History and the politics of the civil rights struggle in Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954 1963 - Essay Example

? HISTORY AND THE POLITICS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE School: Introduction “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954 – 1963,” is a biographical account, with its central focus – built around the person of Martin Luther King. However, the book highlights the information on the civil rights organizations and activists, as well as the socio-political environment, of the civil struggle starting at the years of the landmark; “the supreme court ruling, Brown vs. the Board of Education,” till the time of the assassination of the American president John F. Kennedy. The book goes further to give an account of the commencement and the advancement of an exceptional, southern grassroots pressure group that characteristically swept the policy makers, bystanders, and the protagonists in then America in a forever expanding struggle. The book also presents the diverse nature of black communities, and the organization that started the civil rights revolt, as well as the players who came in after the revolt had gained force and momentum. The book further, cites King as the director and the chief symbol of the civil rights revolt between the years 1954 and 1963, a symbolic timeline starting with the leadership of King at the Dexter Avenue Baptist church – ending with the protest march at Washington; the bombing of a church at Birmingham and the assassination of Evers Medgar. According to the signature style of the author, King’s Life is a central point – and the most important image for the people of America in the watershed years after the war. However, the book points out that there were more individuals standing as icons in the revolt, these including: Rosa Parks, Robert Moses, and Medgar Evars among others. In the revolt attempts, the whites and the blacks were woven into the scene of parting the waters. However, due to the ideologies of king, internal differences over the tactics and the politics to be used acme about – a division that further developed to reflect the traits of racial black separatism and racial accommodation. This paper is an evaluative account of the interpretation of the book, and a portrayal of the evidence used throughout the book (Branch, 1989). The authoring of, “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954 – 1963,” by Branch Taylor is a historical account of the politics of America, and it is an explicative account of different ideals, as enumerated below. First, is the civil rights of the American people, especially, the Negros, as they were often, severely exposed to restrictions in America – which was the case, especially, during the period when Luther King was leaving School to work as a preacher at the Dexter Avenue Baptist church. As the case was, the Negroes were segregated at public buildings, buses, parks and schools – often leaving only a section of these public utilities to the Negroes, in many cases the areas that were not up to the required standards. This segregation had been the case for a lengthy period, especially at the South American states. The author also, tries to show an unbiased perspective in the consideration of the issues of civil rights. This was the case, considering that he was a white person, but ready and capable of presenting the reader with a knowledge base – intended at creating a discovery of the truth in the area of the history of America from a neutral point of view. Through this book, the author clearly explicates the neutrality of civil rights and the disregard of racial prejudice or the sensitivity resulting from being a victimizer or the victim. The author is also showing the struggle of the Americans, as a pursuit to get freedom and access to jobs – a struggle staged by both religious and civil rights groups. The author also portrays the struggle to show the social and the political challenges that the Black Americans were exposed to – with persistent calls for racial justice and equity. This was marked by the August 28, 1963 Washington march, during which, more than 200,000 Americans congregated at Washington for a political revolt rally branded the Washington March. The author is also presenting an understanding of the ‘Black History Month,’ also known as the ‘National African American History Month,” which is a symbolic mark of the accomplishments of the African Americans, and a time for celebrating the central position of the Negroes in the making of the American history. In the same line, since 1976, the month of February has been set aside as the month for commemorating black history. The author is also portraying the entry of black women into the central societal fields – like literature and art, despite the harsh repression they faced in the highly streamlined American society, where the system was highly staged to keep the Americans of African descent down. The author also, fully explicates the involvement of different groups and their role in the fight towards the making of the History of the Americans. The different parties he presents as having played a major role in the making of the American history include: religious leaders, civil rights activists, students, the workers population, the reaction of the government as well as the professionals like the black lawyers. The author also shows the resistance of the then American government – in opposing the civil rights movement, as a move to keep the African Americans down, as well as ensuring that the system continued to benefit from the situation of the confusion witnessed at the time. Despite this, the author shows the Kennedy administration as having declared itself a supporter of civil rights, though they had acted as more of an obstacle than a catalyst for American change. The author goes further, to portray the nature of the politics of the then administration, which are characteristic with the assassination of leaders, examples being: John Kennedy, Luther King, and Medgar Evers. The thesis argument of the book may be summarized as, ‘the fight for civil rights and