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History essay civil rights movement
History essay civil rights movement
History grade 12 civil rights movement
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In “It’s Hard for Me to Get Behind Black Lives Matter” Barbara Reynolds writes about a significant divide between her generation and that of the Black Lives Matter movement. She explains how the civil rights generation of the 60’s would love to support BLM, but the strategy in place is devastating to their movement. The author uses Aristotelian argument to appeal to the emotions of the readers and perhaps summon feeling of nostalgia to help make her case. Reynolds stresses to her target audience the BLM group, if they wish to be taken seriously, the movement must heed the advice of the older wiser generations who survived situations like these. Reynolds makes a strong argument stating “The times may be different, but the messages are all too similar” furthermore, a leader is needed to drive home that message for BLM. Reynolds starts by immediately drawing a distinction between the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and the BLM movement of today. This also allows her to establish credibility with her readers by interjecting some personal experiences into the argument. The author appeals to popularity when she …show more content…
draws on a quote from rapper Tef Poe stating “This ain’t your grandparents’ civil rights movement” which seems to express exactly how the younger generation feels about today’s civil injustices. While she does concede that her generation may admire the courage and the cause of these young activists, Reynolds makes it clear they cannot support their methods. She states “The baby Boomers who drove the success of the civil rights movement want to get behind Black Lives Matter, but the group’s confrontational and divisive tactics make it difficult” which is a perfect synopsis of the problem in the BLM movement. These older generations or the “baby Boomers” were trained to be civil and passive as they protested ensuring there was no violence from their activist. Reynolds describes the importance of controlling one’s emotions in such a situation using self-control and wit to literally survive the protest. Another important aspect lost on today’s generation is how you present yourself to the public and the community. Reynolds asserts in her day protesters dressed in church clothes while showing the police and the community respect even if they were being treated horribly. Reynolds argument makes clear this approach was successful, all one need do is look to history to see how protestors conducted themselves to eventually achieve their desired outcome. All of the authors claims up to this point are based on her opinions and offer little if any fact to support her arguments. The Black Lives Matter movement is fundamentally different in approach from the baby Boomer, generation however.
BLM shows no respect for law enforcement, which only exacerbates the situation for the activists. The young protesters show up sagging their pants and looking like thugs forcing police and the community to think negatively toward them, again making their struggle that much tougher. Furthermore, the protests often turn violent and destructive again becoming detrimental to the message of BLM. How is anyone to take seriously and listen to a movement the burns down buildings and shoots at cops, Reynolds asks? Here the author attempts an appeal to logic to persuade her readers. She does acknowledge that true at heart BLM activists may not be the ones taking part in all the violence and unrest, but not one of them has condemned the actions
either. Reynolds claims another potential hindrance to the BLM movement is the lack of spiritual leaders. The author uses an appeal to tradition and attempts to draws a direct link between the success of the civil rights movement of the 60’s and presence of strong spiritual leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. Reynolds claims that the respectability of these leaders helped lend credence to the cause and gain traction with other leaders in government. Comparatively, BLM has no such leaders to speak of yet whether they are spiritual or otherwise. This lack of respected leadership prevents any gains for the cause and wastes any momentum the movement may have gained. Reynolds fortifies her argument by using the words of Oprah “What I’m looking for is some kind of leadership to come out of this to say, ‘This is what we want. This is what has to change, and these are the steps that we need to take to make these changes, and this is what we’re willing to do to get it.” expanding on the fact the movement needs and many supporting the cause wants to see a strong leader guide this down the right path. She uses Oprah’s quote to attempt an appeal to authority for her readers hoping that someone as important and popular as Oprah Winfrey would be enough to lend credence to here argument. Reynolds final and perhaps most important thought is to acquire and then put to good use the knowledge of these elders who have lived through this. She highlights the tragic loss of civil rights movement giants Maya Angelou, Julian Bond and Louis Stokes, who took all their wisdom and experience with them. She feels if only these young activists could have learned from them, then the tactics of today’s civil rights movements would be extremely different. The author argues the generation gap is ever growing and with that a tragic loss of knowledge will continue to occur, knowledge that may save thousands of young lives. Reynolds claims, if in some way that gap can be bridged and a respect can be established, the baby Boomers would gladly share their wisdom and support to help the youth through these troubling times. Reynolds makes excellent use of emotional and cultural influences throughout her article to argue for reform to the fledgling Black Lives Matter movement. Drawing on her on life experience and the wisdom of her generation, she seeks to help guide and support the young activists of today who have yet to find their true voice.
The forties and fifties in the United States was a period dominated by racial segregation and racism. The declaration of independence clearly stated, “All men are created equal,” which should be the fundamental belief of every citizen. America is the land of equal opportunity for every citizen to succeed and prosper through determination, hard-work and initiative. However, black citizens soon found lack of truth in these statements. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 rapidly captured national headlines of civil rights movement. In the book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, the author, Anne Moody describes her experiences, her thoughts, and the movements that formed her life. The events she went through prepared her to fight for the civil right.
