10/23/2021
Gws 100-170W
Professor Waychoff
Response to Celina Wever
Activism is a movement that was done in the 1950s. It is something that is done to bring awareness to an issue that people may have a problem with. For example, since activism started in the 1950s many African-Americans would be the ones to protest because we were the main ones getting targeted. During these years many blacks were facing inequalities and violence in the hands of white people. For example our black men were not allowed to have any conversation with a white woman otherwise there would be serious precautions. In addition schools were segregated, we were not allowed to vote, have an education, the right to have a beautiful home and more. There were a lot of popular black activists. For example Dr Martin Luther king, Rosa parks, Malcolm x were all activists and a part of the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was a campaign preceded by African Americans to end legalized discrimination, segregation and disenfranchisement in America. Any time I hear the word activist or activism, I think about coming together to end any kind of problems going on in the world. I think that activism helps many people because when activists like Rosa Parks, Dr Martin Luther king, and many more created a campaign to end racism it worked. After some years segregation ended and blacks and whites were finally reunited as one. There were no more laws going against black people voting, inequalities and more.
I agree with Celine Wever’s photo because fighting today will make a better tomorrow. If africans americans did not fight back then for all of us then in 2021 things would be worse. Although history is repeating itself, african americans are now free to do anything they please. Blacks are now allowed to vote, have a beautiful home, the right to be educated, and the end of segregation. The civil rights movements ended years of torture that all african americans went through. Although all blacks were a target, black men had it the worst. For example if any man is seen conversing with a caucasian woman it would be punished. It was so bad that even if a man was smiling or looked at a white woman they would be accused of groping, touching and more incriminating lies would be told against them. Young black men would be told to cross the street and keep their heads down to avoid any interactions with a white woman. Another example is the story of a young teenager named Emmet Till that was visiting his relatives in Money, Mississippi who allegedly whistled at a woman behind a store counter. During the questioning and the investigation the woman claimed that the teenager grabbed her and made advances towards her and whistled. This was a false statement on the woman’s part because witnesses were saying something different. A few days later Emmett Till was beaten and shot to death by the cashier’s husband and the brother of the husband. He was then thrown in a river. After his muder the civil rights movement started emerging because many african americans were enraged by his death.
