American Law
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068939” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc385068939 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068940” Social Methods PAGEREF _Toc385068940 h 1
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068941” Economic Methods PAGEREF _Toc385068941 h 2
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068942” Political Methods PAGEREF _Toc385068942 h 3
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068943” What Worked PAGEREF _Toc385068943 h 3
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068944” What Didn’t Work, and Why PAGEREF _Toc385068944 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068945” Some Possible Alternatives PAGEREF _Toc385068945 h 4
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068946” The Outcomes PAGEREF _Toc385068946 h 5
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068947” Specific Methods Used To Suppress the Reformers PAGEREF _Toc385068947 h 6
HYPERLINK l “_Toc385068948” Summary PAGEREF _Toc385068948 h 6
IntroductionIn the 1960s, America fought for the second revolution in the streets through the civil rights movements. They fought against segregation of blacks socially, economically, and politically for this had destroyed them psychologically and physically. It was a fight that challenged American believes on the definition of liberty and justice for all. The prize was freedom and no American could afford to lose this objective. For over a century, America was segregated in ways of keeping whites and blacks apart by custom and by law.
Most blacks were laborers, lived in separated poor housing, and went to poor schools. They were delaminated socially and psychologically. Segregation had its rules, for example, whenever a black looked at a white woman there would be violence. Radical violence developed where black groups armed themselves against the system. Some of the blacks who fought in the Second World War demanded for justice upon coming back home. However, the system was not ready to hear their demands, and then in the 1950s, the inevitable happened.
Social MethodsThe mid-20th century witnessed the development of various social means by which the Black Americans, led by civil activists, demanded for the abolition of segregation and called for equality and justice for all. Amongst the peaceful methods used by the civil activists included peaceful protests, picketing, and boycotts where black college students resolutely waged sit in campaigns in various southern lunch counters in the mid-1950s. In 1954 the now infamous seamstress Rosa Parks caused a public stir when she declined to give up her seat to a white man as was established in law. Her arrest set off a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery buses.
In 1957, Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) started organizing civil rights movements, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) backed the four students who instigated the sit in campaigns in the southern lunch counters. Their action grabbed media attention triggering a deluge of protests. The nonviolence sit in campaigns by students was not only used in desegregating public places but also gave numerous students an avenue to get involved in the movement.
In 1961, CORE (The Congress of Racial Equity) exploited the rising student activism by sending volunteers on free rides to test laws prohibiting segregation on buses. Community based projects were also started to contest barriers that segregated against black voters. Martin Luther King emerged as the leader of this civil rights movement and advocated for peaceful nonviolence means such as boycotts and picketing which spread to the entire southern communities. Unlike the violence means that were started in the late 1960s, the peaceful non violence means never subdivided the blacks; they were in solidarity and achieved more than the violent radical groups that emerged in the late 60s.
Economic MethodsFollowing the arrest of Rosa Parks in 1954 when she declined to give up her seat to a white man as was established in law, there was a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery buses. This started four days after she had been arrested. In spite of the taunting and other ways of harassments from the whites, the black community persevered until the courts intervened and abolished the segregation laws in in December 1956. Unlike violence means, these public boycott of the buses demonstrated that through determination and unity the blacks could make their voices be heard and thus impart change. Economic methods also brought down the whites’ transportation business, especially those who decided to embrace the court’s decision.
Political MethodsThe order by President John F. Kennedy in June 1963 stated that legislation should be fast tracked to abolish all segregation laws in the country. Civil movement leaders led by Martin Luther King made a match to Washington for a mass gathering in the summer of 1963 where they pressed for the passage of civil rights legislation in order to promote economic emancipation of the blacks. The match to Washington gathered about a half a million people whites and blacks before the Lincoln memorial where Martin Luther King delivered his now infamous speech, “I have a dream.” Political methods were dangerous because they exposed the civil rights movement leaders to assassination unlike the economic and social means.
