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History grade 12 essay civil rights movement
Civil rights movement in the usa
Civil rights movement in the usa
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“Whatsoever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do. She is clothed by her Maker with the same rights, the same duties.” - Sarah Grimke
In the books The Invention of Wings and A Raisin in the Sun, Sarah Grimke and Beneatha Younger were both determined women who pushed past gender barriers in their own lives, which helped them lead the way for women in the future to follow in their footsteps. These two ladies were inspirations to women all throughout the country and became pioneers in the women’s rights movement. By pursuing her dreams, Beneatha gave way for women to accomplish their goals in regards to careers. Similarly, Sarah Grimke set a movement in motion for women to gain equal rights, which was
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almost unheard of during that time period. Both of these extraordinary characters defied society’s expectations of women and set inspiring examples for women in the future, which is why they were so influential in the effort to destroy gender barriers. To begin, Beneatha Younger is a strong, independent women who wanted to make a difference and worked hard to achieve her goals despite struggles. In the play A Raisin in the Sun, she ignored society’s old-fashioned standards and decided to become a doctor, which was an exceptionally controversial move on her part. Most of her family and friends told her that she should just give up on her dream of becoming a doctor and marry rich, but she went against their wishes and instead focused on accomplishing her goal. She defended herself saying, “Listen, I’m going to be a doctor. I’m not worried about who I’m going to marry yet - if I ever get married… Oh, I probably will… but first I’m going to be a doctor, and George, for one, still thinks that’s pretty funny. I couldn’t be bothered with that. I am going to be a doctor and everybody around here better understand that!” (Hansberry, 50). By telling her family that she is not willing to give up her dream of being a doctor in order to marry someone, she is showing that she doesn’t want to conform to societal standards and just be a housewife all her life. In addition to this, she believes that she should marry someone for love, not just because the rest of the world thinks it is abnormal for her to be single at this point in her life. By refusing to marry solely for wealth, she is also refusing to accept gender norms, which exemplifies her wish to be her own person and not base her life decisions on what others think she should do. All-in-all, Beneatha’s actions in this play show that she is independent and is willing to work hard to reach her dream of becoming a doctor, despite society’s expectations for women in America, all of which makes her an excellent role model. In a similar respect, Sarah Grimke defied gender roles, fought for women to have equal rights, and followed her mind rather than her heart, which was a rare occurrence for women during that time.
Not only did she choose to fulfill her goal of abolishing slavery over her desire to marry Israel, someone she cared deeply about, but she also forced her way out of the slave-based society in Charleston and became a Quaker, and then eventually an abolitionist who also felt strongly about equality. First, she was one of the most influential women to speak openly about racial and gender equality during the mid-1800’s. Alongside her sister Nina, Sarah held lectures where she told women about the ludicrous barriers that were set in place to keep women, both white and black, from becoming equal members in society. By doing this, she defied all the people who told her to stop being difficult and just accept how things were in regards to slavery and inequality, which included most of her family, the members of her former Church, almost all of Charleston, and society as a whole. A quote from one of her infamous pamphlets reads, “I address you as a repentant slaveholder of the South, one secure in the knowledge that the Negro is not chatted to be owned, but a person under God…” (Kidd, 323). In order to publicly state this, she had to have a lot of bravery and courage, since there were dangerous consequences involved in the pursuit of equality, especially amongst blacks. This piece of evidence proves that she was a trailblazer who did not let society’s expectations or threats get in her way of fighting for a cause that she felt strongly inclined to believe in. All-in-all, Sarah Grimke was played a pivotal role in the women’s rights movement by exceeding the expectations of women during her time and fighting for the equal rights of slaves as well as all
women. In conclusion, both Sarah Grimke and Beneatha Younger were motivated women who defied conventional standards for women during their time periods and, in doing so, became motivation for women that came after them to accomplish their goals despite what society may have to say about it. They stood up against gender barriers and worked hard to destroy them, leading the way for other women to follow suit. Beneatha, having followed her own dreams instead of listening to the opinions of those who felt she should have gotten married instead of becoming a doctor, inspired women all over the country to fight for gender equality in their careers and in the workplace. Sarah also helped motivate women by showing them, through her own efforts against slavery and gender inequality, that sticking up for what you believe in is always a viable option. Overall, Sarah Grimke and Beneatha Younger have succeeded in not only motivating, but also inspiring women throughout America to work hard for what they want and to fight for the change they want to see in the world, despite others who may try to stop them or bring them down.
