Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Civil rights movements women
Civils rights movement/ abolitionists
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Civil rights movements women
Mary Jane Mcleod was born on July 10, 1875, in Mayesville, South Carolina. She was a great educator and civil rights activist. Mary Mcleod Bethune was the only member of her family to go to school. She later earned a scholarship to the Scotia Seminary in North Carolina. She then started her lifelong career as a teacher. Bethune later became the creator of the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona, Florida, in 1904. She turned a school of only five students to more than two hundred and fifty. In 1923, the school was now for men and women and it was then known as Bethune-Cookman College. It was one of the very few places that blacks could obtain a college degree. Along with be a well renowned educator, she was the
Mary Breckenridge, born in 1881 was privileged with a good childhood and education in the United States and Europe. Her family traveled consistently with her father as a States Ambassador to Russia, which gave her a lot of experience to many different cultures. Renowned private tutors taught Mary and that is how she received most of her education as a child.
On July 16, 1854, an African-American woman named Elizabeth Jennings Graham stood up for herself and rode a white-only horse-drawn carriage. Just like Rosa Parks, she didn’t back down when someone told her to get off. I don’t know much about Graham, but I do know she is not mentioned in most history books. Rosa Parks is one of the most prominent figures in the civil rights movement, but many others were long forgotten about. Parks was very brave and stood up for what she believed in. Why are others like Parks left out of history books and why aren’t they mentioned in schools today? I researched Graham to learn more about her contribution to the process of dissolving segregation. She played a very important role and I wanted to figure out what exactly she did, how it was important, and why it is still important today, regardless if her story made it to the history books or not.
When Bessie graduated from high school, she enrolled in the Colored Agricultural and Normal University, which is now Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. But with money issues she had to drop out after her first semester because all her savings had run out. But she could have stayed and work, but her mother needed help at home so Bessie gave up school just to help her mom out at home. Not long after that she moved to Chicago in 1915, where her brother was then living, and attended beauty school. She spent her early years in World War 1 working as a manicurist at the White Sox Barber Shop. She operated a small but profitable chili parlor.
Mary MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on January the 15th 1842. She was the first child to Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald. Mary was one child out of 8 and spent most of her childhood years looking after and acting like a second mother to her siblings. The MacKillop family were quite poor so at the young age of 14, Mary got herself a job as a governess and as teacher at a Portland school. All the money Mary earned went towards her families everyday living. While working as a governess, Mary met Father Julian Tension Woods. By the time Mary had reached the age of 15 she had decided that she wanted to be a nun. She also wanted to devote her life to the poor and less fortunate. So upon meeting Father Julian Tension Woods she told him her hopes and dreams, and together they decided to set up a school. In 1861, they worked together and opened Australia's first free Catholic school. At the time only the rich could afford schooling. But at the school Mary opened anyone was welcome. Mary was a great teacher and became very popular within the community. Although Mary was very pleased with her work she still felt a religious calling. So Mary and Father Woods started their own order, 'The Sisters of St. Joseph.' In 1867 Mary then moved to Adelaide where she opened another school. Before long there were 17 schools open across Australia. Mary's followers grew and by 1909 she had followers all over Australia. Mary later died on the 8th of August 1909.
Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga Alabama on, January 7, 1891. When she was a little girl her family moved to the now iconic town of Eatonville Florida. She was fifth child of eight of John Hurston and Lucy Ann Hurston. Eatonville was one of the first all-black towns to be established in the United States. Zora’s interest in literature was piqued when a couple of northern teachers, came to Eatonville and gave her books of folklore and fantasy. After her mother died, her father and new stepmother sent her to a boarding school. In 1918 Hurston began her undergraduate studies at Howard...
One of the leading black female activists of the 20th century, during her life, Mary Church Terrell worked as a writer, lecturer and educator. She is remembered best for her contribution to the struggle for the rights of women of African descent. Mary Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee at the close of the Civil War. Her parents, former slaves who later became millionaires, tried to shelter her from the harsh reality of racism. However, as her awareness of the problem developed, she became an ardent supporter of civil rights. Her life was one of privilege but the wealth of her family did not prevent her from experiencing segregation and the humiliation of Jim Crow laws. While traveling on a train her family was sent to the Jim Crow car. This experience, along with others led her to realize that racial injustice was evil. She saw that racial injustice and all other forms of injustice must be fought.
Mary Flannery O'Connor was born March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of Francis and Regina O'Connor. The family lived on Lafayette Square at 207 East Charlton Street in Savannah, adjacent to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, where Mary Flannery was baptized into the Catholic faith on April 12, 1925. She attended school at St. Vincent's grammar school, taught by the Sisters of Mercy from Ireland. She received national media attention at the age of five when she trained a chicken to walk backwards. The summers were often spent visiting her mother's family, the Clines, in Milledgeville, Georgia.
