The Role Of Women In The March From Selma To Montgomery (Essay Sample)

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE MARCH FROM SELMA TO MONTGOMERY
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Part 1
1). Background Information: The march from Selma to Montgomery led to the enaction of the Civil Rights Act if 1965. As a requirement, their actions in the protests were never applauded by historians. To that effect, this paper will detail their role by providing examples as to what they did during the period.
*Thesis Statement: Even though women were marginalized and prohibited from making public speeches at the Selma to Montgomery march, they were instrumental to its success because of their significant contribution as the lead singers of the freedom songs, organizers of the march and as motivators.
Thesis Sub-Points
-Women served as protestors, singers of the demonstration songs and mobilized the groups. All the women acted as singers from the first day of the march to the very end. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference acted as the cornerstone of mobilizing women to the call of voting rights.
-In other capacities, they acted as organizers of other black people but in all their duties, they had no chance of making speeches. An example is Amelia Boynton who persuaded Dr. Martin Luther to direct his energies on the civil rights movement and for some, she offered her residence to be an organizing venue for the protestors but never made a speech.[1. Gass, Tonny, "Amelia Boynton Robinson: Black Voting Rights Advocate." Culture Briefs, vol.10, (2015), 1.]
2. Brief Literature Review:
Secondary Sources, theme 1
Strong women personalities such as Prathia Hall, Diane Nash, and Amelia Boynton were never mentioned in history books for their contribution to the fight of black race civil rights in 1965.
Example: -During the Selma demonstration, black women served as protestors. Nash Diane and Amelia Boynton were the most vocal protestors, especially during the ‘Bloody Sunday’ march.
Secondary Sources, Theme 2
Contrary to many researchers’ views, Dodson points out that, women in egalitarian contexts are more likely to be involved in protest activities than their male counterparts but less confrontational ones.[2. Dodson, Kyle, “Gendered Activism: A cross-national view on gender differences in protest activity,” Social Currents, vol.2, no.4, (2015), 377.]
Example 1
One particularly, Nash Diane, was on the forefront of encouraging Dr. Luther not to give up the fight during the time.
Example 2
She is also noted to have provided accommodation for the organizers of the Selma demonstration.
3. Discussion of Primary Sources
Background Section:
Subtopic 1: Organizers
(Topic Sentence 1: Women were active in the march because they were organizers and planners of demonstrations.
Example
Nash provided somewhere to live to the organizers so that they could plan for the protests. She also planned for the nonviolent war in Montgomery that led to the development of the so-called ‘Bloody Sunday.” Interestingly, this example of evidence offers a link to the identification of the part women played in the riot and it is unfortunate that very few researchers attempted to identify how powerful these women characters were during the protests.[3. Zora, Alparslan, “Remembering the Montgomery marches,” The Journal of Gender, Race and Justice, vol.18, (2015), 200.]
4. Information about Primary Sources:
*Subtopic1 (Topic Sentence)
The sources are historical academic journals that focus primarily on the role of women at the time of the riots. They are updated and point to the notable effects of women during the period of the protests.
Example1 and Citation1
Some provide historical connotation of how the events unfolded. For instance, Zora gives an account of how Bloody Sunday started from the first shooting of Jimmy Lee all the way to when voting rights were signed into law. Others give the gender differences in how men and women approach protests of such magnitude just to stress their significance at the time of the riots.[4 See note 3, Above.]
*Subtopic 2: Motivators
(Topic Sentence2)
They were motivators to other black Americans during the march.
*Evidence 2 and Citation2
Miss Hayden tells a boy who had lost hope of the march” I think it is going to get better” So that he can focus on the final outcome which is freedom to vote and nothing else.[5. Adler, Renata. Letter from Selma, The New Yorker, Issue April 10, 1965, /magazine/1965/04/10/letter-from-selma.]
5. Points for the Conclusion
* Summary of Argument
* Women predominantly acted as passive demonstrators during the march from Selma to Montgomery because they lacked decorum for making speeches. But in these dimensions, some remained active through singing freedom songs and allowing o...