An NSC Grade 12 history essay that covers the prompt: “The Civil Rights Movement, under the moral leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. relied on a range of peaceful protest activities to achieve its aims” Discuss the success of the CRM was in the 1950s and 1960s and indicate to what extent King...
“The Civil Rights Movement, under the moral leadership of Martin Luther King Jr. relied on
a range of peaceful protest activities to achieve its aims”
Discuss the success of the CRM was in the 1950s and 1960s and indicate to what extent King
can be said to have been its “moral leader”.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) campaigned for improved human
rights and the equality of people of colour in the United States of America. Through its range of
peaceful protests, the Movement achieved significant victories and success. Martin Luther King Jr.
was at the forefront of many of the efforts taken, where his fight for social justice being grounded in
strong Christian values, support of non-violence and charismatic authority contributed to his legacy
as the moral leader of the CRM.
The Civil Rights Movement emerged at the start of the 1950s as a response to the unfulfilled
promises of emancipation for black slaves in America. During the American Civil war, President
Abraham Lincoln issued the Thirteenth Amendment, the Emancipation Proclamation, to outlaw
slavery in 1865. During the Reconstruction period following the war, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments were passed to establish a legal foundation for the political equality of African
Americans.
However, despite the abolishment of slavery and legal gains for African Americans, racial
segregation policies known as Jim Crow laws (legislation that authorised racial segregation in
public facilities) arose in the South. This segregation meant that Southern African Americans
continued to face poverty and inequality as white supremacists denied them their constitutional
political rights and freedoms.
The final straw was the experiences of African American soldiers in World War II. The black
soldiers who fought in the segregated military while being exposed to US propaganda emphasising
equality returned to the United States determined to achieve the rights full and equal citizenship
deserved by black people.
The Civil Rights Movement began in 1954, and involved many different activities and approaches,
including strategies of legal action, non-violent resistance, and peaceful protests. Many of these
activities took place with full endorsement of Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and
member of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) who
, served as an authority over the protests, encouraging his peaceful philosophy of civil disobedience
throughout.
One of the earliest courses of legal action taken was in the 1951 case of “Brown v, the Board of
Education”. The racial segregation of schooling led African American parents to petition the US
Supreme Court to rule against the separation as a violation of the Constitution. The case was a
success, and encouraged many schools countrywide to desegregate their schools and allowed
African American children to attend schools previously deemed ‘Whites-only’.
In 1955, another successful protest emerged, one that took the issue of equal rights beyond legal
means. An African American woman and member of the NAACP named Rosa Parks sparked a
movement when she refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger. She was arrested and
convicted of breaking segregation laws, which sparked debate regarding the issue of equal rights
alongside overwhelming support from the African American community.
Her actions inspired one of the most significant events of the CRM: the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The Montgomery Improvement Association organised a total boycott of the bus system in
Montgomery that lasted for over a year. The boycott’s negative effect on the profits of bus
companies led to a Supreme Court ruling against segregation on buses. This victory served as an
inspiration for many African Americans to further stand up for their rights.
The Supreme Court ruling to desegregate schooling was tested in 1957 during the incident at
Central High School in Little Rock. Nine black students enrolled at the formerly “Whites-only”
school, which should have been allowed following the Topeka ruling of 1951. However the students
faced opposition from the Governor of Arkansas, who barred them from attending school. This
issue culminated in President Eisenhower sending troops to allow the children to exercise their right
to attend school in another victory for African American equality.
The period of the late 1950s and early 1960s was when the CRM undertook a range of non-violent
activities to achieve further equality for African Americans. Such events included the 1960 sit ins at
Woolworths in Greensboro, North Carolina to change their segregationist policies, and the Freedom
Rides of 1961, which saw African Americans ride buses throughout the segregated South, to fight
the Jim Crow laws still in place.
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