Civil Rights and Black Power Movements - Essay Example

Civil Rights and Black Power Movements Professor Institution Date Civil rights and black power movements The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is civil rights organization founded by African Americans with the main aim of ending all forms of Negro discrimination by use of protests and non-violent means.

SCLC traces its origin to 10th January 1957 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. invited approximately sixty black ministers and leaders and black ministers to Ebenezer Church in Atlanta with the main aim of initiating the non violent action of ending the segregating action of the bus system across the southern region. The result of this was the formation of the Negro leaders Conference on Non-violent integration which was later named the Southern Negro Leaders Conference before acquiring the name The southern Christian leadership conference that it has continued to use up to date (Fairclough, Adam 2001).

The founding leaders of the organization were Dr. Martin Luther King, who served as the first president and Ella Baker, who was also a member of staff. Other members included; Rev. Joseph Lowery, Rev. Ralph Albenarthy, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and all the other black citizens were considered as potential members as the movement was aimed at fighting for their rights. As the movement was aimed at using peaceful means to achieve its goals, it started its activities by influencing churches to preach equality though this faced a lot of opposition from the police as churches were expected to put emphasis on spiritual matters.

The movement also believed that for the blacks to acquire equal rights with their white counterparts they had to be aware of their civil rights. This caused them to start state citizenship schools in 1954 that majored in teaching adults to enable them to pass literacy tests though they secretly offered democracy and civil rights classes against the law. Their belief of gaining freedom without violence enabled them to participate in many protests. In 1961 and 1962, for example, they joined the Albany movement to protest against segregation in Albany, a locality in Georgia.

They also participated in many other protests, for example, the Birmingham campaign that resulted in the arrest of Dr. Martin Luther, 1963 March to Washington, 1964 St. Augustine’s protests and many more. However unlike the SCLC, which believed in peace, the Black Panther Party (BPP) founded in 1966 by Boy Scale (served as chairman) and Huey Newton (served as defense minister) believed in the use of military power by the minority against the government to earn freedom against segregation.

Though both movements had an aim of gaining freedom against Negro segregation, BPM appeared to be more radical in their quest for freedom ( Clayborne, Emma and Gary 2007). Most of the protests involving BPM always turned out violent as the members believed in violence as a means of acquiring freedom. Important to note, however, unlike the SCLC, which was led by older church ministers and political activists like Martin Luther, most of the BPP leaders were in their early twenties and others even below twenty years, for example, Bobby Hutton, who was only seventeen years old (Marable, et.al 2002). The Panthers believed in service delivery to citizens that led them to build kitchens that offered free breakfast to schoolchildren in 1969 and later a free medical center and a medical camp that offered door-to-door services testing for sickle cell anemia.

Being considered as rebel movements by the government, both the movements record an history of assassinations though this was most prevalent in BPP as it was considered a threat to the country`s security by the FBI. Both the movements played a big role in ending the black segregation policy and were considered key movements in earning Negro freedom. References Clayborne c., Emma j, Gary (2007) The struggle for freedom: A history of African Americans, the combined volume (2nd edition) Pearson Longman Fairclough, Adam.(2001) To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr.

University of Georgia Press, Marable, Manning; Mullings, Leith (2002). Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle. London: Phaidon.