Militant Nonviolence
African Americans used militant nonviolence tactics to protest against unjust segregation laws in the South. Their spokesperson was Martin Luther King, Jr, an activist for the civil rights movement. King led the African Americans by providing crucial moral leadership to eradicate government-enforced racial segregation rules in the US (“The Progressive Era,” n.d.). Inspired by American individualist Henry David Thoreau and Indian nonviolent crusader Mohandas Gandhi, King established a nonviolent militant approach for African Americans. King led the blacks to expose the outrageous corruption in the South as practiced by governors, mayors, and sheriffs (“The Progressive Era,” n.d.). He employed three primary tactics: protest and persuasion, non-cooperation, and means of intervention (“The Progressive Era,” n.d.). King used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, including protests, civil disobedience, and grassroots organizing. African Americans of the South could hold peaceful demonstrations and disobey court injunctions that felt oppressive. They could, sometimes, boycott government services that sought to oppress them while benefiting those in power.
Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, Alabama
Militant nonviolence methods through demonstrations, boycotts, and sit-ons in targeted cities were used during the Civil Rights Movement in Montgomery, Alabama, by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Under Martin Luther King Jr’s leadership, SCLC would hold protests to secure the civil rights of African Americans in the South (“The Progressive Era,” n.d.). The organization would use various strategies, including mass demonstrations. In November 1964, the leadership of the Dallas County Voters League requested King’s SCLC to join and assist in demonstrating against the Dallas County Board of Voter Registrars and discrimination in registration practices. The mass demonstrations exposed voter registration discrimination and demand for African American civil rights. The protests sought to create awareness and support the civil rights of the Southerners.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Birmingham, Alabama
In 1960, the SNCC conducted demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama. The protests involved sit-ons aimed at fighting for civil rights. One of the most significant demonstrations was after the murder of Sammy Younge Jr, a military veteran in Tuskegee (Phelps & Wallach, 2022). Sammy was killed while trying to use a white-only restroom at a local gas station. SNCC used Sammy’s murder to perform three days of demonstrations. During the protests, they challenged segregation and the disintegration of black people. SNCC made its first public statement regarding the US involvement in the Vietnamese war (Phelps & Wallach, 2022). They highlighted the similarities between the Vietnamese struggle for independence and the black Americans’ fight for their rights. SNCC called out the US government for failing to uphold national and international laws to protect the people. The white people would taunt the SNCC demonstrators during the sit-on by pouring sugar or ketchup on their heads and hitting them (Phelps & Wallach, 2022). However, the protesters did not respond to such hostilities, thus signifying an impression of moral superiority. The effect of these demonstrations was the development of the Civil Rights Act.
Landmark Pieces of Federal Legislation
Using militant nonviolence tactics resulted in the passage of reconstruction amendments designed by Congress to guarantee the civil rights and freedom of black people. One landmark piece was the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship and equal protection by the law (Phelps & Wallach, 2022). The Amendment provides that no state shall create or enforce laws that shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of America. Any state shall not deprive any person of liberty, property, or life without due process of law. The second piece was the 15th Amendment, which bans the denial of voting rights based on individual color or race (Phelps & Wallach, 2022). The Amendment provides that the American right to vote shall not be abridged or denied by the US or any state based on an individual color, previous condition of servitude, or race.
The militant nonviolence approach helped develop the Amendments by setting up the civil rights objectives. The nonviolent protests mobilized the public to demand their rights to vote and be free (Phelps & Wallach, 2022). Furthermore, the movements created public awareness for civil rights, especially among black Americans. Through such demonstrations and chaos, the rest of the world witnessed black oppression and pushed the American government to protect these people.
References
Phelps, W., & Wallach, J. J. (2022). Containing multitudes: A documentary reader of US history since 1865 (2nd ed.). University of Arkansas Press. Web.
The progressive era. (n.d.). The American Yawp. Web.