Strategies Used by Activists Who Participated in Social Movements in the 1960s
Prompt
Below is a list of strategies commonly used by activists who participated in the social movements of the 1960s. Choose 2 strategies from the list below and discuss how one movement used those strategies to affect change. For guidance, please be sure to read Chapter 27 and Chapter 28.
Legal Strategies
Nonviolent Direct Action (Includes Sit Ins; Bus boycotts and Freedom Rides; Desegregating lunch counters)
Legislating Civil Rights (
Self Determination (Includes Black Nationalism/ Black Power; The Young Lords; The Chicano Movement; AIM; Raising Feminist Consciousness; Gay and Lesbian Movement)
Make sure that you discuss the extent to which these strategies were successful. Your essay should include specific examples to support your points and use the names of key figures, organizations, laws, legislative acts, and marches when you refer to them.
Criteria
Devote adequate attention to each of the two strategies discussed.
Stay focused on one specific movement (women’s rights, gay rights, black civil rights, etc.)
Include references to key figures, organizations, and laws etc. and refer to them correctly by name.
Demonstrate that the student understands the strategy being discussed (and how it was different from similar strategies).
Include specific examples of how these strategies were used.
Discuss the extent to which these strategies were or were not successful.
Show evidence proofreading
Have effective organization
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Strategies used by Activists who participated in Social Movements in the 1960s
Introduction
Social movements refer to socio-political approaches taken up by groups advocating for either civil rights or equal representation or against racial sidelining and maltreatment. Some of the activist groups that participated in social movements in the 1960s include black civil rights movements, women rights activists, gay rights activists, among others (Juris 85). The strategies used include social protests, sit-ins, boycotts, marches, campaigns, civil rights acts, cultural revolutions, among others.
Non-violent Direct Action
Legal strategies refer to lawful, non-violent actions that directly affect the smooth running of the society. These include social protests, bus boycotts, freedom matches, and merging lunch counters. Such activities disrupted day to day life, catching the attention of the citizens as well as authorities.
Peaceful Demonstrations
Civil rights are a set of privileges given to all citizens by the constitution. The violation of blacks’ human rights in America was the most pronounced form of injustice in the ‘60s. Civil rights activists believed in the philosophy of non-violence (Pettit et al. 590). The activists followed Martin Luther King Junior’s philosophy, which embraced non-violent protests rather than vehement protests (Juris 90). While the activists were fully aware of the extent to which the oppressors were ready to go to maintain the state of affairs, they believed in the power of letting the world share in their oppression as a means of freeing themselves. For instance, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom succeeded in the implementation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Sit-ins
The Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized sit-ins at white-only lunch counters in the South. SNCC, a students’ civil rights movement, had been created to give black students a voice in matters civil rights (Juris 95). A strict code of ethics prohibited whites from retaliating and cursing. The protestors, however, had to tolerate blows, jitters, and sneers from annoyed whites. The action resulted into Supreme Court legalizing sit-ins.
Bus boycotts and Freedom Rides
Bus boycotts involved resisting the use of buses with segregated sitting arrangements while freedom rides involved activists’ riding aboard such busses. The activists in bus boycotts were often arrested for not abiding by the discriminative rules while mobs would whip the riders from the sheriffs. In 1960, Six Lane College Students in ...