Comparison Of Coming Of Age In Mississippi And The Freedom Riders

Everyone is different. Two of the top runners in the country can be black and white. One identical twin can be a star athlete while the other is a band geek. Two gang members can be gay and straight. One wealthy person can end up in prison while someone from Detroit’s slums becomes a millionaire. Despite the racism and degradation in the past United States, the country has overcome battles regarding racism and equality. Within the book Coming of Age in Mississippi and the Freedom Riders documentary, resources show how the Civil Rights Movement changed America for a better future to come. Race shows a person’s culture. It allows one to dive into someone’s past, but, unfortunately, it develops assumptions. With one look, one can assume a whole
gamut of thoughts, opinions, and values to put on one person whom they do not know. The important thing about race is to recognize it. Trying to see everyone as the same race as if it does not matter can be offensive to a culture that has developed over the course of history. Some cultures thrive on their strength and resiliency from their past. Some cultures want to be known for their food or love for their families. Some cultures yearn to be noticed with song and dance and their overwhelming sense of spirituality. The problem with race comes around when certain people are ridiculed for what they look like, what food they eat, or what they wear on their heads. Socially, race has become a huge factor in how we treat people, when, really, the important part is to treat everyone with respect, dignity, and to live by the golden rule. For goodness sake, they are people, too. Fighting for freedom without violence is like trying to lose weight: it is going to be long and hard, and it results in strength and focus. The Freedom Riders documentary describes someone who fights for something without violence as dignified and disciplined (Freedom Riders, 13:33). The strength shown through these people while everyone around was reacting with violence builds up a sort of endurance in which many do not have the patience to develop. Not only does this strength come from keeping a nonviolent movement, but it develops through the desire to work hard for something without a reward. Doing this can make someone feel even better about themselves as they are working for the most selfless reasons. Anne Moody did this as she was in the NAACP throughout college, proving this in her book as she states, “But something happened to me as I got more and more involved in the Movement. It no longer seemed important to prove anything. I had found something outside of myself that gave meaning to my life” (Moody, 286). The previous statement allows the reader to see how this Movement was not put into place to make any one individual stand out or better than anyone else. The importance of this Movement was to find equality for everyone in a country where one white man ran the show. Similar to Anne Moody, many of the Freedom Riders went to college.
Throughout the documentary, it points out different ways these people sacrificed their own lives for the bigger picture of the Civil Rights Movement. The middle of the documentary delivers this message to the audience with personal testimonies on quitting college for the Movement even after they fought so hard to get in (Freedom Riders, 49:30). Change comes with sacrifice and both the Freedom Riders and Anne Moody knew this. Even at the beginning of Anne’s life, she was sacrificing her earned money and self worth for her family. Though working for the racist Mrs. Burke sounded like the most awful thing at the time, Anne knew it was needed to keep her family surviving (Moody, 121). As mentioned before, Anne later involved herself in the Movement to fight against people like Mrs. Burke. Her sacrifice in her early life allowed her to recognize the problem and work toward a greater reward for many affected African
Americans. Since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, the United States has taken strides through the misfortune of racism.
Though it is still a huge factor in many lives today, the country has become more aware of the issue, to say the least. For eight years, the United States had an African American man presiding over the country. While being a country with a race movement only forty years prior, this shows the lengths America has come in such a short amount of time. Of course, Barack Obama did not simply win the presidency because he was black as he is a great speaker with excellent ideas, but the very simple fact that his skin was a different color than anyone who had presided before him shows how far this country has come, especially politically (Foner, 1134). That said, Give Me Liberty! An American History points out how much power the president has. He or she can order surveillance on innocent citizens, declare war when threatened, and withhold Americans of a different race (Foner, 1116). With the two previous statements, it is essential to note how a man of a race other than Caucasian had the extreme power of the country in his dark
hands. Though Obama’s presidency was a landmark in America’s history, the country has taken a couple of steps backward in regard to race and power. With claims about building a wall to keep certain citizens or immigrants out and worries of knocking on America’s door with rejection, the new president, as of 2017, has raised some concern for many Americans. That said, fighting for a safe guard that was much more apparent just months ago has come back to the surface. Eric Foner wrote a section of his book Give Me Liberty! An American History about learning from history and the mistakes people have taken in the past. At the time this book was written, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were still mysteries, and it was clear that the United States would not stop being involved in discrepancies and affairs all around the world. This had a lot to do with the amount of military bases the United States has around the world. Though the United States is currently the most powerful country, some other countries are stepping up their game and rising to the level of this free country (Foner, 1146). Seeing to the country moving forward, it is important for the president to keep his head in the game and learn from past mistakes. This includes social issues as well as war concerns. As it is mentioned that the current president seems to have taken two steps backward, the people of America seem to be fighting for what they believe in harder than they have before. Though many freedoms have surfaced in the past fifty years, there is still a constant struggle for minorities to be noticed as equals. Many marches, rallies, months, and days are dedicated to certain minority populations to show pride in what these people believe in. Something that is special about today is there is such a diversity at each of these assemblies. White men can be found at an African American women’s march, and Pride marches will accept those who are straight as well as anyone who falls under the LGBTQ spectrum. Everyone is welcome to fight for what they believe is right, and those who are starting these marches and rallies have looked at the past, learned from it, seen how far we have come, and decided to actively do something about it. The hope for this country is to continue allowing citizens to exercise their right to free speech and keep fighting for what is right. It is important for college students who will be writing history papers in 2070 to see that the people of 2017 did not sit back and do nothing when it was possible to let the country fall into shambles. The United States has come so far throughout history. Social issues keep creeping up and continue to take over the country, yet there is so much going on outside of the public’s control. Through history, minorities have fought for their freedoms and equality. Though there are still issues surrounding minorities today, the continued fight for what is right has the potential of developing into something greater: to build the best America this country can be.