Matakuliah : G0862/American Culture and Society
Tahun
: 2007
The Civil Rights Movement
(1950 – 1960)
Meeting 8
Contents
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King Jr.
The Brown vs. Board of Education
The non violent movement
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott officially started
on December 1, 1955. That was the day when
the blacks of Montgomery, Alabama, decided
that they would boycott the city buses until they
could sit anywhere they wanted, instead of being
relegated to the back when a white boarded.
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks
On Thursday, December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a
city bus and sat with three other blacks in the fifth row,
the first row that blacks could occupy. A few stops later,
the front four rows were filled with whites, and one white
man was left standing. According to law, blacks and
whites could not occupy the same row, so the bus driver
asked all four of the blacks seated in the fifth row to
move. Three complied, but Parks refused. She was
arrested.
The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King & Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King
Non Violent Movement
Six Important Points about Nonviolent Resistance
• First, he argued that even though nonviolence may be perceived as
cowardly, it was not. In fact, it was a method that did resist.
According to King, a nonviolent protester was as passionate as a
violent protester. Despite not being physically aggressive, "his mind
and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the
opponent that he is mistaken.”
• Second, the point of nonviolent resistance is not to humiliate the
opponent, but instead to gain his friendship and understanding.
Further, the use of boycotts and methods of non-cooperation, were
the "means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent.”
The result was redemption and reconciliation instead of the
bitterness and chaos that came from violent resistance.
Non Violent Movement
• The third point King advanced was that the battle was against the
forces of evil and not individuals. Tension was not between the
races, but was "between justice and injustice, between the forces of
light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory it will be a
victory not merely for fifty thousand Negroes, but a victory for justice
and the forces of light.” Thus, tension only existed between good
and evil and not between people.
• Fourth, nonviolent resistance required the willingness to suffer. One
must accept violence without retaliating with violence and must go to
jail if necessary. Accordingly, the end was more important than
safety, and retaliatory violence would distract from the main fight.
King believed that by accepting suffering, it led to "tremendous
educational and transforming possibilities" and would be a powerful
tool in changing the minds of the opponents.
Non Violent Movement
• King's fifth point about nonviolent resistance was that the "universe
was on the side of justice." Accordingly, people have a "cosmic
companionship" with God who is on the side of truth. Therefore, the
activist has faith that justice will occur in the future.
• King's sixth point was central to the method of nonviolent resistance.
He believed the importance of nonviolence rested in the fact that it
prevented physical violence and the "internal violence of spirit."
Bitterness and hate were absent from the resisters mind, and
replaced with love.
Brown vs. Board of Education
In the early 1950's, racial segregation in public schools
was the norm across America. Although all the schools in
a given district were supposed to be equal, most black
schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.
Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a
detrimental effect upon the colored children...A sense of inferiority
affects the motivation of a child to learn.
The Verdict
"We come then to the question presented: Does
segregation of children in public schools solely on the
basis of race, even though the physical facilities and
other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the
children of the minority group of equal educational
opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that
in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate
but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities
are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the
plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the
actions have been brought are, by reason of the
segregation complained of, deprived of the equal
protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth
Amendment.”