SARAH ANANE — In my United States History class, we had a debate on if the Civil Rights Movement was due to the actions of extraordinary individuals or just a result of the extraordinary times. While I pondered on this question for hours I soon began to think — who, or what, shaped the times? This led me down a rabbit hole of trying to figure out how to get to the root of this feedback cycle between the times influencing people and people influencing the times. I couldn’t help but look to our modern times to find the answer to this question. I looked specifically towards the protests that erupted across the United States during 2020 relating to Black and Asian lives. We were definitely in a period of extraordinary times as we were living in isolation and economic downfall. Did this contribute to the period of exponential growth in activism and social defiance that was displayed during the pandemic? Or was it merely due to the fact that individuals decided to take control of what they were seeing?
I have finally come to my own personal conclusion that that Civil Rights Movement was a result of the extraordinary actions of the individuals who propelled the movement into the forefront of society. The actions of these individuals not only inspired others to join the movement, they influenced the government’s decisions when it came to legislation that was passed and the overturning of laws that allowed active discrimination and racism. Some argue that the government led the movement because the legislation they passed allowed for progress to be made. But who pushed for this progress? It was the individuals of the Civil Rights Movement. They pushed the government by using forms of protest, riots, and resistance in order to pressure the government to meet their demands. As Martin Luther King eloquently stated in 1963, “To take a moderate approach hoping to get white help, doesn’t help. They nail you to the cross, and it saps the enthusiasm of the followers. You’ve got to have a crisis”. The creation of crisis and panic within the United States is what pushed the success of the civil rights movement because the government was scared of the backlash and polarized climate that was created by it.
The Civil Rights Movement was a product of the hard work that thousands of Black Americans put toward the goal of equality in the United States. Black individuals were known, unknown, young, old, highly educated, uneducated, men, women, high status, and low status all came together and carried the movements on their backs to create a more equal and integrated society that was yet to be seen at the time. These individuals created the movement, spread it, and grew it through every level of society through their influence on others and pressure on the government for legislative progress.
This isn’t just limited to the actions of the Civil Rights movement though, we continue to see that in the modern decade people continue to propel the movement for equity and human rights. Whether it be in the form of walk outs, silent protests, or even riots, people continue to right for their rights through the same tactics used in the Civil Rights Movement, proving that even when there is opposition from the government or other civilians, the voices of those fighting for what they believe will be amplified and manifest into a movement and extraordinary times.
