Civil Disobedience And The Effect Of The Civil Rights Movement

In a free society, it is inevitable for reform to occur.It is a common theme across world history for people to peacefully challenge the decisions of those above them.From the plebeians disobeying the laws of Ancient Rome to the Indian Independence Movement, civil disobedience has been among us for so long, and each society is able to build off its predecessors’ mistakes.Henry Thoreau inspired generations to come in his essay, “Civil Disobedience”, and the effect of it was widespread.In fact, while in jail, Mahatma Gandhi picked up a copy of Thoreau’s essay and was able to utilize the tactics discussed by Thoreau to successfully challenge Britain’s control over India.That movement created a template itself as the Civil Rights movement of the
1950s and 1960s soon followed.Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society in their ability to gather attention on a certain issue while respectfully disagreeing with that particular idea. Mahatma Gandhi utilized non-violent protest methods in his refusal to cooperate with many of Britain’s harsh policies.This peaceful resistance required many years of strikes, speeches, and trials until, finally, India was granted independence in 1947.Gandhi is most famous for his driven philosophy of non-violent disapproval of laws that were discriminate in nature.Even when his enemies attacked violently, Gandhi was concrete on his stance of only using peaceful opposition to make a point.His actions positively impacted a free society because, well, essentially he created a free society (Independence).Viewed by others as a hero, Gandhi’s legacy carries more than simply the leader of the independence movement, but rather he is a turning point in world history.By fighting injustice without physical fighting, Gandhi was the standard of Civil Disobedience.What would follow in the rest of the world for years to come was simply movements that embodied all Gandhi preached.As he once said, “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.” The Civil Rights Movements of the 1950s and 1960s positive impact on American society strongly resembles the positive impact that Gandhi left on India.
Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond are names less common to the average American in the twenty-first century, yet their impact on society will forever be maintained.When they decided to purchase items at a store in North Carolina in 1960 and subsequently sit at the counter at the restaurant, they had no idea that their actions would lead to protests across the country for months and eventually set a model for the rest of the world to follow forever.When it was decided that they had broken no rules, twenty more black students joined them the following day.The increase in news coverage of the events would eventually lead to a successful Civil Rights movement in which desegregation occurred, and African Americans were essentially “freed” from discrimination following the Civil War era.After sit-ins' success in North Carolina, it became an increasingly popular way to protest, as it was seen effective through forcing the people being protested to find alternative means of enforcing the policy in controversy.Sit-ins can also be seen as having an overall positive impact due to the template they set for other peaceful protest types to
grow. In the present day, the most successful peaceful resistance to policy can be seen in distant North Dakota where the Native Americans of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stood their ground against construction workers for the Dakota Access Pipeline.In an excessively aggressive approach from riot police, the majority of the Native Americans remained calm in protesting the project.Similar to both the ideology of Gandhi and sit-ins of the 1960’s, the tribe eventually was joined by fellow citizens from all over the country to show that they opposed the proposed project.The tribe, along with most of the country, took to social media as a means of protesting with the hashtag “#NODAPL”.This tactic ultimately led to the knowledge of the situation amongst the country increasing as more and more people became actively involved in standing with Standing Rock.It was in April 2016 that the pipeline construction was officially halted and the protest was deemed successful. I believe that taking to social media is going to evolve into the newest mark on the timeline of significant peaceful protests in history.It positively impacts a free society by interconnecting the world on an issue while promoting change.Peaceful resistance to laws can see a significant starting point in Ancient Rome.However, I believe there is no end in sight.As society becomes more complex, new protest forms will evolve.Gandhi created a model, sit-ins furthered that model, and now social media has put a twist on protesting as we know it. All social media did was help a tribe fight for freedom, and it will not be long before the next great invention comes along and changes everything again.