Essay About Bit Of Background And Rosa Parks Text

Racism
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Civil rights
African-American Civil Rights “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom
is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation.” -Coretta
Scott King, page666 The 1960s were a time of great turmoil in America and
throughout the world. One of the main topics that arouse was black civil
rights. In my essay I plan to compare the difference of opinion between
these particular writers and directors, towards racism and the civil rights
movement in the 1960s The movement truly got underway with civil rights
leaders such as Martin Luther King jr. and Malcolm X in the early 1960s.
Students who wanted to bolt on the equality and protest bandwagon quickly
followed. Most of the students went to the Southern states (Mississippi,
Alabama, Louisiana, etc.), to stop the racism and hate crimes. The truth
of the matter is that the violence and abhorrence would get worse before
it got better. The Klan became stronger and more violent, committing many
more lynching and gruesome murders. Bit by bit most of the Caucasian Americans
came around to the idea of integration, and did not believe that the African
Americans as a threat anymore. The only reason that this great monumental
change occurred was because of the great leadership of Malcolm X, Martin
Luther King jr., and not to mention the thousands of other less famous civil
rights leaders, that worked to change the views of their community. There
also where lobbyist and protesters that risked there lives and went out
on a limb to struggle against injustice. All factors, put together, made
one of the better most changes of the twentieth century. Rob Rheiner (the
director of Ghost of Mississippi) has successfully portrayed the blatant
dishonesty towards blacks by the police force and Mississippi courts. On
one occasion when the accused murderer was in court, the Govener of the
state went up and shook hands right in front of the victims wife. Another
example of dishonesty against blacks was that a retired judge had taken home murder weapons (mainly
from the African American murders) and kept them as souvenirs. It was later
discovered that the police officers had also taken home evidence from crimes
against the African Americans, for souvenirs. The murderer portrayed a “couldnt
care less” attitude during the first trial in 1962 and the retrial in 1992.
He knew that he would be found not guilty in the 1960s with the all-male,
white jury. In his retrial though he under-estimated the changes in peoples
views in the thirty years since his first trial, and he presented a cocky
attitude throughout the whole retrial. The writer of Malcolm X, Bernard
Aquina Doctor, has informatively shown (with some bias) the life of Malcolm
X. He wanted to show that Malcolm pulled himself out of the gutter to become
one of the most famous and respected civil rights leaders in our history
so far. He tells us this by showing his life when he hung around with criminals
and was into committing small thefts, etc. In this text he was shown as having
all the right ideas of how to deal with the problems that were facing minorities
at the time, Malcolm believed in violent protest, and Martin L-K jr., another
major leader for the civil rights movement believed that protesting should
be non-violent. Dr.King though, was forced to reconsider his views when
he was thrown into jail and was badly beaten. This text is similar to the
Rosa Parks text in the way the writer (for a Rosa Parks book) looked upon
Rosa Parks, as Malcolm X, in a revered way. Rosa Parks a Woman Who Changed
a Nation, by Kira Albini, is focused on the great injustice that the black
community has been faced with. She talks about the fact that blacks had
to pay at the front of the bus and then walk around the outside of the bus
to the back door where, more often then not, the bus driver would pull away
without them being on, although they paid. Rosa Parks came into fame after
she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man; this came at the time the
civil rights movement was under way. The story was published throughout
America. The Martin Luther King jr. article in Encarta 98, is an overlook
on his life and achievements. It pays special attention to his I have a
dream speech. It has such quotes as “I have a dream that one day this nation
will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.” It also enclosed
quite a bit of background to the speech exsplaing what he wanted for America,
which was equality and justice for all. Kings assassination also covered
with