What WorkedFollowing the protests sparked by Rosa Park’s arrest NAACP enlisted the assistance of a black eloquent preacher Martin Luther King to organize mass public rallies that led to the abolition of the segregation laws in 1956 by the courts. Between 1955 and 1960, the Blacks civil rights movements started registering lots of successes. When young volunteers were sent by CORE to test the implementation of bus segregation laws, they met opposition. In spite of their observance of nonviolence means, most of them were jailed. One group met a harrowing experience in Alabama when white thugs and when the students came out they were beaten up burned their bus. Despite these incidents, they soldiered on until President John Kennedy interceded and directed that laws barring segregation in interstate travelling should be enforced. The media extensively covered the harrowing experience meted on protesters in Birmingham, where women and innocent children were hurled through the air with hose firewater. Within a month, the segregation laws in the city had been repealed. The aftermath of Birmingham’s crude act instigated protests countrywide and this led to a televised speech by President John F. Kennedy on June 12, 1963 where he pledged to align his government based on civil liberties. He also called on congress to fast track a bill that would ban segregation and guarantee civil liberties for all the American citizens.
What Didn’t Work, and WhyIn the late 1960s, blacks started feeling that that repel of segregation laws through legislation and courts had not worked for them. The blacks were still crippled politically and economically because the repealed laws only appeared so in paper and not on the ground. Some of the new leaders of the black empowerment movement led by Malcolm X denounced Martin Luther King’s peaceful nonviolence means. They now advocated for violence means in which the blacks had to secure their rights by all possible means. Organizations such as CORE and SNCC started taking up militant agendas. In comparison to the social peaceful means, the violence means exploded riots in ghetto areas where millions of blacks resided. Many were killed in comparison to the peaceful means and not much was gained in comparison to what had been gained through peaceful means.
Some Possible AlternativesThe leaders who advocated for peaceful non-violence means in the 1950s and those who advocated for violence means in the late 60s should have sat down and strategized on the best approach going forward. This is because their division fractured the entire movement for black civil rights despite the gains it had made. They should have used legislation to empower the black voters and politicians for this would have gained more attention in the public.
The OutcomesFrom 1954, the blacks started realizing the fruits of their efforts, for example, in 1957 Congress for the first time passed the civil rights act, which created a civil rights division to enforce various rights through the Justice department. There was white backlash against the Black civil rights movement. A case in point, which forms the movement’s lowest point, was the 1960s images that made their way throughout the world of four innocent girls whose lives were ended by a bomb that slit the 16th street Baptist Church where they attended Sunday school.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), moved to court in 1954 where an unprecedented judgment was made in the Brown vs. Board of education case. Segregation in public schools seemed to be unconstitutional and was thus abolished. The Southern whites responded to the burgeoning black rights movements such as the SCLC by closing ranks in opposition.
Legions of young black Americans surged to participate in rallies, boycotts, and demonstrations. As their expectations enlarged the rising black protests prompted extensive media coverage which brought black demands before the public platform like never before. Following his support for the emancipation of blacks and plans to abolish segregation laws, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated five month after his televised speech where he aligned his government to the realization of civil liberties for all Americans. Consequently, the civil liberties bill languished in Congress. However, after a lot of political bickering President Johnson signed it into law in 1964.
Specific Methods Used To Suppress the ReformersPeaceful matchers were beset by snarling police dogs and fire hoses. Young innocent children and women in Birmingham endured brutality when a racist police chief turned fire hoses on them. He hurled them through the air. Media coverage of this harrowing event shocked viewers worldwide. Most of the black liberties movement leaders and their followers experienced arrests, maim, and assassinations.
SummaryIn today’s world, Citizens can engage the system through the ballot box to bring down a government that does not support civil liberties. In the 21st century, voters do not vote on the boundaries of color, but for parties and individuals that support their ideals and human rights. While democrats supported gay rights, the republicans banned gay votes on the ballot boxes of their key swing states in the run up to the 2008 elections. This swept into Washington as for the first time in history, there emerged a Black American as President. Lastly, Civic education by civil rights groups can also work in the current dispensation to inform citizens of their rights and freedoms.
