The Civil Rights Movement, which took place during the years of 1955-1968, was essentially integrationist, "it gave Black people in the U.S. their first major accomplishments of the decade." (185.) It was the building of a mass movement of people across the United States stimulating and politically educating millions of African American people. The main goal was to break down barriers that held them from full political participation as well as doing away with negative feelings towards the black race, erasing the difference in color. The ultimate goal was to abolish racial discrimination and to be viewed and treated as equals. 

Many believe that it was the murder of 14 year old boy Emmett Till that motivated the civil rights movement. Till was brutally murdered after saying "bye baby" or whistling (the facts have been disputed) to a white woman, while visiting Mississippi from his hometown Chicago. Till felt comfortable speaking with white woman because of his hometown; things were a lot different there rather than in the South of the Mississippi. The husband of the woman who Till had "done the talking to" and his half brother came and got Till from his home several nights later where the beat him, shot him, and threw him into the river with a cotton gin fan around his neck. Emmett's mother allowed for an open casket of her son's body. Although the images are horrifying and make you question how anyone could ever possibly do such a thing, it is apart of our history. It happened. And Emmett's mother did not want that to be overlooked. The trial was very unfair and they found the two men innocent after only debating for a little over an hour. Many believed that this is one of the major events that lead to the Civil Rights Movement because of the unfair justice that Till received. He did not receive a trial by his peers (the jury was all white), and therefore prejudices were obvious in the South towards black people. 

Whenever the slides were pulled up today in class i immediately remembered Emmett and his story. Although I can't remember where I first learned it, I can only assume high school, his story never left me. I immediately became overwhelmed with emotion because hearing about events like that make me sick and ashamed of where we have come from to be where we are today. 

The SNCC, also known as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was one of the essential organization in the Civil Rights Movement. It emerged in April of 1960 from student meetings that were held by Ella Baker. SNCC grew to become a large organization with many supporters in the North who contributed to their work in the South. The organization was responsible for many sit-in's and freedom rides, however their most contributing factor was in its field work - organizing voter registration drives all over the South.  In the later 1960's, however, their strategies changed; the began to focus more on "black power" as well as protesting against the Vietnam War. Why should African American men fight for a country where they do not receive equal rights and liberties? Stokely Carmichael, who was one of the leaders of SNCC, argued that blacks should be free to use violence in self-defense, then later he advocated revolutionary violence to overthrow oppression. "Carmichael rejected the civil rights legislation that the movement had fought so hard to achieve as mere palliatives." (http://www.aavw.org/protest/carmichael_sncc_abstract06_full.html)  The Department of Defense states in 1967: 

SNCC can no longer be considered a civil rights group. It has become a racist organization with black supremacy ideals and an expressed hatred for whites. It employs violent and militant measures which may be defined as extreme when compared with those of more moderate groups.

This obvious change to radical views made for a different sort of organization, ones who's goals might not have been seen as something very positive anymore.

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. were two very influential men during the Civil Rights Movement. While they shared many common views and tactics, they also had some very key differences. Malcolm stressed the right and responsibility of self-defense, while King was more about the non-violent acts. However, like the quote said on D2L King was not against Blacks rebellion, however he did not see that it was necessary to have to be violent to get to where you wanted to be. 

The Civil Rights Movement was indeed a success as we can see today. All races share equal rights, and there is no segregation. There have been many laws laid out to insure these rights and securities. The Movement was a very strong and important movement in our history. It took many years, many instances, many stories and cases to get to where we stand today. Without these efforts made by others, America would certainly be a completely different world today. 

I definitely agree with the statement that without other opinions and points of view, our views and thoughts are one-sided.  In a sense, I feel that this coordination of thoughts and ideas is what makes Diversity so important. When we are open and influenced by different people, different lifestyles we are become more open-minded (or in some cases, not) and we learn how others interpret things different than ourselves. However, I am not sure how much you can change a person to be open to others thoughts and ideas if it is not in their personality to be that way. I like to believe that I am very open to all thoughts, theologies, etc. but perhaps that is not just due to what I was exposed to throughout my life but also just because that is who am I. At the same time, maybe who I am is influenced by what I have seen. It is very tricky that way.