American Civil Rights

Amanda de Alwis

Mr.Dyck

CHC2D1

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

American Civil Rights

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”1 This quotation written by Mohandas Gandhi expresses the notion that nonviolence is the most powerful force mankind may ever possess. The brutality and devastation caused by war may be man’s ultimate foolishness. After Gandhi’s return from South Africa to India in 1915 he had formulated the idea of Satyagraha.2 The meaning of Satyagraha is, devotion to truth, holding on to the truth and repel what is not true with nonviolent acts. Gandhi’s goal for his movement and fellow Satyagrahi was to follow a path of truth whilst eliminating all traces of violence to fight against injustice and to attain freedom.3 His universal idea supported the fact that physical force isn’t essential to fight with the oppressor for true cause and the struggle against injustice. As a Satyagrahi, nonviolence could be the solution to victory without being aggressive or causing destruction.4 On March 12, 1930, Gandhi led a march to the Arabian Sea to protest against the salt tax imposed by the British people. This march known as the Salt Satyagraha was to oppose the law which made it illegal for Indians to produce, sell or collect their own salt. Instead, the Indians were forced to purchase salt from the British people for a high price which many of them could not afford.5 The march was about 385 kilometres from Sabermati to the town of Dandi on Arabian Sea coast. On April 6, 1930, Gandhi and his followers broke the law by collecting salt from the shore.6 By May 21, 1930, the Dharasana salt works was invaded by over 2,500 Indians which led to Gandhi’s and thousands of others’ arrest. Although, the Indian followers who advanced were severely beaten by the police none of them tried to defend themselves. When the massacre was revealed to the public Gandhi acts were favoured over the British and led to India’s freedom in 1947.7 Satyagraha was a nonviolent movement that inspired others to fight for justice and what they believed in without causing destruction.8 Gandhi’s idea of Satyagraha influenced a form of nonviolent civil disobedience and several other refined acts for justice which led to the American Civil Rights movement. In the following years, others inspired by the world famous Mohandas Gandhi fought for freedom and eliminated acts of segregation.

Linda Brown was a child associated with a major court battle called the Brown v. Board of Education case which led to the prohibition of American segregated schools in 1954. Linda was born to African Americans parents; Leola and Oliver Brown in 1942. She was required to walk across dangerous railroad tracks to reach her elementary school in Topeka, Kansas that was racially segregated.9 Linda who was only seven years old at the time had to walk more than a mile to get to her school even though there was a white school was much closer.10 She had asked her father why she couldn’t attend the white school much closer. In 1950, Linda’s request led her father, Oliver Brown to go to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) for approval to attempt to enroll Linda to the white school closer to their neighbourhood. Additionally, 12 other families around America went to the NAACP to try and place their children in white schools.  After being turned down, the NAACP was able to file a lawsuit representing the 13 families against the board of education which became one of the most significant Supreme Court cases in American history.11 The case was named Brown v. Board of Education as Brown’s name was alphabetically on the top of the plaintiff list and its sole purpose was to destroy Plessy v. Ferguson’s idea in 1896 of “separate but equal” racial facilities.12 At the end of 1951, the NAACP presented five strong cases all about legal segregation but they lost all of their cases to the Supreme Court. However, on May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren on behalf of the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the NAACP and the court stated that “… in the fields of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ had no place.”13 Linda Brown was the start of a new era where people fought for justice without causing destruction. Her movement started the prohibition of segregated schools and, as a result, people of any colour were permitted to any form of public education. Her movement also brought freedom and acceptance to everyone and a sense of equality among society’s level of education.14 The undisputed ruling in favour of her court case changed the American schooling structure by allowing African-American children the privilege of a fairer educational experience. Now children of any colour can attend schools together as she stopped segregation in educational facilities. This decision reversed the Plessy principle of “separate but equal” and overturned segregationist practices that prevailed through America and became the beginning of a political and social revolution.

Rosa Parks; an active NAACP member was a courageous 42 year-old woman who stood up for her rights and proclaimed her beliefs. She put an end to segregation on public facilities by launching nationwide efforts and a citywide boycott. On her way home after a long day’s work, Rosa boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus on December 1, 1955. At this time, the Montgomery City Code was in effect and it was ruled that all public transportation must be segregated.15 In buses, the front of the vehicle was reserved for white people while the back was where the coloured people sat. The driver had permission to move the coloured people further to the back of the bus if there were white individuals without a seat and sometimes to even give up their seat in favour of a white passenger.16 The day Rosa had boarded the bus, it had filled up quickly and the driver noticed many white people without seats. He then moved Rosa’s row back to make space for the white passengers. Out of the four people in Rosa’s row, three of them agreed but Parks stood her guard and refused. The driver called the police upon her refusal and she was arrested and taken away.17 Many believe Rosa’s reason for staying in her seat was because she was physically tired from work, but she knew exactly what she was doing when she refused to give up her seat. She wasn’t physically tired, but she was rather tired of the treatment coloured people and their act of giving in instead of standing up for themselves.18 At the same time, a boycott was launched on the Montgomery bus system by local civil rights activists. As a result, a large number of Montgomery buses sat unused for months. The transit company's finances were severely suffering. A group known as the Montgomery Improvement Association led by Martin Luther King Jr. were the founders of the boycott.19 A legal team took the issue of segregation on the public transit system to the federal court. In June of 1956, the federal court declared; racial segregation laws were unlawful for public transit. The city appealed and on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling.20 Since the transit company was suffering from an extensive amount financial loss and the legal system was ruling against them, Montgomery had no choice but to lift the law requiring segregation on public buses.21 Rosa’s action inspired the boycott which lasted 381 days up to December 20, 1956. When the U.S. Supreme Court abandoned its segregation of buses the, “Montgomery bus boycott became one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history.”22 Rosa Parks was an inspirational woman who changed the world when she brought attention to her community about the problematic nature of segregation, allowing it to spread into a larger national issue.23 The Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public transit was unconstitutional. She rejected the white community’s expectations of doing what she was told and stood up for her beliefs moving towards equality for all races. She eliminated segregation on public transportation. Thereby, she paved the way for black people to slowly gain a higher standing in their general communities.