Summary/Assessment: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which is an organization operating in every Southern state with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. He came to Birmingham, Alabama because injustice lies there and helped protest about it in a nonviolent demonstration against racial discrimination. The eight clergymen of the South did not approve of these demonstrations happening which caused Dr. King to be confined in Birmingham Jail cell, writing a letter to them men explaining on why he was in Birmingham and what his reasons were for these protests. He begins to talk about and explain the four basic steps that needed to be followed for any nonviolent campaign. He also gives the audience a better understanding by giving a visual glimpse of what the black community had to endure.
The whites thought that sooner or later if we let them vote that they’re going to take over. The Jim Crow Laws system stopped the blacks from voting. That caught the Civil Right leaders and that brought attention to Mississippi. That made it acceptable for that 7% of black people to vote. In Document B which was a “Freedom Summer Pamphlet.”
Even though this happened, the campaign was a success and was ended in 1963. The Birmingham Campaign and the SCLC are important parts to the Civil Rights Movement.
As a field supervisor, she focused on legal issues, such as pushing for an anti-lynching law and an end to state- mandate segregation. Baker organized youth chapters everywhere she traveled, as she believed the youth had much to offer to the NAACP. Baker eventually became the NAACP director of branches, the highest- ranking female officer in the organization. She had to supervise field secretaries and coordinate local group activities with the goals of the national organization. In addition, she helped individual branch offices create local campaigns in protest against segregation.
To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”
As a result of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, The United States legislators wrote the Southern Manifesto in 1956. They believed that the final result of Brown v. Board of Education, which stated that separate school facilities for black and white children were fundamentally unequal, was an abuse of the judicial power. The Southern Manifesto called for the exhaust of all the lawful things they can do in order to stop all the confusion that would come from school desegregation. The Manifesto also stated that the 10th Amendment of the US Constitution should limit the power of the Supreme Court when it comes to these types of issues. 2.
After they were approved the right to vote, many states denied them this right or had civil service tests that they had to take in order to vote. During wars, they would recruit African Americans to fight by promising them freedom and equality when the war ended. King with his letter to Birmingham Jail wasn't the only type of civil disobedience going on. Rosa Parks cause the bus boycott when she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person. Parks fought to desegregate buses.
The Civil Rights Movement provided us with many leaders for our young generation to emulate. The NAACP, more distinctly, has granted Black Americans a voice. From its founding in the 20th century by such legends as W.E.B Du Bois and Ida B. Wells, the NAACP has inspired the disenfranchised to speak. They have provided educational opportunities, legal actions, and monetary support for the advancement of our people. Most importantly, the NAACP has taught Black Americans that it is their right to dream.
Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.
As the Ku Klux Klan’s membership grew, organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which fought to end racial discrimination and segregation, grew as well. With these two growing groups pushing for opposite ideals, tensions continued to increase. The NAACP pushed for reform and rights for African Americans and the Ku Klux Klan combated their progress with lynching and
This movement was in 1905, where Du Bois and his a group of his supporters met in Canada, to help fight inequality within different races, mostly blacks and whites. Which later on established the NAACP in 1909. The NAACP along with other organizations helped with lynching in the South, as well as, improving it for the black community. Lynching in the south targeted the women more than the men usually. Ida B. Wells, a journalist who wrote horror stories about the lynchings.
But, when these officials were elected to Congress, they passed the “black codes” and thus the relations between the president and legislators became worst (Schriefer, Sivell and Arch R1). These so called “Black Codes” were “a series of laws to deprive blacks of their constitutional rights” that they were enacted mainly by Deep South legislatures. Black Codes differ from a state to another but they were stricter in the Deep South as they were sometimes irrationally austere. (Hazen 30) Furthermore, with the emergence of organizations such as the Red Shirts and the White League with the rise of the Conservative White Democrats’ power, efforts to prevent Black Americans from voting were escalating (Watts 247), even if the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S constitution that gave the Blacks the right to vote had been ratified in 1870.
The party looked at the government as racist people that has robbed Blacks of their worth. Decent housing that is comfortable for the Black community was requested so that their people can remain in the comfort they deserve. The fifth point was the need for education, the type of education that was wanted were the teachings of African American history. The party also wanted all black men to be exempted from military service for these following reasons, they didn’t believe that black people should be forced to fight for a racist government and that it is also unfair to put their life at risk when the government doesn’t protect black people. The biggest point that the party requested was an end to police brutality and murder of black people.
Influential Person Research Paper Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an influential figure because of his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement despite the challenges he faced such as constantly being arrested and his house being bombed. One of the first accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was his founding and presidency of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The SCLC is a civil rights group that focused on desegregating the south. The group's first focus was on desegregating the bus system, but they eventually moved on to greater things such as registering blacks to vote and organizing peaceful protests. This proves that King was a successful civil rights leader, even though he struggled against racists whites in power that would try to oppress him and his group.
The voting act was an act that supported that african americans have the right to vote like any white man. Another tactic used was the idea of Black Nationalism. African Americans united together was under Malcolm X and islam. Malcolm X gave African Americans a idea of black nationalism and that they are good and better than white people. Also SNCC, which used to have white members purged them all so that the African Americans can do things themselves without the help of any white men.