Thoreau's Struggle For Equality In The United States

Even after the end of the Civil war, African Americans and other minority groups were still seeing racism and oppression being thrown their way. With the writing of the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment, minority groups expected to see equality and freedom implemented within America. However, these promises were not reality. Blacks were still being treated as if they were unequal and racism was at its worse. With broken promises came the start of protests by the Black community and other minority groups that also wanted equality. Leaders such as Malcolm X and Cezar Chaves led oppressed minorities to reach some sort of justice and achieve more equality compared to their White counterparts. While things today still aren’t perfect, the …show more content…
David Henry Thoreau was an American philosopher, abolitionist, and a strong believer in nonviolent individual actions such as previous methods listed before. In Thoreau’s speech “Civil Disobedience” he shows the ways in which he himself engaged in individual actions that have potential to go a long way. Thoreau said that he never paid taxes because they were funding policies he was against, such as the Mexican-American war. Thoreau believed that “it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever” (80). This quote is basically saying that anyone’s small action can go a long way if done correctly. An example of this would be Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus incident. The way she refused to give up her seat to a white man caused for the bus boycott and sparked many other civil rights movements. Rosa Parks essentially fulfilled the hopes of Thoreau’s idea of individualism to create change. The nonviolent action that Rosa Parks committed worked because she was able to send a message to those in power. She did this act very peacefully and that’s why it worked. Imagine if she had refused to give up her seat and punched the man in the face. Along with being arrested, Rosa Parks would have been remembered for her violent actions rather than her patriotic stance for justice. Historically, violence …show more content…
Social actions that engage people by the mass are often the ones that call or attention. In order to negotiate with those that control the power, you must first make your case relevant. You need to show that the issue at hand affects hundreds if not thousands of people daily. You need a reason, a convincing reason to allow for negotiation. Social actions can be demonstrated by boycotts, student strikes, and even hunger strikes. One man that was successful in demonstrating this was Cesar Chaves, civil rights activist and leader of immigrants and farm workers. Not only was Cesar Chaves successful in allowing for more equality for farm workers and low income families, Cesar Chaves did this all nonviolently. Cezar Chaves believed that “…the poor always identify with one another more than do the rich” and he was right. Because there was such a large community of poor people, they were able to come together peacefully and fight for what’s right. Even though some people in power tried to delegitimize the peaceful social boycotts and strikes that Cesar Chaves and his people stood for, it was clearly evident that didn’t even put a dent in the movement, but in fact made it stronger. In Chaves’ message, “Good Friday letter”, Chaves addresses Mr. Barr (president of California growers’ organization) for the accusations that were made against his