racial equality had to take the efforts of different players; a careful response to the evolving struggle and limiting tactics, as well as the overthrow of political obstacles. The ideas and the knowledge base being explicated by the author are clearly comprehensible, noting the special style, where he creates the content in a chronological manner – with specific time lines and demonstrative events attached to the different phases. This can be attested to, based on the clear account he gives of the problem of disregarded civil rights and segregation. Firstly, he portrays the problem in question, accounting for the segregation of the Negroes at social service centers and public places, as well as the political oppression. From here, he explains the revolt at its different phases, then sums up the outcome of the revolts, as the case is today. From such an account, it is clearly evident that the author drives the points in question home (Butterfield, 1981). The method, or rather the approach taken by the author is highly statistical, as the accounts of the problem in question; the revolt – in its different phases show, which resulted to the social and political change witnessed in America ever since. The approach used may be considered statistical, considering that the move from black American segregation and oppression to African American liberation is drawn-out in a chronological order. In the account, there is also the cause-effect relationship established, which is mainly statistical, showing the events as chains of occurrences – one event resulting from the previous and leading to the next. An example here is the segregation of Negroes at public places, like buses; then the consecutive legal pursuit by the Lawyers at Montgomery, with Rosa Parks making the first move towards pursuing equality and fairness in treatment (Butterfield, 1981). The interpretation used by the author is highly convincing, as he draws out facts – as opposed to making an account of fictitious arguments in explaining the road to pursue equality and end political oppression. The reason as to why the account can be considered fully convincing is because it attaches a timeline to the events – right from the problem situation to the problem-solved situation. An example in support of this is the account starting with King’s tenure as a Cleric at the Montgomery church, and the chain of events taking place in between – to end with the Washington March, the murder of Evers Medgar, and the Birmingham church bombing (Butterfield, 1981). The sources of evidence, namely: the scholarly works and the physical sources forming the information base for the authoring of Branch’s book, “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954 – 1963,” include the resources enumerated below. These include: meetings, like the King-Nixon meeting; Cases, like the Lewis suit case, the bus segregation legal case, and constitutional publications, like the fourth constitutional Convention. The meetings were sources of important information, as meetings like the King-Nixon meeting, was a meeting, whose attending members included the Labor Secretary Mitchell James, Abernathy, and Martin Luther King. The main subject of discussion, at this meeting was, stressing on the pursuit for the realization of first-class citizenship for the black Americans, especially those living in the Southern America region. The cases were a major resource for the authoring of Branch’s book, considering the fact that, a case like the bus segregation legal case, which can be traced to the Montgomery Bus Boycott practiced first, in December 1955, bringing to distinction a seamstress by name, Rosa Parks. Through this very case, she was seeking to challenge the issue at court, after she was accused of wrongdoing – after sitting at the seats reserved for the black Americans only. The case leading to her arrest was that she had refused to comply with the directive to give up her seat for a white American man (Branch, 1989, p. 1011). Other resources include: real events, like the March on Washington, Birmingham riots, Birmingham campaigns, Birmingham youth Marches, the bombing of the first Baptist church, the 1960 elections, Kings Arrests, and the Marion King beating(Branch, 1989, p. 1013-1014). Other resources used as sources of information and evidence during the authoring of the book include: Legislative decrees, like the bus segregation laws; Committees, like the American Jewish Committee, and the American Friends service Committee; Congresses, like the American Jewish Congress; and Demonstration cases, like the anti-segregation demonstration. The real events of the time, like the March on Washington formed a resource for the authoring of the book, in the sense that they were a part of the revolutionary efforts to oppose the oppression of the Black Americans and the disregard of their civil rights. In the event of the Washington March, 200,000 Americans congregated at Washington for a political revolt, protesting against the disregard of their civil rights by the then American government. Other resourceful establishments include the American Jewish Committee, which had been established in the year 1906 to defend the social wellbeing and the safety of Jews globally. This entity was a useful resource towards the authoring of the book, mainly because it gave accounts of the adversities imposed on the Jews in America, as well as the attempts to protect the rights in question. Some of the secondary sources, used as resources during the writing of the book include: Journals, like the Atlanta Journal, Atlanta world, and the Atlanta Monthly. The secondary resources used during the authoring of the book, including the Atlanta Journal, which documented the account of Martin Luther king, meeting with 20 community and labor organizations, in the attempts to limit the picketing sparks (Branch, 1989, p. 1014). Reference List Branch, T. (1989). Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954 – 1963, First edition. New York: Simon & Schuster Publishers. Butterfield, H. (1981). Whig Interpretation of History, New Edition. New York: WW Norton Publishers. Read More