In Julie Roy Jeffrey’s, The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism, the main argument is that although many historians have only focused on the male influence towards eliminating slavery, it was actually women who were the driving force and backbone of abolitionism. Jeffrey explores the involvement of women, both white and black, in the cause and uses research from letters, societal records, and personal diary entries to delve into what the movement meant in their lives. The first chapter of Jeffrey’s book is entitled “Recruiting Women into the Cause;” it goes into detail about how women first got involved in the abolitionist movement. This involvement mainly started in 1831 when women began submitting publications, such as poems, about anti-slavery in a newspaper, published by William Lloyd Garrison, entitled the Liberator. In 1832, Garrison started a women’s section/department in his newspaper in the hopes that it would encourage women to get involved.
Susan B. Anthony was indeed a strong, driven, and disciplined woman who had a great desire and passion to abolish slavery. Upon meeting Elizabeth Cady Stanton she became immersed in the women's rights movement, dedicating her life to obtaining equal rights for all. Many men pursued Susan but she never married, she did not want to be "owned" by a man. Instead she chose to dedicate her entire life to this cause.
She was direct and possessed strength during a time when this was unheard of by a woman especially a black woman. A reformer of her time, she believed Negroes had to
...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.
Beginning in the 1830s, white and black women in the North became active in trying to end slavery. These Women were inspired in many cases by the religious revivals sweeping the nation. While women in the movement at first focused their efforts upon emancipation, the intense criticsm that greeted their activities gradually pushed some of them toward an advocacy of women's rights as well. They discovered that they first had to defend their right to speak at all in a society in which women were expected to restrict their activities to a purely domestic sphere. Angelina and Sarah Grimke , left South Carolina because they were swept up in the religious current called the "Second Great Awakening" and felt that Philadelphia Quakers offered a surer form of saving their souls than the Protestant ministers of Charleston. During their influential speaking tour in 1837, about the anti-slavery movement, everyone wanted to hear them, so they broke the prohibitions against women speaking in public and, when clergymen opposed such public speaking by women, they launched the women's rights movement.
Anne Hutchinson has long been seen as a strong religious dissenter who paved the way for religious freedom in the strictly Puritan environment of New England. Another interpretation of the controversy surrounding Anne Hutchinson asserts that she was simply a loving wife and mother whose charisma and personal ideas were misconstrued to be a radical religious movement. Since this alleged religious movement was led by a woman, it was quickly dealt with by the Puritan fathers as a real threat. Whatever her motives, she was clearly a great leader in the cause of religious toleration in America and the advancement of women in society. Although Anne Hutchinson is historically documented to have been banished as a religious dissenter, the real motive for her persecution was that she challenged the traditional subordinate role of women in Puritan society by expressing her own religious convictions.
Up until and during the mid -1800’s, women were stereotyped and not given the same rights that men had. Women were not allowed to vote, speak publically, stand for office and had no influence in public affairs. They received poorer education than men did and there was not one church, except for the Quakers, that allowed women to have a say in church affairs. Women also did not have any legal rights and were not permitted to own property. Overall, people believed that a woman only belonged in the home and that the only rule she may ever obtain was over her children. However, during the pre- Civil war era, woman began to stand up for what they believed in and to change the way that people viewed society (Lerner, 1971). Two of the most famous pioneers in the women’s rights movement, as well as abolition, were two sisters from South Carolina: Sarah and Angelina Grimké.
