Why Is Civil Disobedience Important To The Civil Rights Movement?

It's easy to get angry and/or violent protests confused with civil disobedience. Many overlook the effectiveness of civil disobedience and see it as just another way to protest the government but civil disobedience has a long history. A few examples of civil disobedience include Rosa Parks’ famous refusal to move from the back of the bus in 1955; the interracial marriage between Richard and Mildred Loving in 1958; and most recently, the protest against the Dakota Access pipeline construction. In each instance, people stood up for what they thought was just and right.

The civil disobedience is to describe when the public refusal to obey the law or commands of a government that violate one's personal principals without the act of violence, as an effort to induce a change in governmental policy or legislation. The purpose is to force concessions from the government or occupying power. For example, if a group of people refuses to pay taxes as a peaceful way to express disapproval of those laws they disagree with or taxes. Civil disobedience may be appropriate when a democratically elected government uses its power to discriminate against their race, sex, religion or skin color. In such a situation, people would most liking object the Laws and start a protest to show they want to be treated equally. Another point is that civil disobedience is a beneficial behavior in bringing about stability to this society. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr is the one of the most associated with nonviolent civil disobedience he saw color people getting treated unjustly and getting prosecuted because of their skin color. Another example would be the STC protest that occurred this month; six people refused to get off the bus keeping police on the scene for five hours till one in the morning. The six people got arrested but later they were released.

Civil disobedience is a peaceful, nonviolent, political protest and it has been used by many people across the world, specifically by Thomas Jefferson, Thoreau, and Gandhi in their essays “The Declaration of Independence,” “Civil Disobedience,” and “On Nonviolent Resistance.” All of their essays shows examples of how they used/described civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is one of the many way Jefferson, Gandhi, and Thoreau have went against unfair laws. Thomas Jefferson, our third president, wrote the essay “The Declaration of Independence” on July 4th, 1776. His essay was to Great Britain, and it talked about how the United States wanted their independence from them.

Every generation faces new challenges that echo long-standing injustices. How does each generation tackle these injustices? Does this generation repeat past mistakes or envisions a better future? Does the frustration morph into anger and destruction of communities? Average citizens hold the greatest power to enact change by engaging in peaceful protests. Peaceful protests challenge and demand change from society’s injustices in a nonviolent manner.

This topic is highly debatable and different people might have different opinions. People who have suffered from some form of injustice may define civil disobedience differently from others. By definition, civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with specific laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. This is important because this is when one fights through a problem without physically hurting someone. Let 's look at some examples of civil disobedience in history, "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson,

Civil disobedience has been discerned in numerous time periods of American history. The definition of disobedience can be interpreted when one or a group prioritizes their conscience of their beliefs over the dictation of laws through rebellion. Notable historical events of slavery and independence has been marked with the disobedience of government laws. Even though the disobedience of societal laws can undermine the corruption of the government, disobedience has undeniably steer societal progress.

Civil disobedience is nonviolent resistance to a government’s law in seek of change. Civil disobedience is an effective way to bring about change because it is a harmless way of fighting an unjust law or idea, it can educate people about the cause, and it has been successful many times in history. First and foremost, civil disobedience is

Civil disobedience makes a statement. It is a tool that can be used to make a difference. Peaceful resistance to unjust laws helps a free society by allowing people to be heard without violence. Anyone can attack brutally, either verbally or physically, to get attention. But the best way to be noticed is to, “create such a crisis and establish such a creative tension...that it can no longer be ignored,” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his letter from a Birmingham jail.

I consider civil disobedience to be an easily-ignored pillar upon which our democracy was founded. In fact we are only established as a nation now because our founding fathers engaged in civil disobedience themselves. We were in a “social contract” of sorts with Great Britain and when we felt that they had not upheld their part of the contract (they did not allow us to create courts to maintain order, or to create a navy to defend ourselves, or to sustain our economy due to an inability to trade with any other countries), Thomas Jefferson concluded that it was our not only our right, but also our duty to break away. And it was Thomas Jefferson that combined all of the works of the great thinkers before him such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke

Peaceful resistance is a necessity and an integral part of a society because without the ability to peacefully resist the society is not truly free. The use of peaceful resistance has been a common way of expressing a person or group of peoples ideals since Henry David Thoreau wrote his essay called Civil Disobedience in 1849. Thoreau was a famous American writer and philosopher, and the essay talks of how he believes people need to put one’s morals and ideas over laws they may find unjust (Saxby). This is the basis and definition of what peaceful resistance is. The United States Constitution puts emphasis on the individual and if an individual believes in an ideal that goes against a law, they should be able to peacefully resist, especially

As Oscar Wilde said, “ It is through disobedience that progress has been made-- disobedience and rebellion.” Disobedience during the American Revolution was originally peaceful, but as grievances grew and British rule became harsher, Americans could no longer sit idly by. Radical disobedience to the law was necessary in order to promote change for American society. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, a drastic nonviolent movement was necessary to counteract the expectation of violence, reiterating to Americans that peaceful resistance to laws can positively affect a free society. The Civil Rights movement was split by two factions: one was a violent resistance named The Black Panthers and the other was a nonviolent protest led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Throughout history many nonviolent social movements have taken place. These movements have helped to fix injustices and provide a better environment for many people. One of these highly important social movements being the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement consisted of a series of events that led to important advancements for people of color. These events took place during the 1950’s-1960’s and some of the campaigns that took place to further the movement were the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Lunch Counter Sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and Freedom Summer. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a fundamental part of desegregating buses and gaining better treatment for African-American bus riders. The Nashville Sit-ins helped to desegregate eating

Civil disobedience, also defined as peaceful resistance to laws, is the refusal to obey any laws without any violent acts. Civil disobedience positively impacts free society because these acts spread awareness on unjust laws, and cause the governments to double check laws and question if they are really necessary. People may say that all laws are meant to be followed because they protect us, but that does not mean that all laws are just. All laws have been challenged by someone at one point leading to jail time, and some people that have been imprisoned did time because they stood up to a law they broke that was unjust. Our lives have been deeply impacted my civil disobedience. If Gandhi never started The Salt March, if Rosa Parks did not stand her ground on that bus, If Martin Luther King Jr. never spoke what was on his mind, and if Cesar Chavez never started all of those strikes, the world we live in would not be the way it is today.

Civil disobedience is the act of disobeying governmental commands in a peaceful, non-violent, form of protest. Throughout history, peaceful protest have had a positive impact on free society. Peaceful protest have had the biggest impact during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, many people have led non-violent protest for their rights, including well known African-American Activist, Martin Luther King Jr.. He was most famously known for his speech, I Have a Dream.

Civil Disobedience In the dictionary civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest, but Thoreau and Martin Luther King have their own beliefs to civil disobedience. In Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” he writes about the need to prioritize one’s conscience over the dictates of laws. Martin Luther King uses civil disobedience as something that effectuates change in the government. Both Thoreau and Martin Luther King has similar yet different perspectives on civil disobedience.