The March That Started a Movement - Case Study Example

The March That Started a Movement The aim of this essay is to introduce every individual to the efforts made by King in addressing social problems of African Americans living in USA. On August 28, 1963 the March on Washington gave King the chance to put out the message to all human kind, that you can achieve what you wanted and to be able to do that, you have to make tough decisions. This essay is also significant for the people who do not have an understanding of the political history of the United States. The March on Washington in 1963 began the era of justice, creation of jobs; as well an end to discrimination towards the African American community. Time has come to praise the contribution King made to free the African American community from the slavery they were forced into for years by their white oppressors. This essay is significant for those who live in third world countries, in the end giving them the faith that, one day, they will also become strong leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. King was a minister from Alabama, who would later become the leading voice of the civil rights movement. For that, he traveled across the country, simultaneously arranging protests and marches to bring attention to the fight which African Americans faced on a day-to-day basis. Like many before him who had sought to end social prejudice and injustice, King was thrown in jail on several times; throughout the ordeal he sustained a personal viewpoint of peacefulness as a means of succeeding. He thought that taking a combative attitude would perhaps just formulate things of inferior quality, with the accurate way to success being achieved through avocation of both truth and acceptance. King is perhaps most famous for his approach during the Civil Rights Movement. He too would be impacted by the events of the movement, or by means of eminence at rest become diehard. In fact King and Quaid i.e azam were the best symbols of the historic civil rights movements of the 20th century which served to enhance the lives for a greater part of the world's common people. They established the efficiency of diplomatic tactics and by this means were able to help to decrease the violence and hate, with the purpose of triumphing over colonialism, as well as officially imposed cultural unfairness. In 1962, frustration had become widespread in African American communities throughout the country. The African American unemployment rate was twice as high in comparison to the rate of whites and sadly, major human rights reforms had not yet been accomplished. Asa Philip Randolph, labor leader and founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, had labeled the suggestion of a march as a need "for jobs and freedom." One of the most essential points of the march was the demand that Congress be interested in the process leading towards the anticipation of civil rights legislation. Negroes had become irritated by continued unfairness. Their definitive ambition was total, unqualified freedom for themselves. The mainstream white progressives were heated by the rough treatment given to the African American community. The march in the beginning was considered to be an affair, which would serve to remedy the distressed circumstances faced by the blacks in the South, along with an exceptionally free break on the road to placing organizers' concerns, as well as their objections, squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. They proceeded to condemn the federal government not being in favor of human rights and corporeal shelter of civil rights workers and blacks that lived, by and large, in the South. On the other hand, the factions did submit to presidential demands and authority of the Executive branch of government. Historically, most would consider the March on Washington as an especially momentous occurrence, not just in the United States, but the rest of the world as well. In excess of 250,000 people came to Washington in their bid to insist that equal opportunity for blacks are given and that Congress must move in the direction of passing civil rights legislation. This march is finest attribution to memory in the form of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. It was understood that the purpose of the rally would lean towards the support of President Kennedy's civil rights bill, which would ultimately be passes by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964. "When planning the march, the organizers made sure that Washington D.C. was ready for anything so that the march could go on no matter the circumstances. Marchers were advised to bring raincoats, hats, sunglasses, plenty of water, and non-perishable food. To accommodate the expected 100,000 to 200,000 people, there were 292 outdoor toilets, 21 water fountains, 22 first aid stations, 40 doctors and 80 nurses along the march," ("On the March" 17). The National Council of Churches made 80,000 boxed lunches for the marchers at 50 cents each. When the buses of people came to Washington D.C.'s outskirts, 5,600 cops and 4,000 army troops came to patrol the parade. The March on Washington represented a coalition of several civil rights organizations, all of which generally had different approaches to their agendas. The "Big Six" organizers were James Farmer, of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); Martin Luther King, Jr., of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC); John Lewis, of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); A. Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; Roy Wilkins, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and Whitney Young, Jr., of the National Urban League." (Ross, Samuel (2006). March on Washington. Features. Infoplease. Retrieved on 2006-09-17.) The main theme of the march was the means of having an important effect for civil rights legislation; the removal of ethnic separation during public schools; safety given to those who wished to demonstrate against the use by the police force of rough treatment; a major public-works program to provide jobs; the passage of a law prohibiting racial discrimination in public and private hiring; a $2 an hour minimum wage; and self-government for the District of Columbia, which had a black majority. Two of the most remarkable speeches came from John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. "Lewis represented the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a younger, more radical group than King's. The speech he planned to give, circulated beforehand, was objected to by other participants; it called Kennedy's civil rights bill "too little, too late," asked "which side is the federal government on" and declared that they would march "through the Heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did" and "burn Jim Crow to the ground-nonviolently." In the end, he agreed to tone down the more inflammatory portions of his speech, but even the revised version was the most controversial of the day, stating: The revolution is at hand, and we must free ourselves of the chains of political and economic slavery. The nonviolent revolution is saying, "We will not wait for the courts to act, for we have been waiting hundreds of years. We will not wait for the President, nor the Justice Department, nor Congress, but we will take matters into our own hands, and create a great source of power, outside of any national structure that could and would assure us victory." For those who have said, "Be patient and wait!" we must say, "Patience is a dirty and nasty word." We cannot be patient, we do not want to be free gradually, we want our freedom, and we want it now. We cannot depend on any political party, for the Democrats and the Republicans have betrayed the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence."