Civil Rights Movement & NonViolent Strategy

The success of the Civil Rights Movement should be attributed in large part to the methods used by Martin Luther King and his followers, methods derived from Gandhi and others who espoused a philosophy of non-violence. The first speaker is the one who should be heeded, for the non-violent method is effective over time. Violence is a short-term solution at best and only escalates the level of retaliation. However, the second speaker should not be ignored given that there are instances where violence is justified, though not as a first-strike as the speaker suggests. The third speaker is simply advocating outright warfare, and this would be counter-productive and destructive in the extreme. An analysis of the way the Civil Rights Movement made use of a non-violent strategy, along with other aspects of the controversy, shows that the strategy actually used was the best.

There are numerous instances of violence in American history, often under similar circumstances to the case at hand, with a disaffected group seeking to protect itself or to assert a greater right. The American Revolution itself was a case of turning to violence, and many other cases would follow. As Richard Hofstadter notes, however, American violence lacks an ideology and is instead a series of spontaneous events (Wallace 3). One reason why violence in America has never become a coherent pattern is because violence does not fit the image we have developed of ourselves or our values (Wallace 7).

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racting money and in becoming a major force in the Civil Rights Movement, but he was also able to define the movement in terms of non-violence in such a way as to make that tactic one of the key elements in the movement thereafter. John Herbers notes: The nonviolent movement in which many thousands were involved in protests against laws and policies considered unjust was to last a decade and bring more fundamental changes than any other of the Negro movements. It was used in towns and cities across the South and even to some extent in Northern cities to combat segregation practiced by law, policy or custom in education, transportation and public accommodations, and many other forms of discrimination (Herbers 21). Herbers finds that the nonviolence movement brought about the enactment of the Omnibus Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The strategy also brought about enormous gains in respect and dignity for Blacks and inspired other minorities and groups to organize against various forms of discrimination. Herbers feels that one of the reasons the strategy was so successful for Blacks was that by the time it came into use, the American government and other social institutions were already beginning t

Category: History - C