March By John Lewis And Aydin

During the 1960’s civil rights movement hundreds of blacks were unlawfully arrested and beaten in attempts to end segregation. Many civil rights leaders such as John Lewis, Dr. Martin Luther King jr. and professor, Jim lawson strived to teach and demonstrate others how to bring equality peace by using non-violence methods. Marching, protesting, and participating in sit-ins tested the strength, morals, and dignity of John Lewis and others. The trilogy March, tells a story about a young farm boy, John Lewis, who was inspired to help end segregation and how he used non-violence at protests, marches, and sit-ins.

Legal historian Mary Dudziak, author of the book Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy, explores impacts of Cold War foreign affairs on American civil rights. Dudziak argues that the United States government pushed for civil rights reforms due to risk’s to the nation’s alleged moral supremacy. Dissecting the so-called Negro problem as propaganda muscle during the Cold War resulting in the mistreatment of persons of color. Dudziak uses the book The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America, written by Philip A. Klinkner with Rogers A. Smith to underscore the point that civil rights activists’ were aware of racism during and after WWI.

The Civil Rights Movement has always glanced over in many history books. What many fail to see and grasp is that this historic moment had many different layers than what has been taught. The Civil Rights Movement has multiple perspectives than just that of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. There were underlying stories that have not been focused in the mainstream media such as the tremendous impact that black women had in the movement and the misinterpretation of self-defense as violent means to acquire change. Charles E. Cobb beautifully painted the picture of how self-defensive tactics kept many black civil rights activists and their families alive in That Nonviolent Stuff’ll

This book is about the March on Washington, the growing of the Civil Rights Movement that led to it, and the aftermath of the march. The section of the book that I read was about the leaders that planned the March. This source helped me support my prompt because the “Big Six”, as they were called, were a small group of citizens that changed the world. The Big Six was composed of multiple Civil Rights Movement leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis among others. These people organized the March on Washington, which is a famous event that brought the country together.

Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s forever changed America, and gave African Americans many rights and freedoms that they were denied earlier. This movement was lead by brave and courageous leaders, some well known like Martin Luther King Jr., and Jackie Robinson, and other lesser known leaders such as Ralph Abernathy. Their heroic efforts to fight injustice paved the way for many positive changes in our country. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became involved in politics early on in his life, and quickly rose to become the face of the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor in a Baptist church from Atlanta, and first got involved in the movement in 1955 when he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott.

John Lewis spoke 6th that day. As seen in figure one. His speech was very powerful. His focus was mostly on all the injustice the people of color face. Lewis argues that “….

During the mid 1900s the Civil Rights Movement sparked and reached its peak as it caused mass controversy within our country, especially within the southern states, controversy that continued throughout the rest of the century. This fire burned brightly and the movement had more attention and support than ever. Despite the support it received there were still those that attempted to diminish its blaze and douse the flame entirely through the belief of white supremacy, the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race, and should therefore dominate society. White supremacist groups and individuals attempted to hinder the movement through acts of unimaginable violence like the lynching of Emmett

“ If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds” - Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Activist. This quote perfectly captures the struggle and doubt that African Americans have underwent and overcome for decades during the revolutionary Civil Rights era in the United States of America. The African American population have faced a tremendous and unimaginable amount of unfair hate and racial inequality for centuries. Rooting back from the 1400’s when Africans Americans were brought to the U.S for uses of slavery this group of people have been controlled and degraded until they finally decided enough was enough, stood up, united, and slowly but surely made changes.

For hundreds of years African Americans have faced racial discrimination in the United States. Over and over again contracts were made that gave them hope of equality such as the Emancipation Proclamation, the 14th and 15th amendment, and the end of the separate but equal law. However, they were continuously refused the basic rights that they were promised and were still forcefully separated from whites. Racist police and white supremacists evoked fear in African American men and women who attempted to participate in the rights they were entitled to. Then, in the 1950s and 60s there was a spark of interminable protesting of the clear racial injustices that the African American people faced, this time was known as the Civil Rights Movement.

The seemingly endless battle for civil rights was one fought long and hard and during the 20th century a time of fruition occurred that allowed for concrete and tangible progress though the efforts of many, including key black intellectual revolutionaries. The call to freedom, and the fight for civil liberties to be bestowed upon people of color, who for hundreds of years were perceived as subordinate was happening. Change was fought through self-determination, and a burgeoning of powerful ideologies that laid the foundation for movement to be made. The admirable actions of women have been slighted, as they are almost non-existent in the pages of our history books. The contributions of the civil right movement have many a time excluded the contributions of prominent African American woman who tirelessly fought.

Civil rights has been a very harsh and long fight for those condemned to the title of Black, colored, or negro. Slavery in our country dates back all the way to 1619, where Africans were sold from Africa, to help colonize the new Americas’. Slavery then continued throughout the centuries, until those who were slaves, rose up against the unethical view on slavery. With this, certain people began to push against the ‘lost’ civil rights of the colored people. Two of these people include the well-known civil rights activist and as well as the well-known Stokely Carmichael.

However, in most cases when authors write about a similar topic like March, they would not compose their writing to be a graphic novel. This means Lewis’ writing is very unique, and different from others. In fact, because of March being a graphic novel, it helps with explaining Lewis’ role in the Civil Rights Movement. In the beginning of the novel, Mr. Lewis goes back in time and describes his experience on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where he marched with a tremendous group of African Americans.

He sets up his argument by saying that there are specific steps to take during a nonviolent campaign. He then elaborates on what he did to accomplish these steps. He justified his actions by saying, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such a creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue”(266). He also refuted how the clergymen told him his actions were untimely by stating that, “This “wait” has almost always meant “never””(267). He even discredits the clergymen even more by saying “it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say wait.”

“The greatest hope for humanity lies not in condemning violence, but in making violence obsolete” (Raqib Paragraph 16). This statement conveys how nonviolence resistance can defeat oppression and can discourage violence when resolving problems. Oppression is an unjust treatment or control added to others. There are many ways to overcome oppression, nonviolent resistance is the most accepted, due to the fact that during many years, the method of acceptance has created no difference by just waiting and violence only causes people to reject the idea or topic being protested. Nonviolent resistance, specifically, the practice of speaking out, is the most successful way to overcome oppression because it does not cause harm to others while protesting

The African American Civil Rights movement existed at large between the early fifties and the late sixties in a society that was constantly on the verge of social destruction. The black rights movement existed politically, socially, and economically everywhere in the United States. As time progressed the movement developed and saw many changes along with schisms separating activists and how they approached getting their rights. In the early fifties there was a large non-violent integration based movement spearheaded by figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. However, as the time progressed, the movement started seeing a more aggressive leadership with figures such as Malcolm X, but eventually it turned into an extremist movement