The Civil Rights Movement

he debate about civil rights stretches back to the very beginnings of our nation. We've already discussed some of the early history of race issues in the U.S. Our focus in this lesson will be on the modern civil rights movement. We'll think about it sociologically: How did it develop? Who did it organize? What strategies did it employ? What did it achieve? How was it affected by other social movements?

Before we look at a brief history of the modern civil rights movement, we should consider prior movements that addressed the issue of race. The first major social movement in the U.S. to focus on race was Abolitionism. This movement advocated for the immediate end to slavery in America. It was one of the first efforts that combined the talents and energies of both Anglo and African leaders. It is useful to compare the two movements. We can look at the modern civil rights movement in a more sophisticated way when we understand how it used established forms of discourse and organization, and how it modernized them.

We'll end the topic by examining the role in contemporary society of civil rights. We'll briefly look at how other, newer, movements have built on the foundations laid by the modern civil rights movement. These include other race-based movements, as well as other civil rights movements.

lthough there were individuals and groups opposed to slavery prior to the nineteenth century, the beginning of Abolitionism, as a social movement, can be traced back to the formation of the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1831. A national society was formed two years later and, by the end of the decade, abolitionists were active in the North and West. They used meetings and publications to call attention to the horrors of slavery and demand immediate emancipation. Escaped slaves, such as Frederick Douglass and William W. Brown, used their narrative experience to great effect for the cause of freedom. In addition, abolitionists were involved in direct actions, including the Underground Railroad.

The abolitionists drew upon the various rhetorical traditions in America to fashion a persuasive argument against slavery. Included among these traditions is the jeremiad, a form of speech based on the Judeo-Christian Prophets. The jeremiad is a lament; it combines a harsh criticism of oppression with a hopeful promise that justice will prevail. This is a rhetorical tradition well known to American audiences. Because Americans recognized and responded to this form of speech, the jeremiad was an effective weapon in the battle for public opinion in the free states. (For a glimpse at this remarkable discourse, take a look at a speech by Frederick Douglass, "What, to the Slave, is the Fourth of July?".)

By 1840, the abolitionist movement had split into two national organizations, separated on the basis of philosophy and strategy. The "Garrisonian" abolitionists, led by the indefatigable William Lloyd Garrison, felt that moral suasion was the only acceptable mode of action. They believed the Constitution was a pro-slavery document and thought that political action was corrupt. The "political" abolitionists, including Douglass, Henry H. Garnet and James Birney, believed that political institutions could be used to fight slavery. They formed the Liberty Party, to contest national elections. Birney was the Presidential candidate in 1840 and 1844. The political abolitionists were an important source of support in the formation and development of the Republican party. It was the election of Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, that marked the beginning of the end for slavery in the U.S.

lack abolitionists brought a special urgency to the movement. In many ways, they were more radical than their white colleagues. (The movement itself was seen as radical by those outside it, but the black abolitionists were considered even more so.) In order to maintain a dialogue with mainstream society in the free states, white abolitionists, by and large, advocated peaceful resistance. Black abolitionists agreed with this stance, but were more likely to contemplate the justice of a struggle by any means necessary. Well before many whites were prepared to hear such arguments, several black abolitionists suggested that blacks might have to take up arms against the slaveholders and their allies. (Take a look at one of the most dramatic calls to action, David Walker's 1829 Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World. [Caution: this is a rather large file; it may take a minute to load.])

To find out more about Abolitionism, take a look at these sites:
*    Abolition, Anti-Slavery Movements, and the Rise of the Sectional Controversy, from the African American Odyssey at the Library of Congress.
*    Abolitionism, from the Africans in America site at PBS.

n the period from the end of Reconstruction to the beginning of the modern civil rights movement, resistance to racial oppression took the form of quiet reform. After Frederick Douglass died, in 1895, leadership of the African-American community was passed to Booker T. Washington. In the face of legal discrimination and the threat of violence, Washington advocated a posture of self-improvement through practical education. The key to the success of American blacks, he felt, was in control over their economic status, rather than in their political rights or social position.

White leaders in the South had successfully reversed the advances associated with Reconstruction. Africans were practically disenfranchised through constitutional reform in the southern states, and the violent intimidation of groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camelia, ensured that none who still qualified would actually try to exercise their right. Segregation was judged legal and southern whites sought to exclude blacks in every possible way. This was the era of Jim Crow.

One main focus of black resistance in this period was the widespread practice of lynching. Local governments tolerated--and indeed, often encouraged--the practice throughout the South. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, about 3,000 Africans were lynched. Most were tortured and hung, but dozens were burned alive. It is difficult to imagine, from our present context, how lynching could be viewed as a community celebration, but parents often brought their children to see the event, and the murders were often accompanied by food, alcohol and music. It was surely the low point of American "civilization."

The NAACP, and particularly Ida B. Wells, took the lead in the protest over this cruel practice. In 1919, it published Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States and took the cause to the U.S. Congress. In 1921, the House passed a bill that would have made lynching a federal crime, but southern Senators succeeded in preventing the Senate from acting on the issue. In 1935 and 1940, bills were passed in the House only to meet a similar fate in the Senate.

Despite the violent hostility of white America, this period was also a time of cultural renaissance. W. E. B. Du Bois authored several important sociological studies, including The Suppression of the African Slave Trade, 1638-1870, The Souls of Black Folk, and several works of fiction. African artists, such as, Claude McKay, James W. Johnson, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, among others, produced an impressive body of fiction, drama and poetry. That many people were, even at the time, calling the early part of the twentieth century the "Jazz Age," suggests the importance of African musicians, especially in New York and Chicago.

Group Exercise

n order to explore the impact of the modern civil rights movement, you will be examining various aspects of race relations in contemporary American society.

In small groups, you will collect information from web sites about a particular aspect of contemporary race relations, write a short report explaining what you've found. As you collect data, keep in mind our discussion of attitudes about race and the various forms of racism.

Each member of the group may earn up to 5 points of credit for the report and participation in the discussion.

Directions
(A) Explore the web sites listed below, and any others you can find on your topic. (Remember to look for official sources of information, such as provided by the federal or state governments, as well as scholarly research relevant to your topic.) Take notes about the sites you visit. In order to have material for your essay, you should make a list of important facts. You should visit at least three sites. You may continue to collect information from web sites until our next meeting; if you wish, you can divide up work to do outside of class, to bring to our next meeting.
(B) As a group, write a Caucus report in which you identify at least three key themes or ideas about your aspect of social mobility in contemporary society. You should focus on the information reported on the sites, but you may also relate your reactions to the material. Keep in mind, though, you are making a sociological report rather than a narrative, so you should make arguments about the material rather than just assert beliefs about the issues. Your essay should have the following form: (i) introduction; (ii) discussion of your themes; (iii) conclusions. Write the report in a word processor and then post it on Caucus. You should include a citation (the web site address) for any information which you take from a particular site. We will finish with a discussion of the sociological implications of mobility and stratification. Each group will make a brief presentation of their key themes.

We will consider the following themes as they relate to mobility. I've posed a few questions for each group to consider. You should think about them, but by no means limit your research to only these questions.

I. Remembering the Civil Rights Movement
[Destin, Genina, Hawkins, Mak, Ranna]
How is remembering the struggles of the 50s and 60s important to race relations today? How has the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. influenced present discussions about race? What roles do the original civil rights organizations play these days? How do the newer race-based organizations differ from the original civil rights organizations?
Search for "Civil Rights Movement" on Google
National Civil Rights Museum