Power In The Civil Rights Movement

Kristen Jackso

January 21, 2016

Power has been used in the past to manipulate a specific law or set of laws. There are many cases from American History that has influenced the law. One of the most important movements I believe that has the most effect not only on the law, but Americans as well is the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights in the United States is a movement of African Americans. The mission of the Civil Rights Movement was to gain equal rights. Because of our skin color, we did not have the same rights and privileges that white people had. Black people felt mistreated, and they wanted equal rights. Therefore, the colored people started a fight against the social systems and public authorities that had taken these rights

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. This is a form of social threat because she disobeyed the law, and she used her behavior to gain power. Back then, the law required Black Americans to give up their seats to the white people. According to Ronald L. Akers and Christene S. Sellers, social control “consists of a normative system with rules about the way people should and should not behave and a system of formal and informal mechanisms used to control deviation from, and promote conformity to, these rules.” An example of social control is the white people had the privilege to sit in the front of the bus while it was mandatory for the blacks to sit in the back of the bus. To add on, colored people had to attend different schools, they had to drink from separate water fountains, and eat at separate restaurants. This shows social control because there were rules that black people must behave properly while sitting in the back. Because giving up her seat was not right, Parks refused to do so. Rosa was arrested, and she went to jail. Rosa Parks stood up for herself even though she knew the consequences for breaking the law. So then, the black people got together and started a Montgomery Bus Boycott. This is an example of Informal social control. Informal social control “exits in the family, friendship groups, churches, neighborhoods, and other groups in the

He was one of the greatest American Civil Rights Movement. He wanted everyone to get along, specifically white and black people. For this reason, Martin did nonviolent protests. He knew how to protest peacefully without breaking no law. He cared more about people getting along than equal rights. However, it getting along plays a major role in equal rights. Speaking of this, the Brown v. Board case come to mind. This case is about a man trying to enroll his colored daughter in an all-white school and got denied because of her race. The father took the case to the Supreme Court. The court decided that segregation was no longer legal in public schools. This is really important because it put segregation to an end. Black people could get an education with white people. This is an example of Formal social control because the law was