Despite the law she began to travel and lecture across the nation for the women's right to vote. She also campaigned for the abolition of slavery, the right for women to own their own property and retain their earnings, and she advocated for women's labor organizations.
After many years of battling for equality among the sexes, people today have no idea of the trails that women went through so that women of future generations could have the same privileges and treatment as men. Several generations have come since the women’s rights movement and the women of these generations have different opportunities in family life, religion, government, employment, and education that women fought for. The Women’s Rights Movement began with a small group of people that questioned why human lives, especially those of women, were unfairly confined. Many women, like Sojourner Truth and Fanny Fern, worked consciously to create a better world by bringing awareness to these inequalities. Sojourner Truth, prominent slave and advocate
After the success of antislavery movement in the early nineteenth century, activist women in the United States took another step toward claiming themselves a voice in politics. They were known as the suffragists. It took those women a lot of efforts and some decades to seek for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In her essay “The Next Generation of Suffragists: Harriot Stanton Blatch and Grassroots Politics,” Ellen Carol Dubois notes some hardships American suffragists faced in order to achieve the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Along with that essay, the film Iron-Jawed Angels somehow helps to paint a vivid image of the obstacles in the fight for women’s suffrage. In the essay “Gender at Work: The Sexual Division of Labor during World War II,” Ruth Milkman highlights the segregation between men and women at works during wartime some decades after the success of women suffrage movement. Similarly, women in the Glamour Girls of 1943 were segregated by men that they could only do the jobs temporarily and would not able to go back to work once the war over. In other words, many American women did help to claim themselves a voice by voting and giving hands in World War II but they were not fully great enough to change the public eyes about women.
...s, and beliefs. She spoke on behalf of women’s voting rights in Washington D.C, Boston, and New York. She also was the first speaker for the foundation, National Federation of Afro-American Women. On top of all of it, she helped to organize the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (blackhistorystudies.com 2014).
The thought of women having equal rights has caused major controversy throughout American History. Women have fought for their rights for many years, wanting to be more than a wife or a maid. Women’s Rights Movement was an effort by many women around the U.S standing up for themselves. Feminists like Charlotte Perkins Gilman had a big impact on the movement by writing stories and articles, she spread awareness by writing these. Throughout this Movement women got the right to vote, and many more opportunities they were not offered before.
Berkin, Carol. "Angelina and Sarah Grimke: Abolitionist Sisters." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014
Slave Rebellions were becoming common and one of the most famous was Nat Turner’s Rebellion. Led by slave preacher Nat Turner, who “became convinced that he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom”, a group of almost 80 slaves murdered over 60 white men, women, and children (Slave Rebellions). Maria Stewart was the first black women reported to have delivered a public speech (Coddon). She wrote a manuscript to a black audience that encouraged them not to “kill, burn, or destroy”, but rather “improve your talents… show forth your powers of mind (Coddon).” She wanted black people to know that both God and our founding documents affirmed them as equal with other men (Coddon). Being a black woman herself, she addressed other black women stating “ O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! Awake! Arise! No longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves. Show forth the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties (Coddon).” Stewart believed that the world wasn 't going to change for the blacks, that the blacks had to change for the world, but by changes she meant show the world their worthiness and fight for their equality. Another woman fighting for equality was Sojourner Truth. Truth, formerly known as Isabella and former slave, was singer and public speaker against slavery (Coddon). SHe was the only black delegate at the Worcester, Massachusetts women’s rights convention in 1850 (Coddon).
Shara Grimké uses religion in her document to defend her reasoning on why men and women should both be treated as equals. Although religion was also used by slave owners to solidify slavery I feel that Grimké not only helped her argument on equal rights for women but also helped defend the rights of slaves. Grimké states that “Women have been placed by John Quincy Adams, side by side with the slave…” that they were ranked with the oppressed, and that “Man has asserted and assumed authority over [them]” (Grimké 1838). So when Grimké used religion to explain why men and women should be equal she is also, in a way, helping slaves be seen as equals. At this time many still followed some type of Christianity, so using God to defend her argument