African Americans in America during the 1800s
African Americans in America were maltreated depending on their colour during the 1800s. While the Court passed the 1863 Emancipation Act, it took more than a hundred years for a transition to be made (Karin 6). The Blacks were refused voting rights, attended the same schools as the Whites, and the transport sector was segregated. They were thus no longer patient and created a Civil Rights Movement composed of whites and blacks with the shared aim of ending ethnic discrimination among people. Leaders such as Martin Luther and Malcolm X led the campaign by protesting non-violently. Later on, however, the movement changed its name and began to use violence in opposition. Therefore, this paper will discuss how the civil right movement became the black power movement as well as the personalities and events that transformed the movement.
Concentration of African Americans in the South
Besides, by 1960s, most African American people were highly concentrated in the south where racial segregation was flagrant. The blacks were impatient for change, and it resulted in the formation of the Civil Right Movement (Karin 6). Initially, the movement comprised of blacks and whites who had a similar goal of fighting to secure privileges and fundamental rights by using non-violence means. In fact, there was no significant progress made hence the movement members became impatient for change, and they resulted in using violence to achieve their goals. Notably, their supporters divided into two groups, nationalists, and pluralists. Precisely, the black power movement emerged when the civil right movement was at its final stage. Therefore, the civil right movement which initially used non-violence means to air their grievances changed to Black power movement which adopted the use of violence.
Personalities and Events that Transformed the Movement
Similarly, several personalities and events resulted in the transformation of the movement. For example, Reverend Martin Luther King preached on equality and change in the society. One of his legendary speech, “I have a dream," motivated the blacks. Malcolm X imparted the Blacks with pride in their heritage by preaching black supremacy (Karin 6). Besides, Rosa Parks demanded to end of inequality by refusing to offer her seat to a white person. The event on the North Carolina restaurant where African American students were denied to be served food resulted to further 54 sit-ins in the south. Additionally, the event where seven blacks and six whites boarded a bus to the south and on the way the blacks encountered extreme violence resulted in needing for further action. Indeed, events on African American segregation forced the movement to change to Black Movement within an aim of using force to advocate for their rights.
Conclusion
In brief, the civil right movement was formed with the objective of ending racial injustice in America. For instance, the “separate but equal” doctrine of 1896 resulted in segregation of the blacks. The movement was later transformed by various events where the Blacks were victimized. For example, the case of Brown versus Board of Education triggered the Blacks impatience for change leading to protesting and formation of the movement. However, by 1966, when the civil right movement was almost achieving its goals, the movement changed to Black Power Movement. Black people formed the movement with the aim of using violence to agitate for their rights since several events depicted that the Blacks were still denied their rights. Also, the movement changed its name since they were no longer patient for a change and therefore they needed a constant progress.
Work Cited
Karin, D. L. USA-Civil Rights and Black Power. 2013.
