Civil Rights Movement Around 1960s - Essay Example

 THESIS MENT Civil rights movement has marked a paradigm shift in human history. However, these movements have different causes passing throughdecades of struggle and strife to gain peace and freedom in society. CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTWhen there is a sizable difference between the ideals of society and its actual achievements society moves to bring change. These movements are caused through long oppression of religious, racial, gender suppression and working classes succeeding in the very eyes of the world, among them are the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and many more.

Leading up to these movements and with it are ideologists and beliefs of individuals and groups to achieve a difference. Philosophers such as Mahatma Ghandhi and Martin Luther King are driving force to society’s ideas of wanting change. Even in the 1600s the church in England has stood against the King’s orders. These subjects forced the king to sign an agreement known as the Peace of Westphalia enumerating the right of the church to remain free from interference. (Philpott, 2003, 1).In 1967 a writer of the American Civilization since 1877 wrote 10 articles of rights and freedom for the blacks.

In one of this article she accepted the 40 acres and 2 mules promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of her people. (Howard, 1967,3). Furthermore, what appears to be beneficial to one segment of society is sentimental to another. It was depicted in the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) ending racial segregation in public schools. The doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ was no longer adopted sweeping aside 88 years of sound judicial precedent.

No doubt there was resistant expressed by politicians and one expressed his case by using his power of office to uphold the internal affairs of the Georgian state (Postwar America, Cap 23, 468-9). Moreover, there were other resistance groups such as the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi which tried to maneuver the cause of white college students volunteering in what was known the Mississippi Freedom Summer. These students traveled to Mississippi to stand the cause of blacks in casting their votes and teaching them their history.

It turned out that despite the intensity faced and resistant encountered the cause contributed to the success of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Sutherland, 1965, 285). Other philosophers that have stood the test of time were Mahatma Gandhi who proved non-violence against war as the key to gaining peace and freedom for Indians. His conviction enabled different sects in India to march through cities. The cause led to India’s independence from British rule in 1947. Likewise Martin Lurther King did not use violence in his fight for the black people in America.

In August 28 of 1963 he led the largest civil rights demonstration in history with nearly 250,000 people in attendance delivering his famous speech of I have a Dream. The cause also led to the success of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In addition, women have fought to vote in the 60s and New Zealand became the first country in the world to allow women voting. They like other causes have stood against segregation of gender through the resurgence of women’s movement for right to vote, right to work and many more.

Today battered women have opened up with testimonies expressing for better law enforcement intervention and equality. (Mayor, 1999, 56).To conclude this paper, civil rights movement has long been expressed through decades of demonstration. Actions can be expressed by word of mouth, writing and simply non-violent resistance. History around the 1960s have seen causes like the blacks civil rights movement, the women’s movement for right to vote and people’s such as the likes of Gandhi and King in their cause for rights and freedom in society.

REFERENCEHoward, Dr. Ella. 2007. American Civilization Since 1877 “What We Want What we believe” October 1966 Black Panther 23 Nov 1967,3. Mayor, F. 1999. Women Say No To War UNESCO Publications, 1999, 2-3. Philpott, D. 2003. Sovereignty. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Postwar America Chapter 23. Governor Herman Talmadge’s Statement on the Brown Decision (1954). 468 -469. Sutherland, E. 1965. Letters from Mississippi. 37 Mississippi Freedom Summer. New York McGraw-Hill.