Essay On Selma To Stonewall

From Selma to Stonewall, the civil rights and LGBTQ movement forever changed American culture by challenging the entrenched systems of injustice and inspiring generations to demand freedom and equality for all. Following the American Civil War, the Reconstruction era began with the aim to rebuild the country by bringing former confederate states back, and counteracting the political, social, and economic legacies of slavery. However, reconstruction efforts were undermined due to white supremacy groups like the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings of African Americans, segregation, disenfranchisement, and share cropping leading to lack of economic freedom. This violation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment which was supposed to guarantee newly freed slaves

By coming together as a community and recognizing their interconnectedness of hardships rather than being divided by different ideological interests, the African American community can strengthen their solidarity across the country, which can effectively fight against racial prejudice in society. Furthermore, in a period of intense persecution known as the Lavender Scare beginning in the 1940s until the 60s, members of the LGBTQ+ community were harassed and discriminated against in everyday society on the grounds of their sexual identity due to fear and stigma against gay people caused by broader societal homophobia. Fueled by the strategies and successes of the civil rights movement, the LGBTQ+ community also began challenging the deeply entrenched systems of oppression. Harvey Milk delivered a speech to inspire hope for the LGBTQ+ community to continue fighting for their place in society and recognized the universality of human rights by expressing, "We are all different. But we all have the same rights, the same hopes, and the same dreams. That's what makes us human" (Milk). Harvey Milk repeats the words “the same” to spread his message of hope uniting a community, and reinforces the main idea to the audience which helps them recognize that despite our differences, sameness can help break down barriers between people and foster a sense of community. This highlights the importance of community by bringing out commonalities that bind the LGBTQ+ community together

Black Americans throughout the country faced a lack of representation in politics due to disenfranchisement resulting from prejudicial practices such as literacy tests and poll taxes, which denied them their right to participate in the political process. Along with uniting the community, Malcolm X addressed the need to reconstruct the political system with the aim of putting more Black Americans with genuine interests to better the community in positions of power by emphasizing, "We need to have more politicians who look like we do, black politicians who are going to represent us, not some damn Uncle Tom who's going to represent his own interests" (X). In this statement, Malcolm X uses the allusion of “Uncle Tom”, a subservient slave in the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" who cooperated with White slave owners solely for his own benefit, this conveys the powerful message to his audience that equality can only be achieved through resistance and not conformity. Essentially Malcolm X suggests the need to vote for true Black representatives that are determined to take action for minorities being oppressed rather than Black politicians who are more concerned with white interests or want to gain support of white