The civil rights era consisted of extreme amounts of violence. Many people were beaten, hospitalized, placed behind bars, and in extreme cases but majority lost their lives during this time. Segregation was big, integration wasn’t wanted, and separatism ruled the South. So many people wanted change. Bravery played a very important part in getting segregation to end. People were literally willing to risk their life for it to end. People would get on a bus and ride to the most separated southern states, even if it meant their lives.
The Freedom Riders had so much heart, they carried their heads high, and their prides higher. The Freedom Rides started when the Supreme Court found that segregated public buses and related facilities on interstate
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Lewis was an African American who was born outside of Troy, Alabama, on February 21st, 1940. His childhood wasn’t rough, but once he got to the age where he could work, he realized the unfairness of segregation. Lewis heard Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermons and news about the Montgomery bus boycott and he pushed him to act for the changes he wanted to see. Lewis attend the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. He was taught about nonviolent protest and helped to organize sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. He eventually ended up being arrested for these practices, but Lewis was determined to make a change to the system and participated in the Freedom Rides of …show more content…
It consisted of 13 people, 7 black and 6 white, departing from Washington, DC. They were planning to stop at Richmond, Petersburg, Farmville, Lynchburg and Danville in Virginia. Stops in North Carolina included Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury and Charlotte. Nobody really bothered them at most of these stops, but in Charlotte, North Carolina, there was an arrest. Black rider Joseph Perkins tried to get a shoe shine at a “white only” shoe shine station, he was arrested for trespassing, refused bail, and spent two nights in jail. He was released after his two day and continued the ride. Violence occured May 10th in Rock Hill, South Carolina at the Greyhound Bus terminal. Black rider John Lewis and white rider Albert Bigelow we’re trying to enter a white-only waiting area. Several white men attacked the pair. May 13th, the Freedom Riders had dinner with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in hopes to get him to join the ride. King kindly refused because he warned them that if they continued the ride, the Ku Klux Klan would be waiting for them and that they wouldn’t make it out of New Orleans, but the Freedom Riders didn’t let that discourage them and continued the ride on May 14th for
Racial segregation in public transportation was now illegal, therefore the Freedom Riders wanted to determine whether this law was being enforced. On May 14th African-American's decided to sit wherever they chose to on the bus. Many white supremacists acted upon this and started throwing
The event that I have chosen is the Freedom Rides, which started May 4, 1961 and ended December 10, 1961. The Freedom Rides were inspired by the Greensboro Sit-ins, and started with 13 African American and Caucasian protestors riding buses into the segregated south to challenge the lack of enforcement to the Supreme Court ruling that segregated buses were unconstitutional. While the activists were peaceful the local law enforcement and people against their message were not. The activists were beaten at several stops along their journey from Anniston to Birmingham with chains, bricks, and bats by Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members in Alabama, and activists that were injured would be refused hospital treatment. Bull Connor, Commissioner of Public Safety
The Inspiration of Martin Luther King Jr. in His Letter from Birmingham Jail On April 3, 1963, black men and women, impatient for equality, opened a campaign to desegregate businesses in downtown Birmingham. The protesters who defied these segregation laws soon filled Bull Connor’s jail cell beyond capacity. When the state courts of Alabama issued an injunction against the protests, Dr. King decided to defy the law and suffer the consequences.
Since these actions were seen as illegal for colored folks, King and his advocates were arrested and escorted to Birmingham
On April 12, 1963, eight clergymen wrote an open letter, “A Call for Unity”. In this published letter, the clergymen expressed their strong disapproval of the civil rights demonstrations taking place in Birmingham, Alabama. That same day, civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for protesting without a permit. In his short eleven-day jail sentence, Dr. King directly responded to the clergymen with a letter of his own. In his letter, Dr. King informed his readers about the protests in Birmingham.
Many people were hopping onto freight trains to travel to the next city in hopes of finding work. A website and museum dedicated to the Scottsboro boys described the event which led to their imprisonment. A museum and organization that speaks on the boys lives and what injustice they had said that on March 25, 1931 nine black teens ages thirteen to nineteen and many other people were aboard a freight train heading South (“History”). A famous author and historian said a fight broke out when a white male stepped on Haywood Patterson 's hand. A stone throwing fight ensued.
In Birmingham, Alabama on April 3, 1963, a civil rights campaign began. With coordinated marches and sit-ins against racism and racial segregation, the nonviolent operation was organized by the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) and Martin Luther King 's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). After several days of protesting, a ban on parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing was sanctioned. Leaders of the campaign declared they would defy the ruling. On April 12, King was arrested along with activist Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and other protestors in front of thousands of African Americans dressed for Good Friday looked on.
The filmmaker Stanley Nelson has a stunning accomplishment in “Freedom Riders,” a documentary that chronicles a crucial, devastating episode of the civil rights movement, an episode whose gruesome visuals impinged on the perception of American liberty around the world. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the freedom rides, the film (to be shown Monday on PBS) is a story of ennobled youth and noxious hatred, of decided courage and inexplicable brutality. In May 1961 the Congress of Racial Equality sought to challenge the segregation of interstate travel on public transport and sent forth activists, both black and white, and many of them students, on a bus journey through the South, where they were received with violence that law enforcers
Even through all of the threats King received, after going to jail and having his house bombed, he persevered and pressed on against segregation. This was only another of his many achievements that greatly affected the civil rights movement. One of King’s most popular achievements was the Birmingham Campaign. King organized large groups of students to march from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to City Hall. Eugene Connor, Birmingham's commissioner of public safety, met the students with fire hoses and and police attack dogs.
The graphic memoir, March, is a biography about Congressman John Lewis’ young life in rural Alabama which provides a great insight into lives of black families in 1940s and 50s under Jim Crow and segregation laws. March opens with a violent march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which the gruesome acts later became known as “Bloody Sunday,” during this march, 600 peaceful civil rights protestors were attacked by the Alabama state troopers for not listening to their commands. The story then goes back and forth depicts Lewis growing up in rural Alabama and President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. This story of a civil rights pioneer, John Lewis, portrays a strong influence between geography, community, and politics. The correlation between these pillars of March is that they have to coexist with other in order for John Lewis to exist that the world knows today.
Civil rights refers to fighting for equal rights between blacks and whites. It is an important part of history. From time to time, people have been fighting for civil rights for blacks in whites in the mid 1900’s. In fact, Bloody Sunday was probably one of the most important events to have an impact on history for civil rights. Everyday, people struggle to be treated equally and civil rights make it possible for everyone black or white to be treated equally.
The freedom riders proved a point to show the strength of the black race, but caused a divide as the white race became threatened and ---more
March Rhetorical Analysis The 1960’s civil rights movement often used persuasive language to echo the unheard voices of many individuals. Some more than others possessed the ability to exercise their potent use of language to bring forward prominent changes. In the book, March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, eloquent methods of speech play an important role. John Lewis, Martin Luther King, and George Wallace are some that expressed their beliefs through persuasive empowering words.
Summary/Assessment: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which is an organization operating in every Southern state with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. He came to Birmingham, Alabama because injustice lies there and helped protest about it in a nonviolent demonstration against racial discrimination. The eight clergymen of the South did not approve of these demonstrations happening which caused Dr. King to be confined in Birmingham Jail cell, writing a letter to them men explaining on why he was in Birmingham and what his reasons were for these protests. He begins to talk about and explain the four basic steps that needed to be followed for any nonviolent campaign. He also gives the audience a better understanding by giving a visual glimpse of what the black community had to endure.
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.