, all of them had equal and important role to play in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However it is a shame that still today, diseases like racism is still marginally present in the United States. The dream of Dr. King is yet to be completely fulfilled. Inequality still remains. The average income of colored folks is still well below that of their white counterparts. Even today college-educated colored people earn less than their white co unterparts. The complete eradication of Racism is yet to be done and the dream is yet to be achieved. References: Alderman, D. H., Kingsbury, P., Dwyer, O. J. (2013). Reexamining the Montgomery bus boycott: Toward an empathetic pedagogy of the civil rights movement.The Professional Geographer,65(1), 171-186. Andrews, K. T., Gaby, S. (2015, June). Local protest and federal policy: The impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. InSociological Forum(Vol. 30, No. S1, pp. 509-527). Austin, A. (2013). the unfinished march.Washington DC: Economic Policy Institute. Bonilla, Y., Rosa, J. (2015). # Ferguson: Digital protest, hashtag ethnography, and the racial politics of social media in the United States.American Ethnologist,42(1), 4-17. Coburn, C. (2015). The Selma Effect: Catholic Nuns and Social Justice 50 Years On.Global Sisters Report. Retrieved November,11, 2016. Foner, E. (2013).Give Me Liberty! An American History: Seagull Fourth Edition(Vol. 1). WW Norton Company. Garrow, D. J. (2015).Bearing the cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the southern Christian leadership conference. Open Road Media. Harris, F. C. (2015). The next civil rights movement?.Dissent,62(3), 34-40. Have the goals of the civil rights movement have been achieved?. (2018).Cbsnews.com. Retrieved 10 March 2018, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/have-the-goals-of-the-civil-rights-movement-have-been-achieved/ Kakutani, M. (2013). The lasting power of Dr. Kings Dream speech.The New York Times. Kimmel, M. (2017).Manhood in America. Oxford University Press. King Jr, M. L. (2017).The measure of a man. Pickle Partners Publishing. King, M. L. (2016).The Radical King(Vol. 11). Beacon Press. LeBron James: Racism is 'part of America'. (2018).Aljazeera.com. Retrieved 10 March 2018, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/lebron-james-racism-part-america-170601043912734.html Rugh, J. S., Massey, D. S. (2014). Segregation in post-civil rights America: Stalled integration or end of the segregated century?.Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race,11(2), 205-232. Russell, K. M., Lamme, M. O. (2013). Public relations and business responses to the civil rights movement.Public Relations Review,39(1), 63-73. Silva, C. (2015). LAURYN HILL. Tindall, G. B., Shi, D. E. (2016).America: A narrative history. WW Norton Company. Woodson, A. N. (2017). There Aint No White People Here Master Narratives of the Civil Rights Movement in the Stories of Urban Youth.Urban Education,52(3), 316-342.