The idea of using non-violence as a technique in the civil rights movement was the idea of Martin Luther King which branched from Ghandi’s belief of non-violence from the time he spent in India and his own Christian beliefs. A range of non-violent methods were used by the protestors. In 1955, the Montgomery Busy Boycott was the biggest protest to date and was the first major time that so many people had come together to overturn the Jim Crow laws. The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of non-violent protests in 1960 which led to the Woolworths department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in southern US as well as segregation in public areas being largely abandoned in Florida, Texas etc. The freedom rides were when civil rights activists rode interstate buses into the southern US in 1961 to test the supreme courts decision of ruling segregation on interstate transport illegal.
He once told of an experience he had riding a bus with his schoolteacher from Macon to Atlanta. "The driver started cursing us out and calling us black sons of bitches. I decided not to move at all, but my teacher pointed out that we must obey the law. So we got up and stood in the aisle the whole ninety miles to Atlanta. It was a night I'll never forget.
Even his most sympathetic white characters found it completely natural to regard blacks differently, for the racist preconceptions were everywhere and they permeated and changed the thinking of everyone in their path. Twain best demonstrated this theme through the interactions of others with his main black character, Jim. Jim was a slave owned by the widow who cared for Huck during the first part of the book. The widow was apparently a kind mistress and promised Jim that she would never sell him to the slave traders in New Orleans. However Jim overheard her one night saying that she planned do to just that, which is what prompted him to run away early on (Twain at 43).
In 1955, Rosa Parks was told to move out of a seat for a white man to sit in, but she refused, and she started getting well known, and also started working with Martin Luther King Jr. Emmett Till was killed because he flirted with a white woman at the woman’s husband’s store. The woman’s husband, Roy Bryant murdered him with his brother in law. The two articles talk about the lynching of Emmett Till, and how it happened. They express the two central messages in the same way. The documentary expresses it in a different way from the articles.
Yet, peaceful protests alone could not have achieved such success; factors such as federal intervention played a vital role in the achievement of success also. One example of how peaceful protest led to success in the name of civil rights was the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Starting in 1955 and lasting a whole year it drew attention to the inequalities in Montgomery. This campaign demonstrates the growth of Martin Luther King who represented peaceful protests as a whole, with his famous peaceful philosophy and clever tactics; one of these being creating elaborate protests to draw attention to the issues faced by blacks. The boycott bought 85% of the black community in Montgomery together and led to the establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) by King which continued to campaign for desegregation.
The Freedom Riders faced mob violence as they traveled from Atlanta to Montgomery. King’s speech on May 21 met in mob of violence. King collaborated with the Kennedy administration in support of enforcing the court decision of desegregation in interstate transportation facilities. Kennedy administration sent in national guardsmen to aid federal marshals and police officials in Montgomery. However, President Kennedy was criticized for changing his mind of participating in the campaign after this.
A Chief Lieutenant Of The Tuskegee Machine This essay tells the life and work of Charles Banks, Booker T. Washington's chief lieutenant in Mississippi; he was an African American leader in the state and most influential black businessmen in the early decades of the 20th century. This book was to enlighten people about who Charles Banks was and how important he was to our history. Charles Banks was born March 25, 1973, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, to Daniel A. and Sallie Ann Banks. His parents had been slaves in Mississippi. In A Chief Lieutenant of the Tuskegee Machine, David H. Jackson Jr. tells the life of Charles Banks leading African American entrepreneur and adherent to Booker T. Washington's strategy of self-help and racial uplift in the Jim Crow South.
His grandparents tried to raise him on strong southern Baptist principles and provided him with the desire to get a good education. When Bill was four his mother returned to Hope where she met and married Roger Clinton Sr. A few years later they moved to Hot Springs, and attended a catholic school, despite his Baptist upbringing. When he was nine years old he changed schools and went to Ramble Elementary. When Bill was ten Roger Clinton Jr. was born, and at age fifteen Bill took his step fathers last name in hopes of helping his mothers troubled
Carter was already speaking up for the less fortunate when he was Governor. He spoke out against racial segregation in his Governor’s inauguration speech and worked on many reforms that help the people. He ensured that state aid to schools went to the poor areas of Georgia and not just to the wealthy. He set up programs for mentally handicapped children and made more programs available to convicts. Even as a governor Carter was a champion for the less fortunate.
After the Rosa Parks incident, she and King organised the black boycott of Montgomery bus system in 1955. Once King realised he was achieving more rights for black people he led non-violent protests throughout America. Eight years after the boycott, King led a protest in Birmingham, Alabama. However the white people in Alabama didn’t approve of this and it turned into a violent protest, and King was arrested for his participation in the protest. Along with King, police arrested 1000 other protesters and many were beat with whips and clubs.