The Civil Rights Movement is one probably the most influential 20 th century social movement. The movement waged decades-long protests all over America primarily to enforce legal and constitutional rights already enjoyed by other Americans for African Americans. This paper provides an analysis of the movement’s actions as well as explain them using a sociological theory. The analysis will be based on 1965 NBS News coverage of Selma to Montgomery March.
The footage shows six-hundred African Americans gathered at Brown Chapel AME church on the 17 th Sunday 1965 from where they start the march to Montgomery. This group is led by Hosea William and John Lewis and march through the town of Selma without any encounter with the police until they arrive at Edmund Pettus Bridge. At this point, the police declares their march as unlawful and urges them to disperse to their homes or churches, a declaration that results in bloody violence after the protestors refuse to obey the call to disperse. The footage also shows President Johnson addressing the Congress on 15 th March 1965 in response to the protests in which he requests for a comprehensive voting right bill by stating that it is not just a problem of the African American, but all Americans who must overcome the crippling history of injustice and bigotry. The footage also shows the gathering of more than 3200 protestors at Brown Chapel Church on 21 st March 1965 to march to Montgomery. They are first addressed by Dr. Martin Luther King who states that they are going to march non-violently and peacefully to inform the country and the world that they are tired of living in slavery and segregation. He states that the march is meant to compel the government to make real the promises of democracy and make justice a reality. The footage finally covers the 5-day 54 miles marching and numerous speeches from King in which the 25000 protestors arrive in Montgomery.
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The Civil Rights Movement featured on the footage is a reformative social movement. According to Staggenborg, a reformative social movement is a movement that seeks to modify some sections of the society without transforming it entirely. In other words, such a movements advocates for minor changes as opposed to radical changes in the society (Staggenborg, 2015). The Civil Rights Movement in the footage uses both awareness creation and active advocacy. For instance, the numerus speeches by Martin Luther King creates awareness of the social injustices and segregation of the African Americans. On the other hand, their non-violent marches and defiance of police warnings are form of active advocacy.
The behavior of the member of the Civil Rights Movements in the footage are well-explained by functionalist theory. The theory stipulates that the society is a system of interconnected parts that function together in unison to establish a state of balance as well as a social equilibrium for everyone (Turner, 2017). For instance, religion provides moral guidance, economics provide for production and consumption of goods and services, and politics provide ways to govern the society. In essence, if one part becomes dysfunctional, the functionalism of the other parts of the society are affected as well (Turner, 2017). In this case, the failure of the government to provide equality in the governance of the citizens leads to wide spread injustices and segregation against the African Americans, disrupting the social equilibrium. This oppression prompts the African Americans to form the Civil Rights Movement, a vehicle that they use to compel the government to grant them equal constitutional and legal rights as other Americans. In order to achieve their goal, the members are forced to demonstrate and protest against the unfair treatment from the government leading to their non-violent marches featured in the footage.
The Civil Rights Movement was a prominent reformative social movements in the 20 th century. Its actions were mainly prompted by the political dysfunction of the government in ensuring equal constitutional and legal rights to all. I would have joined the Civil Rights Movements primarily because of its goal of creating a society in which constitutional and legal rights, equality, democracy and justice prevails for all.
References
NBCUniversal Archives. (2015, March 2). Selma to Montgomery March [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM-tfj6lp6w
Staggenborg, S. (2015). Social movements . Oxford University Press, USA.
Turner, R. (2017). Social psychology: Sociological perspectives . Routledge.
