Personal Narrative: The Fight For Civil Rights

Bad schools, fewer opportunities, and higher danger risks are all effects of living a harsh, unequal life to others. People had to work for civil rights for themselves and their races but faced many challenges. People making huge civil rights movements were hated on, angrily beaten, and targeted by people of other races who considered themselves superior to African Americans all because of the color of their skin. People who hated African American’s movements and tried to break them apart caused issues and made it harder for them to achieve their much wanted and deserved goals. All they needed was the support of others to achieve what they wanted. Both sources show the hardships they went through and everything it took to gain the rights they

have today, yet their rights are not completely equal. “A More Perfect Union,” a speech by Barack Obama and “Oh, Freedom: Leader of the Freedom Riders,” an interview with James Farmer conducted by Bernard Keith Jarvis are both sources that show how African Americans suffered from discrimination, hate, and lower class lives. Civil rights laws are not enough to achieve equality; people have to want equality too.
Equality between races can be achieved if we all want it, and work together for it.

James Farmer from “Oh, Freedom: Leader of the Freedom Riders” struggled from childhood with inequality throughout his community. He describes with sorrow his experiences with inequality “I grew up in the South, and it was in Mississippi, when I was three and a half years old, that I became acquainted with segregation. I could not buy a Coca-Cola in a drugstore downtown even though a little white boy could” (254). He further explains how he always wanted to do something about inequality so his children and future generations did not have to suffer like he did. In “A More Perfect Union” Barack Obama describes his “story,” about his many cultures, the multiple races he married into, and his children’s diverse backgrounds. He declares that, “... I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts—that out of many, we are truly one” (264). Barack Obama uses his background to explain how everyone is different but in America, everyone is “truly one.” The two main speakers in both sources have background on racial injustice and have suffered through many hardships simply because of how they look and because of how naive other people can

be.
Equality between races can be achieved if we all want it and work together. Although laws are in place to ensure everyone lives an equal life, it does not always work that way. Everyone has to want equal rights, in order to achieve them. If only a few people are working towards civil rights there will always be other people working to bring them down and stop them. If everyone can band together equality will be achieved. James Farmer from the text, “Oh Freedom: Leader of the Freedom Riders” includes in his statement that “The Freedom Riders remained nonviolent, but they were beaten by angry white mobs” (255). This is an example of how people who didn’t support equality brought civil rights activist down and made their goals harder to achieve. A goal needs to be supported, in order to achieve it.
Although civil rights laws are not enough to achieve equality, they’re a good start towards it. Having civil rights laws in place help keep people of many different races safe and make it easier for activists to work towards getting even more rights and equality for their race. In “A More Perfect Union” Barack Obama emphasizes that, “... a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty and justice and a union that could be and should be perfected over time” (264). This quotation strongly relates to the theme of both sources by stating that the start of equal citizenship came from civil rights laws but it would eventually become better and better with time. Although there are laws in place to protect from racism, people would have to work towards actual acceptance from others. Laws to protect people are a helpful stepping stone towards equality and hate-free communities but equality has to be wanted by all in order to achieve it.
Equality has to be wanted in order to achieve it because civil rights laws are not enough. Civil rights laws are just a stepping stone to equality but if people work for what they want, it can be achieved. Working for something, rather than having it handed to you makes what you get out of it so much more meaningful and special. Nothing is just handed to you, you have to work for it, like most issues people face. The speech “A More Perfect Union” and the interview “Oh, Freedom: Leader of the Freedom Riders” both greatly support the idea that civil rights laws are not enough to achieve equality and people need to work for what they want.