Significance of the Civil Rights Movements - Essay Example

Civil Rights Movements Civil Right Movements Introduction The civil right movement of the year 1960 was mainly characterized by the social movement in the United States whose main objectives was to bring to an end racial segregation against the black Americans and also to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the rights of the citizens that are spelt out in the in the constitution and even in the federal laws. The leadership was mainly African- American, most of the financial and political supports for the movement mainly came from the labour unions, major religious denominations and even from the prominent white politicians (Craver, 2011). Major campaigns of the civil resistance characterized this movement. Acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience that was seen between 1955 and 1968 produced a situational crisis that called for productive dialogues between the civil right activists and the government agencies. It forces the federal governments, businessmen and even the communities to respond very fast to the situations that highlighted the inequities among African -Americans. Forms of protest and civil disobedience were like boycotts and a big range of other nonviolent activities (Danaher, 2006). This paper seeks to analyse the civil rights movements considering various aspects of the significance of the movement and the positive cultural shift that was attributed to the civil right movement. It also analyses various issues that need be addressed and corrected. Significance of the Civil rights Movements This movement is considered as one of the defining events in the history of America that provides a bracing example of American fighting for the ideals of justice and equality. When people learn about the movement they get to know what it means to be an active citizen of America, how to identify the cause of injustices. They also get to know the roles of individuals as well as the importance of the organizations and learn to stand together in case of oppression (Morris, 2006). We also learn about the historic narratives that were promoted by some of the pundits and political figures who would deny the legacy of the nation of institutionalizing oppressions (Andrews, 2007). Through this movement, slavery was brought to an end thus enhancing achievement of the social justice. Positive Cultural Shift that we can attribute the Civil Rights Movement Civil rights did not change overnight but it was held at the time when almost every person over the whole world took a hard stand for equality against the law which took a very long time for the results to be realized. Eventually, this movement led to great improvement in the legal rights that differentiated different groups of people (Batliwala, 2002). Music as an art played a very important role in the civil rights movements. It was the only source of entertainment during the times of hardship for example singing gave the struggling individuals reasons to come out of every morning to go and fight. Without the role and influence of the music during the civil rights movements, the whole world might have not transformed in the positive way that we see today (Pearce, 2006). The minority groups that took part in the civil rights movement practiced mostly nonviolence since they did not have any weapon, and their concentration was not to cause any harm to any person. Because they did not have any physical means of protecting themselves, they used a different method of use of the song. Other than creating unity among them, it gave them courage and strength to go out and face the difficulties that the world was experiencing like segregation and even hatred (Krieger, 2003). Music gave them a sense of unity since it brought a lot of people together as one as they prepared the fighters for their battles. Music resulted into one of the mechanisms that people could use against those who wanted to maintain the segregation idea as a positive move in the world. Most of the fighters who were jailed or harmed in the south during the civil right movement used songs so that they could lift their spirits. The most of the theme song of the civil right movement was we shall overcome. Following history, political and even social struggles have been having been using the music of the culture for example during the civil right movements, so many people blended politics with a lot of arts. Secondly, music was also important for this movement since it helped to spread the messages to other people (Isaac & Christiansen, 2002). Some of the people who used the nonviolence approach during this movement were the freedom riders who were majorly college students who decided to change the laws of segregation. They employed freedom songs as one of the aspects of the nonviolent protest of segregation. Other Issues that should be Corrected/addressed Poverty, Population and even Development Over the last few centuries that are 20th, 21st, 22nd century, most Asian and Pacific regions had undoubtedly made remarkable growth in terms of reducing hunger and extreme poverty among people. Besides, there was limited access to expanding basic services such as health and education services and also in the promotion of the industrial developments and food security. Unprecedented economic growth indicated rates in most of the regions indicated that a lot of countries have not fully reaped the benefits that are associated with the civil rights movements. However, despite buoyant economic growth, inequality in some part of the world was still in the rising end. For those who are in extreme poverty, there is very little progress has been made instead a good number of the poor people has become newly impoverished following destruction of both the social and economic support system due to integration of the international economy. Furthermore, most of these regions were enormously diverse with a big variation in different groups of people within sub-regions in the Asia and the Pacific, excluded the variations that were seen among different countries themselves. For the regions that had booming economic developments, pockets of economic deprivations and even marginalized groups of individuals continued to be seen in those regions. Economic development and the population growth rates are interconnected in very many ways, some of which can be understood better than others (Aiken, Salmon & Hanges, 2013). For a good part of the 1990s, population aspects were still not an issue in the in the discussion of the mainstream policy of the reduction of the poverty to promote economic development. After the ICPD, UNFPA and even other organization that are working in the field that deals with the population, focused largely on the promotion of the reproductive health and the rights of men ignoring that of the women and the young people. In the modern world, pieces of research have provided evidence that can improve our understanding of how the issues of the population could affect economic development causing a lot of people to be in extreme poverty. Most of the research that are currently conducted mostly focus on the demographic bonuses that are provided by the change in the age structure due to transition in the rate of fertility. A lot of studies mainly attributes a good part of the East and even South East Asian success to the investment in ensuring that a large group of working age of people that have made commitments at the ICPD have greatly resulted in a lot of changes in the policies. Significant progress on many fronts in the regions should be basically be focused on the provision of the girl child education that has been ignored for a long period of time and increased access to the reproductive health and family planning services. It is still very clear that economic and political participation of the women remain very low, gender-based violence has not been fully and sufficiently been addressed and in some regions there are unmet needs for family planning services. It is very important for most countries to put on their national agenda the needs of the reproductive health of the adolescents and young people who are unmarried. This is because the vast majority continue to lack access to good information relating to the reproductive health and services (Lorkin, 2002). Conclusion The significant progress on many fronts in the regions should be focused on the provision of the girl child education and even the women in the societies that have been ignored for a long period. Increased access to the reproductive health and family planning services to both girls and women should also be a priority. It is still very clear that economic and political participation of the women remain very low, gender-based violence has not been fully and sufficiently been addressed and in some regions there are unmet needs for family planning services. For those who are in extreme poverty, there is very little progress has been made instead a good number of the poor people has become newly impoverished following destruction of both the social and economic support system due to integration of the global economy. References Aiken, J. 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