By: Natalie Zolten
What IS civil disobedience?
Civil disobedience is when people don’t necessarily follow the
laws of the government because they don’t believe that the law
is moral. They’re doing what’s right by not following a certain
law.
Examples
“If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that
would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to
pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed
innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceful
revolution, if any such is possible.”
Civil disobedience is not starting a huge fight, it’s simply
standing up and taking action for what one believes is moral.
Examples
“If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank,
exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether
the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a
nature that it requires you to be an agent of injustice to another,
then I say, break the law.”
Civil disobedience is breaking a law because you don’t believe
that it is good.
Examples
“Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we
be endeavored to amend them, and obey them until we have
succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?”
If a law is bad, or unfair, then civil disobedience would be
standing up to fight against that law.
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus
boycott
Rosa Parks is one of the most famous figures in
the civil rights movement.
Rosa parks was sitting on a bus and was told to
move by a white person. She refused to move to
the “colored section.” Rosa’s refusal
led to her removal from
the bus and jail time.
This is an example of peaceful
resistance found in the
Civil Disobedience text.
Civil rights movement sit ins
In the civil rights movement there was a series of
sit ins in Greensborough. Feb. 6, 1960 over 500
students from Greensborough University flooded
stores and restaurants in downtown
Greensborough in protest of segregation. They
sat at white only counters and demanded service
in stores before whites. Feb. 11, 1960 Students
participate in sit-ins across the state. Twenty-six
William Penn High School students sit in at the
Woolworth lunch counter on South Main Street
this was the climax of the sit in movement.
Why this is civil disobedience because
Sit in were civil disobedience because they were
against the Jim crow laws and they were asked to
leave the stores and restaurants. This is also an
example of peaceful protest that is found in the
Civil Disobedience document.
Freedom Riders
The Freedom Riders were a group of blacks that
rode across the country protesting and
integrating bus terminals across the nation. The
freedom riders were arrested for their protesting.
This is an example of civil disobedience because
they were breaking Jim crow laws that were being
enforced at the time.
By:
Alex King
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a vast network of people who helped runaway
slaves escape to the Northern states and sometimes even Canada. There
wasn't one leader that controlled it all. It was a success because of the
cooperation between all the people that weren't for slavery. Apparently, the
South lost 100,000 slaves between 1810-1850
Harriet Tubman
A widely known figure that committed civil disobedience is Harriet Tubman.
She didn't believe that the way they were treated as slaves was right.
Therefore, she took a stand and risked her life to save the people she loved.
Viva la Revolution
Nat Turner was born in Southampton,
Virginia in 1800. Nat viewed slavery
the way his mother and grandmother
did. With pure, hatred for it. As Nat
got older, he developed deep religious
beliefs. With his family and religion
behind him, he was led to believe that
God had chosen him to lead his
people out of slavery. This drove him
to get a band of slaves and kill white
people. It did not turn out well
because in the end Nat had been the
cause of a hundred innocent slaves
being killed. When a militia of 3,000
was sent to find Nat, he went into
hiding for six weeks. He was found
and killed.
Nat had done civil disobedience
because he thought God told him to
take a stand. He went against the
gov't and followed what he believed
to be right. This thought of his
resulted in his death.
David Thoreau
Thoreau did civil disobedience by refusing to pay tax.. He thought it wasn't
right. He didn't want to contribute to something that didn't sit right with him.
Works Cited
1953, October. "Greensboro Sit-Ins: Launch of a Civil Rights Movement : Timeline." Untitled Document. 30 Nov. 2011 <http://www.s itins.com/timeline.shtml>.
"The Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1963." 30 Nov. 2011.
"Google Images." Google. 30 Nov. 2011 <http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1>.
"Google Images." Google. 30 Nov. 2011 <http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1>.
"Google Images." Google. 30 Nov. 2011 <http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1>.
"Rosa Parks." History Learning Site. 30 Nov. 2011 <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/rosa_parks.htm>.
"Woolworth's Lunch Counter - Separate Is Not Equal." National Museum of American History. 30 Nov. 2011 <http:// americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6legacy/freedom-struggle-2.html>.
Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. “Henry David Thoreau.” Photograph. Wikipedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
American Transcendentalism Web. Jessica Gordon and Ann Woodlief. 1999. Virginia Commonwealth University. 29 Nov. 2011.
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/civil/.
Alex King"Nat Turner." Spartacus Educational. Spartacus Educational. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASturner.ht m>.
"Nat Turner." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner>.
"Thoreau - Webtext on "Resistance to Civil Government"" Virginia Commonwealth University. Web. 02 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/civil/>.
"The Underground Railroad." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. PBS. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p29 44.html>.
"Nat Turner." Spartacus Educational. Spartacus
Educational. Web. 02 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASturner
.htm>.
"Nat Turner." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
Web. 02 Dec. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner>.
"Thoreau - Webtext on "Resistance to Civil
Government"" Virginia Commonwealth University.
Web. 02 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/au
thors/thoreau/civil/>.
"The Underground Railroad." PBS: Public
Broadcasting Service. PBS. Web. 02 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html>
.