Examples Of Nonviolent Protests

The nonviolent action that was being taken inspired President Eisenhower and the U.S. Congress to take action by introducing the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which made it a crime to deny citizens their right to vote, and provided trials of people who were denied their right to vote, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 19). Another example of nonviolent protest can be seen in the Greensboro sit-in, where four members of the NAACP Youth Councils waited to be served at the lunch counter in a Woolworth, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 20). The police were called, but refused to arrest the four students because they had not been violent, and within a number of days, hundreds of students began to protest the segregation not only of retail stores, hotels, beaches,
and other public spaces across North Carolina, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 20). The sit-in movement spread to 31 states across the country, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 20). In 1961, the first Freedom Ride began when 13 riders took Greyhound and Trailways buses from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta, Georgia, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 21). During the rides, one African American person would ride at the front of the bus in addition to having an interracial pair sitting on the bus, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 21). Unfortunately, in a town in Alabama, one of the buses was met by a group of violent protestors, who hit the bus and eventually firebombed the bus. Another one of the buses was met by local members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and once the bus crossed into Alabama, they boarded the bus and beat the riders until they were segregated. Once the bus arrived in Birmingham, the riders were beaten again by a mob of people, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 21). These incidences once again forced the government to act. President Kennedy began to see a need to come to a settlement on segregation, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 24). In an attempt to gain support for Kennedy’s civil rights legislation, activists organized a March on Washington, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 24). On August 28th, 1963 between 200,000 and 300,000 people of all races gathered at Lincoln Memorial where there were performances and where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 24). At the end of the speech, Bayard Rustin stepped in and asked those who had gathered to help meet the goals of the march: passage of the civil rights bill, $2 minimum wage, school desegregation, a federal public works program, and federal action to end racial discrimination in employment, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 25). Shortly after, there was an explosion in a church in Birmingham, Alabama, which took the lives of four young girls and injured 22 others, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 25). Unfortunately, Kennedy’s civil rights bill was put on pause due to his assassination in later on in 1963. The focus then shifted to Mississippi, the state with the most retaliation to African American rights, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 25). Following a mock election for African Americans, Robert Moses proposed an idea which would bring Northern college students to Mississippi to work in support of the Mississippi civil rights movement, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 26). However, shortly before the Freedom Summer event was able to take off, three civil rights workers went missing and shortly after the men’s bodies were found in a dam in Mississippi, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 26). The death of the three men was yet another clear display of need for civil rights legislation. President Johnson needed the support of Republican senators from the Western and Midwestern states to support the bill. Eventually, with lobbying from labour unions and religious leaders, the bill was finally passed, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 27). On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 was passed, which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations and authorized the U.S. attorney general to sue states that allowed for the segregation of public facilities. Additionally, the act protected the voting rights of African Americans in federal elections by banning unequal registration requirements and restricting the use of the literacy test, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 27). Employers were no longer permitted to racially discriminate employees, nor were labour unions, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was formulated to investigate any complaints of racial discrimination, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 27).
The following year, after protest across the South in regard to the voting rights of African Americans which continued to be denied, President Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 31). First though, Martin Luther King Jr. led marches across the South in protest to the difficulty of voting for the African American population in the South, who were unable to register to vote, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 29). On February 1st, 1965, King led a mass march to the courthouse in Selma, Alabama, where all demonstrators were arrested for protesting without a permit. Another group of 500 high school students were also arrested, filling up all the jails in the county, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 29). On March 7th, John Lewis, Hosea Williams, and Amelia Boynton led a march of 500-600 people out of Selma over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, however, on the other side of the bridge, the marchers were met by dozens of state troopers, who ordered the marchers to turn back, and then proceeded to beat the marchers and fired tear gas at them, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 30). Shortly after, on March 9th, King led a group of 2,000 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, who upon nearing the police line knelt for prayer and then turned back, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 30). That night Reverend James Reeb a minister who joined the civil rights march in Selma was beaten to death by white segregationists outside a café in Selma. As a result of the violence displayed, President Johnson announced he was sending new voting rights legislation to Congress, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 30). Afterwards, the ban on the march from Selma to Montgomery was lifted and on March 21nd, 1965, King led over 3,000 people to Montgomery, Alabama. On March 25th King led 25,000 people through Montgomery to the steps of the state capitol building, where King delivered another speech. By August 6th, 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was successfully passed and signed by President Johnson, (Richardson & Luker, 2014, p. 31). Around this time, the Civil Rights Movement began to shift instead to the Black Power Movement. Many believe that following the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 as the end of the Civil Rights Movement, (Greene, 2015, p. 487).
The history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States is an example of a new social movement because while the movement did aim to address a group of people in the country who were being oppressed. African Americans did not protest the idea of government itself, or the government at all, but instead sought for the emplacement of certain rights which the African American population did not have access to. Though the Civil Rights Movement was dispersed amongst different places across the country, it was one group of people who were fighting for the same issue, as was done in the Civil Rights Movement, a characteristic of new social movements framework, (Spaul, 1995, p. 319). The organization of the movement also exemplifies that of a new social movement. Often, demonstrations which occurred during the Civil Rights Movement were spontaneous, (Spaul, 1995, p. 324) in that often they were a reaction to some sort of discrimination which caught the eye of the public. While the movement does discuss work issues, which were more common around the industrial revolution, the main issue which the movement was addressing was the mistreatment of the African American population in the United States, despite the abolishment of slavery following the Civil War, (Pichardo, 1997, p. 412). Also characteristic of new social movements framework is the preference to work outside of normal political channels, but rather to gain the attention of the government and different political actors through demonstrations that aim to mobilize the public, (Pichardo, 1997, p. 415). Often the Civil Rights Movement would acquire the attention of the government because of a large amount of public attention drawn to the various demonstrations or to address the violence against African Americans. Finally, the Civil Rights Movement displays characteristics of new social movements framework as its participants were not divided by class, but rather were determined solely due to a common interest of the social issue which they were fighting for, which was equal rights for African American people, (Pichardo, 1997, p. 417). Through the application of new social movements framework for the Civil Rights Movement, there were both positives, as well as drawbacks.
Many of the demonstrations in the Civil Rights Movement were involved nonviolent techniques to protest the unequal treatment of African Americans in the United States.
The nonviolent approach to the movement was upheld in the South to set a moral tone for the movement, (Wehr, 1968, p. 67). Examples of nonviolent protests can include the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Greensboro sit-in, the March from Selma to Montgomery, and many more demonstrations utilized in the Civil Rights Movement, (Wehr, 1968, p. 74). This was because it was felt that if the movement remained nonviolent, the Civil Rights Movement would appeal to more people, as it would connect to others by displaying conscience and the moral nature of those demonstrating peacefully. Essentially, Civil Rights Activists felt that a nonviolent approach to the movement would be most effective in achieving the movement’s goals, which were mostly in relation to desegregation, equal treatment in society, and equal rights to white people in the country, (Wehr, 1968, p. 69). It was felt by many in the movement that nonviolence was the best and the only atmosphere which would allow for justice for the African American population, (Wehr, 1968, p. 67). Additionally, a nonviolent movement ensured not to reinforce a popular stereotype that was believed at the time, which was that African American people were dangerous to society and were criminals, (DuVernay, 2016). Therefore, the approach of nonviolence, though sometimes appearing submissive was, in fact, crucial for the success of the Civil Rights Movement because a violent approach likely would have reinforced a falsehood that has negatively affect the African American community in the United States throughout history, (Wehr, 1968, p. 74). While the nonviolent approach to the Civil Rights Movement was extremely important for successfully changing issues in society in the United States, there were also drawbacks to this
approach.