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Essay On The Civil Rights Movement

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The freedom of speech, and the right to vote may be things people take for granted nowadays. However, that was not the case for people of color in the countries of the United States and South Africa in the twentieth century. In the southern United States, there was a “starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation, and various forms of oppression”. On the other hand, “South Africa was governed by a system of racial segregation and discrimination called apartheid”. These people fought hard with their lives on the line in order to conquer discrimination and obtain the rights and equality. Each country had a powerful man that managed to lead them to gaining equal rights. The American Civil Rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, …show more content…

In 1963, civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested for protesting in the streets of Birmingham, Alabama. When in prison, he wrote a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to white critics to convey his emotions of displeasure and injustice towards the laws. In the letter, he states that “an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest”. By getting arrested, King saw that white people were infringing on the First Amendment Rights of African-Americans. This realization motivated him to lead the Civil Rights Movement. On the other hand, Mandela was arrested for treason in South Africa. P.W. Botha offered that “he would be released on the condition that he would renounce violence. Mandela stood firm, refusing to make such a statement until blacks were guaranteed full political rights”. His unselfish and stern character to stand for the entire black majority and not give in for himself, inspired the revolution. During the 27-year imprisonment, Mandela learned to “make your enemy your friend”. This skill was crucial in the dismantle of Apartheid, which Mandela accomplished by turning his enemies into allies. Both men learned important things through their time under confinement, which allowed them to build from their experiences and knowledges to fight for

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“One individual can begin a movement that turns the tide of history. Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement [is an example] of people standing up with courage and non-violence to bring about needed changes” (Jack Canfield). The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s was a renewed struggle for equal rights. Despite African Americans being freed of slavery, they were still mistreated and discriminated against. The South was taking great measures to ensure that African Americans could not be equal to whites, such as Jim Crow laws and the literacy test.

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Mandela was a leader in African National Congress. The story says that “he was in a political party that opposed South Africa’s policy of racial segregation.” Mandela became the world’s best-known political prisoner. In the story it says, “he was sentenced to life prison, but he never gave up.” In 1990 he was released, and became South Africa’s first black president.

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Mandela transformed an understandably negative situation into an experience of knowledge and positivity for himself and his fellow prisoners. Another example of Mandela being incredibly honorable, is when the government offered Nelson a conditional release from prison and he decided not to comply because his people still had no political rights. Most people would probably take the governments offer because they desperately would want to get out of prison after being there for twenty-seven years. Nelson Mandela was persistent and positive when it came to his goals for racial harmony and with the

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It all begin with Mandela’s battle against apartheid that put him in prison in 1962. Mandela was brave espically because he would use his any chance he had to speak against the injustice of white domination obviously knowing he could die but he was prepared(source2).The leaders of Africa started to offer him a early relase as early as 1985 but mandela as strong and firm he was not willing to accept conditions or go back to a country where his people still had not rights so he turned down the offer and stayed in prison(source3).Obviously you can tell, Mandela was very brave for sitting in jail all that time and was admired by

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Nelson Mandela instigated his efforts in the fight to eliminate apartheid by joining the African National Congress. This was the oldest black political organisation in South Africa and is protuberant in its opposition to apartheid. It restrained the inequalities which were seen, and the apartheid organisation gave rise to a comprehensive resistance movement. As a passionate advocate for racial fairness and impartiality, Nelson had been an inspiring figure for likeminded activists all around the world. He was given the symbol of peace, having contributed in endeavours to change from apartheid to multicultural equality, and having been a powerful force in achieving national reconciliation.

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Nelson Mandela was no exception from being a good leader when it comes to his bravery to undergo harsh difficulties. Throughout his life, Mandela constantly had to reveal the heroism hidden within him, in order to go through tough situations or make onerous decisions thrown at him, not just in the political field, but also in his ordinary life. At the age of 9, Nelson Mandela’s father passed away, so in order to continue his schooling, he was sent miles away from home and his beloved family. Even in a much more sophisticated and unfamiliar environment with no relatives to take care and look after him, Nelson Mandela was still determined to study and give himself a good education for his future. (Nelson, Kadir)