(King, Martin Luther (April 4, 1967). Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. Speech. Hartford Web Publishing. Retrieved on 2006-09-17) "King's speech remains one of the most famous speeches in American history. He started with prepared remarks, saying he was there to "cash a check" for "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," while warning fellow protesters not to "allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force." But then he departed from his script, shifting into the "I have a dream" theme he'd used on prior occasions, drawing on both "the American dream" and religious themes, speaking of an America where his children "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." (100 American Speeches by Rank Order. American Rhetoric (2006).) To summarize some of the brief points made by King would to be as follows; (1) I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed-we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. (2) I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. (3) I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. (4) I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. (5) I have a dream today! (^ Williams, Brandt. "What would Martin Luther King do" Minnesota Public Radio, January 16, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-12-23) It was a nonviolent, but also a victorious showing of character and the fight for justice. Never the less, President John Kennedy was overwhelmed by way the march had served to motivate and inspire the participants. The nature of the speeches had been sensible and furthermore he was overwhelmed with King's speech. "He's damned good," the President commented as he watched King. On the way to the demonstration, King and the other leaders had met with President Kennedy near the White House in order to talk about the recent legislation. The President guaranteed them his loyalty in the means of access, but however furthermore stated that he was anxious that the bill would become an inflexible fought battle, due to the lack of support by Republican senators. "The leaders left the White House but not sure whether they have certain of Kennedy's support, nevertheless unconfident when and whether the bill would pass .During November 1963, Kennedy was assassinated. The means of access of the bill, still, did not die with Kennedy. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, 1964. The bill allocated power to the federal government to enforce school desegregation; it prohibited segregation in public places; and it established a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity". (The Person of the Century Poll Results", Time magazine, June, 2000,. Retrieved on 2006) The consequence in this March is that nothing positive in actuality happened right away for blacks nevertheless as time went on large enhancements were made on the way to the black community. After 35 years the March on Washington, it is plain as the nose on your face that a few of its goals have been achieved. Isolation had been eliminated, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally made access the chance to vote for southern blacks, and there are now a record number of black elected officials around the country. Finally all of the efforts that King made for the supremacy of civil rights and an end to discrimination would come to pass with the consideration from Congress that came with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made isolation in public places illegal, compulsory for the employers to provide equal employment opportunities, as well as protecting the right to vote of every American. The March on Washington had many special effects on the nation and the world at the same time as a whole by making it quite clear that the Negro in America could obtain first-class leadership but that his own leadership and his own sustained efforts were necessary ingredients. It showed that success was possible, but only through continued efforts and organization. "According to James M. Nabrit, Jr., the March made the country much more aware of the demand of African Americans and the jobless conditions that most of them faced at the time. The March on Washington was a key event in the fight for freedom and the biggest event in the beginning of civil rights movement. It was regarded by many reporters as largely successful. The March on Washington had a tremendous effect on the fate of the Kennedy Administration's civil rights bill, but Kennedy was assassinated before the bill was passed. Johnson, who was Kennedy's vice president, took over and became president, and he passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The March on Washington not only helped to pass this legislation, but also made the world realize the African Americans' fight for freedom and their determination to make it happen." (Church, Frank (April 23, 1976). Church Committee Book III. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Case Study. Church Committee.) The efforts made by both King and his colleagues gave way to a higher presence of blacks in professional organizations such as lawyers, doctors, engineers and journalists, leading to greater than ever educational and job possibilities. As a matter of fact those who would lend important strategic, financial and marketing skills to the movement are over and over again drain off as a result of the much superior-paying private sector. "In 1970, seven years after the March on Washington, there were 1,469 black elected officials in the United States, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which studies black-oriented issues. By the year 2000, the number had reached more than 9,000. Some say there are still mass demonstrations of black people seeking to secure rights and advantages. They are now called elections." (King (2000). Why We Can't Wait. Signet Classics. ISBN 0-451-52753-4. ) "There will be great political advantage in a million Black men representing several million more behind the door. Let us use this political leverage to help our people get up and to help America to see that we intend to use our political power in a constructive way and that no longer can any party depend on our vote or take it for granted. What is the social advantage Black men from every religious affiliation, every civic, fraternal or political persuasion, from the revolutionist to the integrationist, from the Christians, to the Muslims, Hebrews and Agnostics - all of us will be together. There will be a common denominator uniting the fractions and the factions. On that one day we will see the value socially of never allowing artificial barriers to impede the advancement of our people." (Nabrit, James M. Jr. "The Relative Progress and the Negro in the United States: Critical Summary and Evaluation." Journal of Negro History 32.4 (1963): 507-516. