The US Civil Rights Movement and the Election of President Obama - Research Paper Example

THE US CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT OBAMA Barack Obama is the 42nd President of the United s. His election would have been impossible with the emergence of the U.S. Civil Rights movement, one of the most important social movements of the twentieth century. This movement began in response to the systematic discrimination which plagued much of the United States and was a reactionary movement addressing institutionalized racism in the United States. With the aim of abolishing racial discrimination, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement had lofty goals and sought a complete overhaul of the social, economic and political order in many states of the southern United States. As one of the most consequential social movements in recent times, this research paper will explore the emergence of the U.S. Civil Rights movement and argue that without this movement, Barack Obama would not be president today. Seeking to address the emergence of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, this research paper will explore a variety of questions and provide an in-depth theoretical analysis of the early stages of this important social movement. Why did the U.S. Civil Rights Movement emerge when it did? What factors account for the emergence of boycotts as a technique of protest? Was the U.S. Civil Rights Movement a spontaneous reaction to decades of oppression or was it organized and led by key leaders and organizations? These questions and many more will be explored in this comprehensive analysis of the US Civil Rights movement. This essay refers to Unit IV (1946-1976) and aims to provide a thorough and comprehensive analysis of one of the most important movements of the twentieth century, namely the US Civil Rights Movement. Introduction Social movements have historically been agents for social change and any analysis of a movement must account for its emergence. At the outset of the Civil Rights Movement, various campaigns were a response to the systematic discrimination which plagued the southern United States in the middle half of the twentieth century. This movement brought the plight of southern African-Americans to the forefront of the American consciousness and its successes can largely be measured in the legislative and normative changes which were a direct result of specific campaigns. As a whole, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the Supreme Court decision in 1956 striking down Alabama’s segregation laws, are substantive examples of the successes this movement has achieved in the political realms. Normatively speaking, black politicians in the southern United States are prevalent today despite the fact that a mere fifty years ago all-white primaries were the norm and blacks were disenfranchised from the political process. Change appears to be incremental, however, and the town of Selma, Alabama – famous for the Bloody Sunday when on March 7th 1965, when civil rights marchers were beaten by Alabama State Troopers during their march from Selma to Montgomery – elected its first black mayor, James Perkins, on September 13, 2000 (British Broadcasting Corporation 2000). The Collective Behavior and Resource Mobilization approaches offer substantively different arguments for the emergence of social movements. The theory of Collective Behavior sees social movements as relatively spontaneous and unconstrained by norms or institutional practices. Resource Mobilization theory stresses the organizational framework of social movements and pays particular attention to their indigenous networks and resources. These two theories posit conflicting approaches to the development of social mobilization and social action. Seeking to explain the emergence of the bus boycott campaign - an important protest enacted early on in the Civil Rights Movement - this research paper will attempt to explain which theoretical component best explains the emergence of this tactic. Bus boycotts were used to challenge the overt racial discrimination prevalent in the southern U.S. and were effective in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Montgomery, Alabama. This technique was rapidly diffused throughout the south and let to the end of overt racism and discrimination on buses. If it were not for this movement and the tactics that it employed, the United States would be a very different place than it is today and Barack Obama would not have become the 44th President of the United States of America. Social Movement Theory The Collective Behavior approach asserts that social mobilization occurs outside of established institutional practices and has historically emphasized the spontaneity and “irrationality” of collective action (LeBon 12). Group members are said to lose their individuality and collective hysteria emerges (Turner & Killian 21). This contagious hysteria is a result of imitation and diffusion and was historically characterized by an early theorist as the “psychological law of the mental unity of the crowd” (LeBon 26). The crowd metaphor espoused by LeBon saw involvement in collective action as an irrational action. Thus, participants in the civil rights bus boycotts during the early stages of the movement did so as a result of spontaneity, contagion and imitation. In more recent times however, Collective Behavior scholarship has propagated the notion that collective action can in fact be rational. Turner and Killian have described the “emergent norm” as an important component of collective action. This norm is said to legitimize the actions taken on behalf of the cause or movement and serves to constrain deviance and non-conformity within the movement itself (Turner & Killian 26-28). Focusing on the micro-level with an emphasis on the psychology of individuals who engage in collective action, the Collective Behavior approach seeks to explain participation in social movements. Resource Mobilization theory, however, offers an alternative approach to collective action. Resource Mobilization theory focuses on the internal characteristics of social movements with an emphasis on the organizational structure of particular movements. As an extension of the Resource Mobilization perspective, the Political Process Model deals with two important structural considerations. The first is the level of indigenous organization within the offended population and the second is the structure of political opportunities available to those seeking social change (McAdam 736). This approach sees networks as important preconditions for social mobilization to occur and asserts that these webs or social ties are an integral component for social action. Personal networks include friends, relatives or colleagues; organizational networks would include associations such as the church or other community groups which provide venues for communication and the diffusion of information. Resource Mobilization theory asserts that social movements engage in political discourse, simply through non-institutional means. According to this perspective, “social movements have no distinct inner logic and are not fundamentally different from institutionalized behaviour (Morris 745). Composed of rational actors rooted in institutions and organizations, social movements thus serve a rational purpose in the pursuit of social change. Bus Boycotts and the Civil Rights Movement Bus boycotts in the south represented the most important early success of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Prior to this tactical innovation, buses in the southern United States were heavily segregated with designated seating based upon race. The first bus boycott began in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in early June 1953 and was led by Reverend TJ Jamison. Buses were seen as a site of humiliation for many southern Blacks who were forced to vacate their seats in favor of whites and were relegated to the back of the bus. Reverend Jamison initially circulated a petition to desegregate the buses but this failed to motivate the transit authority to change. The boycott represented a change in tactics on the part of civil rights campaigners in Baton Rouge. With his forum at the pulpit, Reverend Jamison called for an absolute boycott of public transit by Blacks and established a carpool service to ease the burden of getting to and from work. The United Defence League (UDL) was also created to facilitate the boycott and carpooling. During that period, 2/3rds of all transit passengers were black and the transit company in Baton Rouge was particularly vulnerable to the boycott. Accordingly, daily losses in fares to the transit company at the time of the boycott were estimated at $1,600. Under strain, concessions were made by the transit authority and only one row of the bus was reserved for whites. This compromise was accepted and on June 15th 1953, the boycott was stopped (Morris 744-767). Baton Rouge set the precedent and three important bus boycotts utilized the tactics espoused by Reverend Jamison. Boycotts in Tallahassee, Florida and Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama all followed the lead established in Baton Rouge. The bus boycott of Montgomery is the prominent boycott of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement because it was led by Dr. Martin Luther King and was provoked by the refusal of Rosa Parks to vacate her seat to a white passenger in 1955. As with Baton Rouge, the transit authorities in Montgomery, Alabama were particularly vulnerable to the boycott as an estimated 75% of all transit riders were black (McAdam 741). In response to Rosa Park’s protest, Dr. King established the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to coordinate the boycott and subsequent car pooling service. Both were modeled on the precedent set in Baton Rouge and this campaign lasted for more than one year. Its success was proven when, on November 13th 1956, the Supreme Court of the United States of America declared the discrimination on the buses of Montgomery to be unconstitutional. The developments of the UDL and MIA demonstrate the necessity of organizations in stimulating social mobilization. These two indigenous bodies were created with the specific goals of coordinating the protest and mobilizing the potential constituency. The church, in each instance, served as the organizational base and provided both a safe haven and a form for direct communication. The church has been described as the “local coordinating unit” (Morris 746) and both Reverend Jamison and Dr. King, as respected members of the clergy, utilized their position within the church to direct their particular campaigns. Contrary to the standard account, Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat was not “spontaneous” but was a calculated decision by the former secretary to the local president of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. The importance of prior organization is a key component of the Political Process model and the black church played a dramatic role in both the Baton Rouge and Montgomery bus boycotts. The creation of indigenous organizations to coordinate the campaigns and cope with changing realities further attests to the necessity of internal organization during the bus boycott campaigns. In Baton Rouge, the techniques employed by the Reverend Jamison were incorporated into the Montgomery campaign coordinated by Dr. Martin Luther King. In Montgomery in particular, the political opportunity structure was ripe for change and the 1956 Supreme Court ruling striking down Alabama’s state enforced segregation laws strengthened the case of the MIA and Dr. Martin Luther King. This federal judgment emphatically stated that Montgomery’s buss segregation laws were unconstitutional and within five weeks, the Montgomery buses were desegregated. Southern civil rights campaigners greatly benefited from sympathetic elites within the federal system who legitimated and help ensure the success of the movement (Robnett 1661-1664). Concluding Remarks The US Civil Right movement was an important antecedent for the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President in the history of this great nation. Contrary to the standard account, Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat was not “spontaneous” but was a calculated decision. The bus boycotts were early essential components of the US Civil Rights movement and without these boycotts the movement may have fizzled into oblivion. The Resource Mobilization and Political Process models provide a coherent explanation for the diffusion of the bus boycotts during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. In Baton Rouge, the techniques employed by the Reverend Jamison were incorporated into the Montgomery campaign coordinated by Dr. Martin Luther King. In Montgomery in particular, the political opportunity structure was ripe for change and the 1956 Supreme Court ruling striking down Alabama’s state enforced segregation laws strengthened the case of the MIA and Dr. Martin Luther King. This federal judgment emphatically stated that Montgomery’s buss segregation laws were unconstitutional and within five weeks, the Montgomery buses were desegregated. Southern civil rights campaigners greatly benefited from sympathetic elites within the federal system who legitimated and help ensure the success of the movement. Seeking legislative change and an end to discriminatory treatment in the southern United States, the US Civil Right movement paved the way for the election of this country’s first African-American president, just more than a half century after this movement began. WORKS CITED “First black mayor in Selma”, BBC.com. British Broadcasting Corporation, 13 September, 2000. Web. June 09 2009. McAdam, D. “Tactical Innovations and the Pace of Insurgency”, American Sociological Review, 48 (1986): 735-754. Morris, A. “The Black Southern Sit-In Movement: An Analysis of Internal Organization”, American Sociological Review, 46, 6 (1981):744-767. Robnett, Belinda. “African-American Women in the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965: Gender, Leadership, and Micromobilization”, American Journal of Sociology, 101 (1996): 1661-1676. Turner, R. & R. Killian, 1987. “Process in Collective Behavior: Models and Approaches.” Collective Behaviour 3rd edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1987. 17-34. Read More