Activists’ Role in African Americans’ Struggle for Equality Essay

The civil rights movement became one of the most notable phenomena in the history of the United States because it forever changed the political, legal, and social landscape of the country. Although the government’s actions made major and final contributions to the establishment of racial equality from the legal perspective, it would not be possible without the people who led the movement and participated in it. Thus, despite differences in their approaches, activists such as Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and numerous local-level campaigners and demonstrators played a defining role in the struggle for racial equality.

Martin Luther King was the most well-known member of the civil rights movement, and, in many ways, he became the symbol of African Americans’ fight for justice. King was an extremely charismatic leader who was able to inspire thousands of people to join the struggle and undertake actions targeted at the achievement of equality on various levels. King’s I have a dream speech to this day remains one of the most important addresses in U.S. history. King highlighted racial inequality, saying, “We can never be satisfied as long as our children are… robbed of their dignity by signs stating ‘for whites only’” (Zaretsky et al., 2013, p. 184). Due to his active involvement in the civil rights movement, King became a target of the FBI’s campaign to neutralize him and make him no longer relevant or important. Nevertheless, despite all attempts to discredit King’s reputation, his legacy is still commemorated and celebrated by millions of people, since he made a considerable contribution to the equality movement.

During his lifetime, King had many counterparts who opposed the civil rights movement, and the most notable one was Stokely Carmichael. Unlike King, who embraced a peaceful approach to protesting, Stokely Carmichael adhered to the idea that justice and equality could only be achieved through radical actions. Carmichael wrote that the civil rights movement spoke “to an audience of liberal whites” while neglecting young African Americans (Zaretsky et al., 2013, p. 185). Carmichael believed that it was necessary to build a movement that would target the black militant youth living in urban ghettos. Carmichael promoted the idea of black power, which meant that African Americans had o organize and unite to form their communities independent from the whites’ influence. Although Carmichael’s proposals could be viewed as radical, he influenced a large number of people and inspired them to join the struggle for justice. Despite his criticism of King’s ideas, Carmichael’s actions contributed to the success of civil rights by raising awareness among citizens about racial inequality and the need to change it.

People such as King and Carmichael were the main influencers of the era, yet thousands of African American activists made their contributions to the movement for equality. Franklin McCain is one of the major activists who engaged in different peaceful protests, which led to the removal of racist practices by local businesses. For instance, McCain remembered how he and his friends began their protests by going to stores that practiced segregation and requesting the clerks to serve them at the counters for white people (Zaretsky et al., 2013). According to McCain, such actions received “mixed reactions from people in the store” (Zaretsky et al., 2013, p. 181). Yet, the regular sit-ins of McCain and his colleagues forced the Woolworth store to discard its segregation policy (Dierenfield, 2021). Activists such as McCain were not known to millions of people, but their contribution to the civil rights movement was substantial.

The struggle of African Americans for equality in the postwar United States was successful because of the efforts of numerous activists. Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and Franklin McCain all embraced different approaches to the achievement of racial equality in the country, yet each of them made a positive impact in their way. Essentially, activists became the major force of the civil rights movement and eventually managed to reach their goal of installing racial justice in the United States.

References

Dierenfield, B. (2021). The civil rights movement: The black freedom struggle in America (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Zaretsky, N., Lawrence, M., Griffith, R., &, Baker, P. (2013). Major problems in American history (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.