Introduction
Initially, the SNCC and SCLC activities were united by one goal – the elimination of segregation and the granting of political rights to blacks. However, gradually the relationship between the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) deteriorated under the influence of several factors. First, different views on the approach of non-violence contributed to the rise in tension. O’Neal (2020) notes that most SNCC members were students under the age of 22. It was one of the factors in the growing tension between SNCC and SCLC. The members of the SNCC wanted swift change, and they questioned the moderation of the senior members of the SCLC. Young people were more risk-averse, while King’s SCLC advocated non-violence as a way of life.
Second, the organizational structure was an equally significant factor in the tension between these civil rights groups. The SNCC management strategy was based on a bottom-up approach. On the contrary, King’s leadership and management style was top-down. King’s criticism from SNCC workers was about his leadership style. Third, religion also played a role in the rise in tensions. The main difference of the SCLC concerned religion, which was manifested in the commitment of the members of the Southern Baptist Church. Tensions between the two groups escalated further when, in 1965, King went to preach at an Atlanta church, and SNCC members went to demonstrate.
The Freedom Rides, the Birmingham Campaign, and the Selma to Montgomery March as a Crucial Turning Point
The Freedom Rides, the Birmingham Campaign, and the Selma to Montgomery march became a crucial turning point in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. During Freedom Riders, protesters sought to outlaw segregation in all interstate vehicles, waiting rooms, restrooms, and food stalls. As a result, this action not only contributed to the desegregation of some establishments and transport, but also drew the general public’s attention to inequality in the south of the country. As a result of these protests, the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King gained a large following.
In turn, the Birmingham Campaign’s goals were to desegregate department store eateries, changing rooms, toilets, and drinking water fountains and abolish discrimination against blacks in employment and promotions. As a result of these events, the civil rights movement achieved the recognition of segregation in Birmingham as illegal by the US Supreme Court. The victory in Birmingham was a decisive and symbolic event. Jeffries (2019) asserts that the response to the Birmingham events was mass demonstrations and performances that took place over four months in 196 cities in 35 states. Moreover, a significant consequence of the Birmingham Campaign was that the President of the United States, in June 1963, sent a bill to Congress for widespread desegregation and measures against discrimination against black citizens.
As for the Selma to Montgomery march, the goals of this protest were to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the repressive segregation tactics that still permeated the South and to secure proper voting rights for all black citizens. The march and the public reaction to it led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allowed black citizens in all southern states to vote. Thus, the Freedom Rides, the Birmingham Campaign, and the Selma to Montgomery march became major b events in the civil rights movement and brought success in the fight against discrimination against blacks.
Malcolm X’ and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Success
The black rights movement was very diverse. Both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X pursued the same goal, albeit by completely different means. They completely changed American society. The March on Washington, organized by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, really woke up the whole country. After these events, the amorphous, semi-literate, and oppressed black population of the United States felt like people whose opinions really should be reckoned with.
Many, including Martin Luther King Jr., criticized Malcolm X for his penchant for extreme measures and radical ways of fighting for the rights of the black people in America. Nevertheless, according to Dierenfield (2021), violence as a method of overcoming racial segregation in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States was a justified and even legitimate form of struggle for one’s rights. Black America had to be made to reckon with, even if by organizing riots. The authorities were wise enough not to respond with violence to violence, and in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed, and in 1965 the Voting Rights Act. Thanks to the activities of both fighters for the rights of blacks, the black population of America gradually became a full-fledged part of American society, and it was then that the foundations of modern political correctness were laid. Since the goals were achieved, the ideological and tactical leadership of the mass protests of the 1960s by both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of residents of the US capital took to the streets to take part in the March on Washington. The purpose of this event was to support President John F. Kennedy’s bill to ban segregation in public places. The Americans marched to the Lincoln Memorial, wherefrom the steps of the monument, the Baptist preacher and public figure Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream to a crowd of two hundred thousand people. Jeffries (2019) states that the main result of the march was a demonstration throughout America and the whole world of the mass character and organization of the civil rights movement. After Kennedy’s assassination, the US Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, which equalized all Americans’ civil and voting rights. This fact confirms the achievement of the March on Washington goals.
Black Power Slogan
In June 1966, James Meredith, the first black man admitted to the University of Mississippi, went on a solo freedom march and was shot. Dierenfield (2021) notes that as a result of this event, the leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organized a trip to Greenwood. During it, Stokely Carmichael excited the audience with his sharp criticism of justice in the state of Mississippi, exclaiming the Black Power slogan.
The Black Power slogan meant a new stage in the growth of the liberation movement of blacks, aimed at their self-determination through the creation of their own identity. According to O’Neal (2020), the civil rights movement has shifted its focus to creating its own economic, social, and political power rather than integrating into a white-dominated society. Moreover, the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, who called for the achievement of freedom, equality, and justice by any means, including violent ones, also contributed to the popularization of this movement.
Conclusion
The civil rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, was an indispensable catalyst for the passage of two unprecedentedly important laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 firmly and unequivocally established the legal equality of blacks with white citizens. However, all of the above achievements of representatives of the liberal wing of the movement of blacks for civil rights and freedoms did not lead to equality of opportunity. As before, discrimination against blacks was observed, but already in the economic, cultural, and everyday space. It was against the background of this fictitious grant of rights and freedoms to blacks that one of the most charismatic radical leaders in the movement, Malcolm X, was formed. Thus, the 1960s are a period of major internal transformation in the political, social, and cultural fields toward black self-determination.
References
Dierenfield, B. J. (2021). The civil rights movement: The black freedom struggle in America. Routledge
Jeffries, H. K. (2019). Understanding and teaching the civil rights movement. University of Wisconsin Press.
O’Neal, M. J. (2020). Civil rights movements: Past and present. Salem Press.