History

Discussion #10: The Struggle for Civil Rights

Throughout the 1950s African Americans in northern cities grew increasingly active in opposing discrimination and in protesting white resistance to black progress in housing, education, and employment. Martin Luther King and others embarked on a campaign of nonviolent resistance and demonstrations, which spread to the south. Some of the leadership in the Deep South responded with brutal force, taking a militant stand against change, and in defiance of federal legislation to grant African Americans their civil rights.

In order to prepare for this discussion forum:

Review and identify the relevant sections of Chapter 29 that support your discussion.
Read the linked essay DEBATING THE PAST: The Civil Rights Movement
Review the material contained in the site Responses Coming from the Civil Rights Movement.
After you have completed your readings post your response to only one of the following questions:

Identify and list some of the factors that contributed to the success of the Civil Rights movement. Choose one, and discuss its significance to the movement, and explain why you made this particular choice.
“Ironically, the reaction of many southern whites to the civil rights activities may have actually served to help the blacks’ cause.” Agree or Disagree with this statement. Make sure that you provide evidence to support your argument.
In order to earn the full 100 points (100%) for this assignment, you must:

Directly and completely answer at least ONE question. Please make sure that you clearly indicate which question you have chosen to discuss. Clearly and accurately explain your answer based on factual information contained in the assigned readings. (80 points)
Students must respond to at least one fellow student’s posting explaining the reason(s) for their agreement or disagreement, with the arguments that have been presented, in order to get full credit for the discussion. (20 points)
When posting your response to a fellow student’s comment, please try whenever possible, to select the question that you did not address for your discussion.
Make sure that all statements are supported with facts from the reading selections.

ANSWER

The Struggle for Civil Rights

Factors that contributed to the success of the Civil Rights movement

• The legal strategy of the NAACP
• The willingness of President Kennedy and Johnson
• Television coverage
• Black power
• Johnson’s great society
• Reforms in the Supreme Court
• Youth movements
• Protests and Demonstrations

Protests and Demonstrations

In a struggle for social justice, few tools can be effective in bringing success that staging protests, demonstrations, non-violence, marches, sit-ins, and bringing the issue to the attention of the public. Civil rights leaders used protests, marches, non-violence, sit-ins, and demonstrations to bring to the attention of Americans the plight that black Americans were undergoing. Many years of inaction had made the oppressors emboldened. Laws of oppression had been engrained in the American system both covertly and overtly. Open segregation laws, Jim Crow laws, and other tools of oppression could not be wished away without considerable action (Davidson et al., 2015). Civil Rights leaders, therefore, took action and organized inconsistent campaigns that pressured the public and the administration to force their hands into making considerable changes.

The Civil Rights Movement organized mass protests against racial segregation and discrimination. Protests were organized in various cities and towns in the United States. Some protests ended violently since counter-protesters who wanted the status quo attacked the peaceful civil rights protesters. The increase in violence even made it hard for anyone to ignore since even President Kennedy who was not keen on enacting sweeping civil rights legislation was persuaded by the violence and open discrimination (Andrews & Gaby, 2015). I chose this factor because the marches proved essential because they provided spectacles that drove attention to the issues and offered ground for leaders to articulate their demands to the public. The March on Washington which incorporated more than 240,000 people proved very essential in the struggle for Civil Rights. This march provided the ground for key leaders in the movement to articulate their needs. It is here that Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech was given sparking widespread support for the movement.

References

Andrews, K. T., & Gaby, S. (2015). Local protest and federal policy: The impact of the civil        rights movement on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 30, pp. 509- 527).

Davidson, J. W., DeLay, B., Heyrman, C. L., Lytle, M. H., & Stoff, M. B. (2015). U.S: A narrative history. McGraw-Hill Education. New York.