The two main reasons for the success of the civil rights movement was the use of emotion and nonviolence.
First, emotion. Think about the scenes we saw with the white police officers literally shooting painful jets of water at these skinny kids, or the officers letting loose these giant German shepherds that honestly looked really hungry and angry. Think about the reaction you had to that footage. Now take that reaction and multiply it by about 194.3 million (population of US in 1965). The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement definitely seized the opportunities presented by television and took advantage of the fact that their actions would be broadcast to a national audience, not just local. In my opinion, this spread awareness of the situation in the South (and other parts of the country) and led to legal action being taken, as lawmakers realized that the American public was dissatisfied/disappointed with them.
Secondly, nonviolence contributed greatly to the success of the movement. Though numerous riots broke out across the nation towards the end of the movement, most of the movement had been nonviolent. Dr. King and other leaders were able to make deals and create change in the legal system because the protesters had not been the ones throwing teargas and physically beating the other side. Because the black protesters had funneled their anger into peaceful marches instead of riots and arson, civil rights bills because laws. The use of emotion and non-violence contributed the passing of legal safeguards for blacks in America.
Really good post. Nice job of summarizing and analyzing the two methods that contributed to the success of the Civil Rights Movement. Do you think there is anything MLK could have done better or any situation he could have handled better? If so, what?
ReplyDeleteThe example you used to magnifiy the significance of the movement, in regards to the use of television and broadcasting, adds a whole new level of meaning to this event in history. It's almost as if it was a type of mental warfare where the population of the United States who were watching the footage were the soldiers.
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