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Even with so many people trying to stop Mandela, he still completed his goal. This shows that Mandela was extremely dedicated to his cause. The African National Congress, which Mandela was greatly associated with also accomplished many great things. For ten decades the African National Congress has led the struggle against racism and oppression, organising mass resistance, mobilising the international community and taking up the armed struggle against apartheid (What is the African National Congress?). Nelson Mandela organized protests with the ANC, caused public uprising, and stirred the masses to fight against

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The Southern whites tried to keep white supremacy dominance by inventing Black Codes of Jim Crow Laws to segregate African Americans from all public facilities, education and transportation with use of widely known Plessy v Ferguson of separate but equal doctrine. “From 1876 through 1965 the shadow of Jim Crow spread across America.” (Unchainging Civil Rights Equality A Historical Perspective, n.d.). It was not only southern whites but northern whites as well used any means possible to keep from living beside an African American or working beside an African American plus they would move out of cities to the suburbs of society leaving African Americans living in ghettos of the cities. “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 attacked inequality with use of Affirmative action which is a federal agenda initiated in the 1960s by John F Kennedy that's designed to historic discrimination faced by ethnic minorities, women and other underrepresented groups.

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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela can be described as one of the all-time greatest leaders in the globe today. Born in 1918, Mandela played an important role in the eradication of apartheid in South Africa as well as playing a central role in the liberation of several African countries from the harsh and oppressive colonial rule. Mandela can be described as a revolutionary, politician and a philanthropist who served as the South Africa first black African president between 1994 to 1994. During his reign, Mandela fought hard to eliminate apartheid in the country by addressing institutionalized racism in the country y as well as promoting racial recognition between the whites and the blacks in the country. However, it is worth noting that his leadership is recognized way back in his younger tears when he was sentenced to life prison in 1961.

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The Civil Rights Movement was a social movement by the black community against racial segregation and discrimination in the United States that came to prominence in the mid 1950s. The inception of this broad reconstruction dates back to the 1860s- beginning with the struggling efforts of African slaves for emancipation from slavery and racial oppression. This culminated into the Civil War which ended the institution of slavery and granted basic civil rights for African slaves through the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendment. It proudly proclaimed that indeed all men were created equal and therefore should have equal rights. Unfortunately, fast-forward a century into the future and African Americans in the South were still struggling

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Because of this action that he took, it was one of the main reason he landed in prison for over three decades, and made him the face of the antiapartheid movement both in his country and worldwide. In 1990 he was released and started participating in the eradication of apartheid, 4 years later 1994 he became the very first black president of South Africa, forming a multiethnic government to over achieve the country’s transition. I think because of him he let the

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Mandela had a commitment to millions of South Africans that he would help them even if it meant he couldn’t help the people he knew and loved. Mandela states, “In life, every man has twin obligations-obligations to his family, to his parents, to his wife and children; and he has an obligation to his people, his community, his country... But in a country like South Africa, it was almost impossible for a man of my birth and color to fulfill both of these obligations.” Mandela sacrificed time with his family and friends that he knew and loved to stand up for the freedom of his people. At one point Mandela realized that he wasn’t free and neither was his brothers and sisters either, no one of his color was free.

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Born into a country where racial identity determines the fate of its citizens, Nelson Mandela spent a lifetime fighting for a country in which all its people would be equal. Advocating in Africa for the Euro-North American modernist project of emancipation in the early Sixties, Nelson Mandela provided a model of how to liberate a country from apartheid colonialism. Overcoming personal loss, repression, and three decades of incarceration, he continued his efforts and emerge as a moral and political victor when the South African apartheid collapsed in the early 1990s. It is Nelson Mandela’s lifelong dedication to the struggle to set his people free that has made him an iconic figure in world history. His political career spanning over sixty years devoted to freedom and peace has asserted him beyond a domestic hero as an embodiment of fundamental human qualities for global audiences.

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AMONG Nelson Mandela’s many achievements, two stand out. First, he was the world’s most inspiring example of fortitude, magnanimity and dignity in the face of oppression, serving more than 27 years in prison for his belief that all men and women are created equal. During the brutal years of his imprisonment on Robben Island, thanks to his own patience, humour and capacity for forgiveness, he seemed freer behind bars than the men who kept him there, locked up as they were in their own self-demeaning prejudices. Indeed, his warders were among those who came to admire him most.

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