In the history of the United States there have been many social changes that have occurred. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s was one of the most significant and important movements that fought for the equality of all people. Even before the abolition of slavery in 1863, race was a contentious issue for the people of the United States. The rights of people were violated purely on the basis of skin tone, and this discrimination was more or less tolerated. Unfortunately many of the changes that the movement fought for received a response of bitter violence from many white southerners. This racist opposition led to the violent deaths of some of the famous leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, but it also birthed two distinct groups of black …show more content…
The Black Panthers were a great example of this type of organization, as they felt that they had been passive long enough and needed to fight. They felt that standing down in the face of murders, lynchings, and violence was submission, and saw fighting back as a logical response. However, this organization also provided many community service programs to improve their communities from within. These programs are often not mentioned, overshadowed by their call to fight which was insignificant in comparison to the violence that they themselves faced. Many Black Panthers provided free breakfast to children in order for them to learn better and live healthier, a practice we see today in the National School Breakfast Program and Head Start programs. President Hoover even condemned the Black Panther’s Breakfast for Children Program, accusing it of being a front to “promote at least tacit support for the Black Panther Party among naive individuals”, and wanted to end it at all costs. Black Muslim groups were also perceived as posing a violent threat, as leaders like Malcolm X, stated consistently that blacks deserve change and equality and if they aren’t given it, they should take it. Although toward the end of his life he worked with Martin Luther King Jr and was more reconcilable, he was murdered. His death came not at the hands of white opposition, but from fundamental …show more content…
By no means did his death kill the fight for freedom and equality. All human beings should be treated with equity, judged by character and not by color. This is a message that is still being fought for today, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s is largely responsible for that fact. There is still debate today over what is more effective, violence versus resistance, and there is no clear answer. People are still getting arrested for civil disobedience, condemned for being too loud and too violent, and dismissed as “angry”, as if this excuses discriminatory
He did so many important things to create an equal environment for everyone. No matter what they looked like, talked like, what color there skin was, what gender they were, and what their sexuality was. Throughout his life, he changed the world. He helped make everything equal for all
After Martin Luther King Jr. `s assassination in 1968, as well as the growth of black militancy and improvements in black employment opportunities, the Civil Rights Movement began to lose momentum (“Davis”). Today, many groups of people believe that the Civil Rights Movement had two diverse effects. One effect being that new opportunities, power, and rights were acquired by blacks. However, some veterans believed that the movement fell short of addressing the economic needs of poor
On May 2, 1967, Huey P. Newton, the minister of defense of the Black Panthers, said that “the time has come for black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late” (Document F). The group had changed to a violent point of view after they saw nothing was happening when they were
Black Panthers The Black Panthers and SNCC were two very different black power groups leading into two different directions in the United States in the 1960s. SNCC stands for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee which was founded in 1960 to organize the protests of African American college students against segregation. The Black Panthers were a radical political organization ranked among the more militant in the 1960s. The Black Panthers though more radical impacted the African American civil rights movement more than the SNCC.
The civil rights movement was a non-violent protest to renew black rights. Great Leaders fought in peace with people without using their fists. History.com states, “Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence.” First, racial segregation in the South made it hard for African Americans to live and or do much of anything in white communities. In 1955 racial segregation continued in the Southern region of America.
Racism in America has been around for centuries however it was in the 1960's that the attitudes of many Black Americans started to quickly change and they realized they wanted equality. Out of this, The Civil Rights Movement emerged which was a peaceful social movement that strove for equal human rights for black Americans. The leader of the Civil Rights Movement is no one other than Martin Luther King Jr. In his book, Why We Can't Wait, King tries to convince Black Americans to realize their reality, remember their roots and important and mainly, to seek changes to social conditions and attitudes.
Based on what I read I can infer that Martin Luther King Jr was very successful with his and many others challenge, black rights. In his time black people were shot at beaten and bombed because they had a different skin color. I know this because in the biography of Martin Luther King Jr. it states, "He received threats on a daily bases. Everywhere he went he was in danger of physical attack. Many supporters of the civil rights were killed.
The tactics used civil rights movement of both the 1950’s and 1960’s were different helped them succeed in different ways. During the late 1950s the tactics that were used were political, while in the early in 1960s they used social and political tactics to get their goals achieved, but in the late 1960s the tactics that were used were primarily economic and social, In the 1950’s, the civil rights movement was very successful because activist showed the level of racism and segregation in the south. The tactics and resistance made in this time period helped achieve desegregation because and the resistance that the activists dealt with just made them become more aware in the media and hopefully spread nation wide.
Malcolm X and his ideals are arguably a representation of the transition from the early 1950 's non-violent movement for integration to a more aggressive black power movement. Evidence of this is shown through powerful strands of his novel “The Ballot or the Bullet” including when he writes, “I don 't mean go out and get violent, but at the same time you should never be non-violent unless you run into some non-violence.” (Malcolm 439). In writing that members of the civil rights movement should never be non-violent he does so facetiously. This excerpt indicates a call for violence as a more powerful method for achieving the equality he feels they deserve.
Throughout time, there have been groups of people that have been mistreated, and have organized movements that they hope will help them get the rights they deserve. Not only has this happened in the past, it happens everyday across the world. There are many minorities in our society and each day, these minorities stand up to the majority in a variety of ways. There’s also groups of people that have experienced the same things that make a minority. For example, women have recently been opening up about experiencing sexual assaults, standing up to the men that have assaulted them.
Many countries concurred with Luther King and agreed with his ideas because he made a difference for African-Americans and took a stand against racism. Yet the question today, over forty years later is: Was the African-American civil rights movement an overall success? Or is it the same now as it was back in 50’s and 60’s? For the purpose of this assignment the author will explore the literature and discuss the notion that racism and equality has changed as a result of the civil rights movement.
The Panthers were fighting for equal housing, jobs, employment, education, and an end of police brutality across the nation on blacks and their support of civil rights movement and equality for all blacks. Newton and Seale devised a 10 point plan to empower blacks focusing on their rights as citizens with some of their views being unrealistic ie: having blacks released from prison and protesting the Vietnam War and the killing of
Some, such as King, believed that life would be better with equality and integration. Others, such as X and the Black Panthers, desired the removal of black people from white society through any means necessary. The methods used by the movement were numerous, but the racism and inherent culture of discrimination in America shows that none of the means for change were entirely successful, and furthermore shows that America as a nation must continue to work towards tolerance and justice for
The most important decision of a leader is the style of leading they decide to use when inspiring others, or providing a vision for the future. By looking at the past, it is proven that some leadership styles are guaranteed to be more effective than others. The leadership style of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the Civil Rights provides significant evidence of how different styles of leading can turn out to be a major success or defeat. Malcolm X’s leadership style included using violence to protest against violence and unequal rights, as well as supporting the segregation of African Americans and the whites. Martin Luther King’s style included nonviolent marches and protests against violence, and peacefully fighting for integrating
Could you ever possibly imagine a time where you couldn’t use the same bathroom as some of your classmates because the had a different skin color? This time in history was known as the Civil Rights Movement, a movement from 1954-1954, in which people fought against racism. Although the Civil Rights Movement mainly affected African Americans, but involved all of American society. Because most racism against ancient African Americans took place in southern United States, civil rights was extremely important to African Americans who lived in the south. Racism was so widely spread it even found its way into professional sports.