Development of American Culture and Society (Research Paper Sample)

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Development of American Culture and Society The development of the American culture and society began immediately after the Civil War. Several figures are associated with various aspects of this progress. Among these figures is James Farmer, a civil activist who advocated for non-violence operations such as Freedom Rides, CORE, and civil rights movement in America. Mr. Farmer died at age 79 on July 1999. This brief discusses James Farmer’s contributions in the development of American culture and society. Brief History of James Farmer James Farmer was born on January 12, 1920, in Marshall, Texas. In college, he became a well-known debater. Later, he proceeded to become the leader of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE). He was also a recognized civil rights leader, famously known to organize the historic Freedom Rides of 1961 (Beil 18). Prior to his death, he suffered from diabetes which resulted in amputation of his limbs. Mr. Farmer later died at the age of 79 on July 9, 1999. His major contributions to the development of American culture and society include shaping the civil rights movement in America, organizing the Freedom Rides, and leading CORE to enhance race relations and stop discriminatory policies. Contributions in American Culture and Society Leading COTE. CORE is an interracial American organization founded by James Farmer in 1942 to improve the relationships between races and stop prejudiced policies through direct action projects. Before establishing COTE, he worked as a race-relations secretary for the FOR. However, he left due to a policy dispute. CORE was a non-violent method of fighting racial discrimination created by the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi. CORE’s activities commenced with at a coffee shop in Chicago in 1942 (Rudwick 12). The first meeting discussed discrimination in public places and became one of the most successful demonstrations in the US, making the government recognize CORE as an influential force in the consecutive desegregation of public facilities in Northern towns. CORE and FOR started the first interracial peaceful demonstration when the Southern states disregarded the US Supreme Court’s 1946 rule on the unconstitutionality of prejudiced placing of seats in interstate buses. In the late 1950s, CORE started focusing on the South, contesting public discrimination and fighting for voter registration initiatives for African Americans. The organization became a leading civil rights movement in early 1960s by establishing activist operations that challenged prejudiced laws in the Southern states (Rudwick 17). The Freedom Rides of 1961 and the Freedom Summer are the most memorable contributions of the movement’s civil rights struggle. Particularly, these efforts helped to enact of Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These two acts granted blacks equal rights and protection by the law. The Civil Rights Movement in America. John Farmer helped to shape the American civil rights movement, which included mass protest against racial seclusion and discrimination in the Southern states. He engaged in peaceful activism and organized sit-ins and Freedom Rides, operations which expanded popular support for the enactment of Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in the mid-1960s. American civil rights movement traces its origin to the fights against racial repression and abolition of slavery. Even though the American slaves were liberated at the end of the Civil War and received basic civil rights under the U.S. Constitution, they still had to fight for the federal protection of such rights in the years to come. John Farmer’s non-violent protests allowed civil rights movements to interrupt the pattern of public discrimination in the South, which encouraged racial segregation. In addition, the civil rights movement led to a significant breakthrough in equal-rights legislation for African Americans since the end of the Civil War. The success in passing the major civil rights laws of 1964 and 1965 demonstrated that the movement was indeed victorious. However, by then some militant black activists started viewing this fight as a liberation movement other than civil rights society. As a result, they used the movement to confront the economic, political, and cultural concerns they had faced. Therefore, the American civil rights movement not only succeeded in bringing equal-rights legislation but also challenged the economic, political, and cultural oppression African Americans had faced in the past. Freedom Rides. Freedom Rides refer to the successions of political demonstrations against segregation. During these operations, blacks and whites rode together through the Southern states in 1961. James Farmer is known for organizing Freedom Rides efforts (Beil 20). In 1946, the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling that banned segregation in interstate buses. CORE and FOR launched Freedom Rides as an initiative to test the court’s ruling to allow interracial activists to ride on a bus together with the white people. The ruling was ...