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004) "King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The Reverend Ralph Abernathy, King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the HSCA that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the 'King-Abernathy suite.'While King was standing on the motel's 2nd floor balcony, James Earl Ray (is believed to have) shot him at 6:01 p.m. April 4, 1968. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveling down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. According to biographer Taylor Branch, and also Jesse Jackson, who was present, King's last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch (no relation to Taylor Branch) who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: Ben, make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty. Abernathy was inside the motel room heard the shot and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor. Local Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles, whose house King was on his way to visit, remembers that upon seeing King go down he ran into a hotel room to call an ambulance. Nobody was on the switchboard, so Kyles ran back out and yelled to the police to get one on their radios. It was later revealed that the hotel switchboard operator, upon seeing King shot, had had a fatal heart attack and could not operate the phones. King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m. The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 100 cities. Five days later, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a national day of mourning for the lost civil rights leader. A crowd of 300,000 attended his funeral that same day. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey attended on behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson, who was holding a meeting on the Vietnam War at Camp David." (The Martin Luther King Assassination. the Real History Archives (2006). The following is a composition of some of the most significant moments in the Civil Rights movement; (1941) President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs executive order banning discrimination in employment by government defense contractors. (1942) Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is organized in Chicago, Illinois. (1946) President Harry S. Truman establishes President's Committee on Civil Rights, which declares racial discrimination to be a national problem. (1947) CORE and the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) sponsor the first Freedom Ride. Freedom Riders travel through the South to test Supreme Court decision banning segregation in interstate bus travel. Jackie Robinson breaks baseball's color barrier when he is hired to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first black to play major league sports in half a century. (1948) Supreme Court rules that federal and state courts cannot enforce laws which bar persons from owning property based on race. President Truman orders the integration of all units of the U.S. armed forces. (1949) Members of CORE stage a sit-in at segregated facilities in St. Louis, Missouri. (1954) In Brown v. Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court orders that blacks be admitted to public schools on a racially non-discriminate basis "with all deliberate speed." This over turns the doctrine of "separate but equal" facilities by acknowledging that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." (1955) Successful boycott of municipal bus lines, in Montgomery, Alabama, led by Martin Luther King Jr., overturns local ordinance requiring blacks to sit in the back of buses. Similar gains are made in other Southern cities. (1957) President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to enforce the right of nine black students to enroll at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the first use of federal troops to protect black civil rights in the South since shortly after the Civil War. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is established with Martin Luther King, Jr. as its first president. Congress passes a civil rights law creating the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and a civil division in the Department of Justice. (1960) Black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College start sit-in movement in Greensboro, North Carolina. Sit-ins at segregated public restaurants and lunch counters soon spread throughout South. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded at Shaw University Raleigh, North Carolina. (Jackson, Thomas F., From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8122-3969-0) By and by, the March on Washington served as a tipping point of historical proportions for both African Americans and the United States as a whole. The United States would finally move towards the identification of African Americans as a people that had rights just as anyone. People, who worked as hard as anyone else, in some ways especially harder, deserved the opportunity to be afforded the same rights and liberties of all men and women that lived in the United States. With the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers came the sad reality of how, despite the strong need for it, there were those who maintained a sense that change was not needed in the country. In fact, change was needed in the country for it to heal and grow together collectively. To find a peace within itself to aid those who needed help at all. References 100 American Speeches by Rank Order. American Rhetoric (2006). Church, Frank (April 23, 1976). Church Committee Book III. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Case Study. Church Committee. Jackson, Thomas F., From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8122-3969-0. King, Martin Luther (April 4, 1967). Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. Speech. Hartford Web Publishing. Retrieved on 2006-09-17 King (2000). Why We Can't Wait. Signet Classics. ISBN 0-451-52753-4. Nabrit, James M. Jr. "The Relative Progress and the Negro in the United States: Critical Summary and Evaluation." Journal of Negro History 32.4 (1963): 507-516. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004) Ross, Samuel (2006). March on Washington. Features. Infoplease. Retrieved on 2006-09-17. The Martin Luther King Assassination. The Real History Archives (2006). The Person of the Century Poll Results", Time magazine, June, 2000,. Retrieved in 2006 Williams, Brandt. "What would Martin Luther King do" Minnesota Public Radio, January 16, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-12-23. Read More