Mary Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia. Raised in her mother's family home in Milledgeville, Georgia, she was the only child of Regina Cline and Edward Francis O'Connor, Jr. Although little is known about Mrs. O'Connor's early childhood, in Melissa Simpson's biography on O'Connor, Simpson states that O'Connor attended St. Vincent's Grammar School in Savannah where she would rarely play with the other children and spent most her time reading by herself. After fifth, grade, O'Connor transferred; to Sacred Heart Grammar School for Girls; some say the reason for the transfer was that it was a more prestigious school than the former. She later enrolled in Peabody High School in 1938, entered an accelerated program at Georgia State Collge for Women in the summer of 1942, and in 1946 she was accepted into the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa (4 Simpson). According to American Decades, O'Connor earned her masters degree from the University of Iowa with six short-stories that were published in the periodical Accent (n pg Baughman).
In the mid 1900's, America was finally now an independent country, but had many flaws within their undeveloped system. Racism and segregation towards African Americans was at an all time high in the Southern states. With the Jim Crow laws in place, the privileges that white Americans had were overwhelmingly more than African Americans had ("Civil Rights Movement," para. 1). During this period of injustice in our country's history, there were many activists of equal rights, both black and white. While there were many people who helped the cause, one of the most influential civil rights activists was John Lewis.
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman was from Randolph, Massachusetts, born on October 31, 1852. As an American writer, she was best known for her stories and writings depicting characters who endured frustrated lives in New England. In 1867, Mary Wilkins relocated with her family to Brattleboro,Vermont. After studying for a year at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which now is Mount Holyoke College, Freeman lived at home where she spent most of her time reading, and writing stories for children. In 1883, soon after the death of her parents, she decided to live with friends, returning back to her hometown of Randolph, Massachusetts. Also, during that same year, she published her first adult story in a Boston newspaper. The best of her work was done while
On March 25, 1925, Mary Flannery O'Connor was born in Savannah, Georgia as a first and only child to a strict Roman Catholic couple. Her parents were Edward Francis O'Connor, a real estate broker, and Regina L. Cline O'Connor. (Garraty 581) Until 1938 O'Connor attended St. Vincent and Sacred Heart Parochial Schools. She was known as Mary in grade school but eventually dropped it and went by Flannery O'Connor. (Garraty 581) During grade school O'Connor claimed that her hobby was collecting rejection slips. Then the family moved to the Cline house in Milledgeville, Georgia when her father became sick with disseminated lupus. Lupus is a disease of the connective tissue, which would later claim her life. While in Milledgeville, O'Connor went to school at Peabody High School (Garraty 582). During high school she wrote and illustrated books while still maintaining a high academic average. Her father died of lupus in 1941. In 1942, at the age of 16, O'Connor entered Georgia State College for Women, which is now known as Georgia College. (O'Connor 2)
Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875 in Mayesville, South Carolina to two former slaves. She was a dynamic figure and a tireless worker who devoted her life to the betterment of the lives of others, specifically the lives of blacks, women, and children during the Progressive Era. She was one of the few women in the world that served as a college president. Upon her death, columnist Louis E. Martin said, "She gave out faith and hope as if they were pills and she some sort of doctor."
Robert F. Williams was one of the most influential active radical minds of a generation that toppled Jim Crow and forever affected American and African American history. During his time as the president of the Monroe branch of the NAACP in the 1950’s, Williams and his most dedicated followers (women and men) used machine guns, Molotov cocktails, and explosives to defend against Klan terrorists. These are the true terrorists to American society. Williams promoted and enforced this idea of "armed self-reliance" by blacks, and he challenged not just white supremacists and leftists, but also Martin Luther King Jr., the NAACP, and the civil rights establishment itself. During the 1960s, Williams was exiled to Cuba, and there he had a radical radio station titled "Radio Free Dixie." This broadcast of his informed of black politics and music The Civil Rights movement is usually described as an nonviolent / peaceful call on America 's guilty conscience, and the retaliation of Black Power as a violent response of these injustices against African Americans. Radio Free Dixie shows how both of these racial and equality movements spawned from the same seed and were essentially the same in the fight for African American equality and an end to racism. Robert F. Williams 's story demonstrates how independent political action, strong cultural pride and identity, and armed self-reliance performed in the South in a semi-partnership with legal efforts and nonviolent protest nationwide.
When growing up, Mae C. Jemison had a great childhood. She was born in Decatur, Alabama in October 17, 1956. When she was 3 years old, her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. With the support of her parents, she developed the idea to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. When she graduated Morgan Park High School in 1973, she attended Stanford University, where she was an active member in numerous extracurricular activities. For example, she was in the dance/theatre production, and served as the head of the Black Student Union. When Jemison graduated from Stanford three years later with a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, she attended Cornell University. At Cornell, Mae Jemison spent time studying about Cuba and Kenya, while working as an
The African American Civil Rights Movement was a series of protests in the United States South from approximately 1955 through 1968. The overall goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to achieve racial equality before the law. Protest tactics were, overall, acts of civil disobedience. Rarely were they ever intended to be violent. From sit-ins to boycotts to marches, the activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement were vigilant and dedicated to the cause without being aggressive. While African-American men seemed to be the leaders in this epic movement, African-American women played a huge role behind the scenes and in the protests.