The All Lives Matter supporters believe that black people who were killed recently showed violence against the policemen and they were not innocents. The president of Amherst College Republicans Robert Lucido responses, “First, the Black Lives Matter group was originally titled ‘F--- the Police.’ The organizers of the Awareness week claimed that every 28 hours a black man is killed by a law enforcement officer, but they never mentioned that a law enforcement officer is killed every 48 hours in the line of duty. The organizers may have thought it clever, but such a title is utterly shameful” (Lucido). The author uses ethos by showing facts in his response that illustrates the opposite of what Black Lives Matter group claimed; however, these
The book, “My Soul Is Rested” by Howell Raines is a remarkable history of the civil rights movement. It details the story of sacrifice and audacity that led to the changes needed. The book described many immeasurable moments of the leaders that drove the civil rights movement. This book is a wonderful compilation of first-hand accounts of the struggles to desegregate the American South from 1955 through 1968. In the civil rights movement, there are the leaders and followers who became astonishing in the face of chaos and violence. The people who struggled for the movement are as follows: Hosea Williams, Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, and others; both black and white people, who contributed in demonstrations for freedom rides, voter drives, and
In 1955, C. Vann Woodward published the first edition of his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. The book garnered immediate recognition and success with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. eventually calling it, “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” An endorsement like this one from such a prominent and respect figure in American history makes one wonder if they will find anything in the book to criticize or any faults to point out. However, with two subsequent editions of the book, one in August 1965 and another in October 1973—each adding new chapters as the Civil Rights movement progressed—one wonders if Dr. King’s assessment still holds up, if indeed The Strange Career of Jim Crow is still the historical bible of the civil rights movement. In addition, one questions the objectivity of the book considering that it gained endorsements from figures who were promoting a cause and because Woodward had also promoted that same cause.
Recently you have received a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Dr. King’s letter he illustrates the motives and reasoning for the extremist action of the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960’s. In the course of Dr. King’s letter to you, he uses rhetorical questioning and logistical reasoning, imagery and metaphors, and many other rhetorical devices to broaden your perspectives. I am writing this analysis in hopes you might reconsider the current stance you have taken up regarding the issues at hand.
The plight of the civil rights movement stands as one of the most influential and crucial elements to African-American history. We can accredit many activist, public speakers, and civil rights groups, to the equality and civil rights that African-American men and women are able to have in this country today. We see repeated evidence of these historical movements describes in fiction, plays, TV, and many other forms of media and literature. An artistic license is provided to many authors developing these concepts amongst their writing. When examining specific characters and literary works you can see an indirect comparison to the personality traits, actions, decisions, and journey to that of real-life historical figures.
Thesis: McGuire argues that the Civil Rights movement was not led just by the strong male leaders presented to society such as Martin Luther King Jr., but is "also rooted in African-American women 's long struggle against sexual violence (xx)." McGuire argues for the "retelling and reinterpreting (xx)" of the Civil Rights movement because of the resistance of the women presented in her text.
Sometimes, when all else is lost, hope can be the only thing left guiding a movement. This is exactly what happened to the people in John Lewis’s March trilogy. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the people pushing for equal rights for African Americans had many things taken away from them including their freedom, their physical possessions, their dignity, sometimes even the lives of their friends or family members. There was one thing, however, which could never be taken away from them: hope. The events illustrated in the March Trilogy prove that hope was the reason that the people in the Civil Rights Movement had the will to keep pushing for equal rights.
Lawson, Steven F., and Charles M. Payne. Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. 140. Print.
In the Wall Street Journal, leadership responsibility is generally deflected to the black communities themselves, evoking a “do it yourself” mentality. The implications of this line of thought are huge because they excuse Americans at large from confronting the inequalities they have created in society, designating the violence in the riots as a consequence of factors relevant only to poor black communities. In “Campaign 92” John Buchanan is quoted saying that he strongly apposes social programs and thinks that they actually hinder impoverished communities’ ability to improve their own situation. By downplaying the power of the government, opinions like this one take pressure off politicians to lead reform. Other articles such as “The Los Angeles Riots --- Who Speaks for Blacks?” show a subtle continuation of these themes, though through a more liberal lens. This particular article was written by Dorothy Gaiter who is, herself, a black woman and a leader in the black community. It argues that the violence and disorder in black communities comes from a lack of modern black leaders. She cites the increase of blacks in power from 1960s to 1990s and reasons that therefore there should be more responsibility for black leaders to control and pacify the violent outbursts in the communities. The article prominently features a chart measuring “Black Progress in the White
Growing up in the post-Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, most US citizens have a broad and unspecific knowledge of this movement and its effects. Even fewer citizens know the causes and the driving factors of the movement. The Dredd Scott Decision, and Plessy v. Ferguson were two of the driving forces behind social change in the 1960s. There is a simple progression of American civil laws and the precedence they carry; likewise, the change in the American ideas of equality, and the interpretation of the 13th-15th amendments forged the way for these court cases to hold credence.
Harrison, Robert Pogue. “The Civil Rights Movement” . Chicago: U of Chicago, 2014. 98-111. Print.
The right of African American is an essential subject for many texts in any historical time period. Malcolm X and Danzy Senna both pick the discrimination of African American as their main point for their essays. In The Mulatto and Millenium, Danzy Senna tells her own stories about how she grows up as a black girl with a Wasp mother and a black-Mexican father. In another hand, From The Ballot or the Bullet is a speech of Malcolm to persuade African American to group together regardless religion to fight for their human right. Although From the Ballot or the Bullet (Malcolm X) and The Mulatto Millennium (Danzy Senna) share the same main idea and some rhetorical devices, each of them has some unique devices that make their essays more interesting and influenced.
Whenever people discuss race relations today and the effect of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, they remember the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was and continues to be one of the most i...
Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s. This movement started in centuries-long attempts by African slaves to resist slavery. After the Civil War American slaves were given basic civil rights. However, even though these rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment they were not federally enforced. The struggle these African-Americans faced to have their rights ...