The Struggle of Freedom and Equality (Essay Sample)

The struggle of freedom and equality in the 20th century
Student Name
Professor Name
Course Name
Date
Introduction
The African Americans were subjected from discrimination by the whites since the times of colonization. In the early 20th century, they developed various strategies in order to counteract the effects of discrimination. The essay below will point out the strategies used by the African Americans in the early 20th century to fight against segregation laws. The essay will also discuss the catalysts that led to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s-1960s. The essay will also draw out the fundamental goals achieved by the Civil rights movement.
Methods used by the African Americans to fight segregation
The struggle for freedom from legalized discrimination termed as Jim Crow was a progressive war by the African Americans. Civil rights movements were deployed by the African Americans in order to achieve equal rights with the whites. They wanted to have the same opportunities in education, employment and housing. The Jim Crow laws had progressed such that at the turn of the century the African Americans were denied the right to vote.
In the early 20th century, the African Americans had to respond to these oppressive laws. They did so by staging various methods. Some of the methods deployed were protests and court challenges.
On February 1909, marking the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln, a group of activists in the South entered the streets to demand an end to racial injustices. The activists protested to end the profound racial segregation in America. There emerged many movements initiated by the African Americans. Some of them included NAACP and Niagara Movement. All these movements would lead protests in order to end segregation (Berg, 2005).
The protests would bring to attention the people in the government. Protests in the streets would paralyze the transport systems. The protesters would engage the security personnel and therefore catch the attention of those in government. At times, the protests led to deaths and property damage. For instance, in 1908 NAACP initiated protests in Illinois leading to death of six and injury to around fifty African Americans. Many also fled from their homes to escape the riots. The movement would also raise public awareness during the protests.
The African Americans also used courts to challenge the existing oppressive federal laws. In 1909, NAACP (formerly called National Negro Conference), appointed Moorfield Storey as their lawyer. This was in a bid to challenge the oppressive discriminatory laws in the courts.
NAACP would also influence the Congress from amending some of the laws. For instance, in 1915, it lobbied the Congress to pass an anti-lynching law.
In the early years, the movements saw early successes in the Supreme Court. For instance, in 1915, Guinn v United States saw the delisting of the law that prevented the blacks to vote in Oklahoma. In 1917, Buchanan v Warley, overturned a ruling that saw 12 black men sentenced to death for race rioting.
The methods highlighted above were relatively successful. The protests were effective but harmful at the same time. Protests would send the message but were marred with chaos, injuries, deaths and property damage.
The movements put pressure on the governing elite. The court challenges were also successful in overruling some of the oppressive laws underlined by the Jims Crow laws. NAACP at some point successfully blocked the nomination of Judge John J. Parker by President Herbert Hoover in the Supreme Court. He was blocked because of past racial comments.
Catalysts that led to the Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement was a struggle by the African Americans with the whites against the unjust laws that oppressed the blacks. The movement was very vocal from the mid-1950s to 1960s. The movement sought for equal rights among African Americans.
Prior to these movements, there was no movement that was successful in addressing the rights of African Americans. The movement sought to fight for legal and political equality for African Americans. The movement put pressure on the federal government to protect the rights of the African Americans (McNeil, 1983).
Rosa Parks’s incidence of 1955 is the biggest catalyst that contributed to the beginning of the civil rights movement. Rosa Park, referred by the name ‘mother of the civil rights movement’ is known as the early catalyst of civil rights movement. It all began when she refused to give up her seat to a white. This led to a series of events in Montgomery most notably the bus boycotts.
The racial segregation in the transport system meant the front seats were reserved for the whites. It was known as the ‘Colored Section’. On that day, the driver ordered Rosa Parks to go to the back seat so that a white man could occupy the front seat. She refused. She was arrested for defying Jim Crow’s laws (Gross, 1990).
Being a respected lady, her arrest led to wide spread boycotts. The long awaited search for freedom for the blacks had arrived. These protests led to the emergence of Martin Luther King.
In 1956, the massive boycotts led to the Supreme Court banning the segregation law in the transport system. Racism was declared unconstitutional. After this, the blacks could sit anywhere in the public transport vehicles. It was a massive step towards the fight for racism.
In 1955, the brutal murder of a 14 year old by a white also sparked outrage for the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. The name of the boy was Emmett Till. His murder and the consecutive trials for the accused led to moral outrage.
Civil rights activists used the murder of Till to hold public rallies to express dissatisfaction against racism. The murder of Till synergized with the Montgomery boycotts. Previously, black men were subject of brutal murders by white men. Many of them were acquitted. Some even went ahead to confess of the acts outside the courtrooms. However, the murder of Till was not like the rest. Reverend Jesse Jackson described the murder as one tha...