A social movement is defined as a loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal, typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society's structure or values. Social movements have shaped and formed this country into what it is today and have helped to change societal norms and morals. The Civil Rights Movement was began by the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954 which ended legal segregation in public schools and was continued through the 1950s and 1960s in a search for justice and equality for blacks. The Civil Rights Movement was a turbulent time in America’s history but ignited a quest for equality in the nation’s black population. Without the tireless work
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He declared that blacks should use any means necessary to secure the freedom saying, “We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.” Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little but changed his last name to “X” to reject the name of the man who owned his ancestors; he also urged other blacks to replace their last names with “X” to symbolize their true names that were lost to slavery. One factor that likely influenced Malcolm X was the threats that his family faced from the Klu Klux Klan. The Little family left Malcolm’s birthplace of Omaha, Nebraska because of threats made against Malcolm’s father. Even after their move to Michigan, Malcolm’s father was still faced unrelenting threats and eventually he was murdered by the Black Legionaries, a group similar in ideology and tactics to the Klu Klux Klan. After his father’s death, six year old Malcolm was placed in foster care. Malcolm X experienced the worst of the system and learned from an early age about how racism was ingrained into society. Because of his condemnation of racism and his demands that blacks rise up and free themselves from the metaphorical and literal chains of their oppressors, whites feared and shied away from him and gravitated to the easier-to-swallow teachings of Martin Luther King. After a life changing pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm X founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity and began to preach socialism. In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York. Because Malcolm X’s message did not reach and resonate with as many people as Dr. King’s he was less successful. This is not to say he did not accomplish anything; in his short 39 years, Malcolm X inspired blacks in America and around the world to
He declared that blacks should use any means necessary to secure the freedom saying, “We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.” Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little but changed his last name to “X” to reject the name of the man who owned his ancestors; he also urged other blacks to replace their last names with “X” to symbolize their true names that were lost to slavery. One factor that likely influenced Malcolm X was the threats that his family faced from the Klu Klux Klan. The Little family left Malcolm’s birthplace of Omaha, Nebraska because of threats made against Malcolm’s father. Even after their move to Michigan, Malcolm’s father was still faced unrelenting threats and eventually he was murdered by the Black Legionaries, a group similar in ideology and tactics to the Klu Klux Klan. After his father’s death, six year old Malcolm was placed in foster care. Malcolm X experienced the worst of the system and learned from an early age about how racism was ingrained into society. Because of his condemnation of racism and his demands that blacks rise up and free themselves from the metaphorical and literal chains of their oppressors, whites feared and shied away from him and gravitated to the easier-to-swallow teachings of Martin Luther King. After a life changing pilgrimage to Mecca, Malcolm X founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity and began to preach socialism. In 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York. Because Malcolm X’s message did not reach and resonate with as many people as Dr. King’s he was less successful. This is not to say he did not accomplish anything; in his short 39 years, Malcolm X inspired blacks in America and around the world to