The civil rights movement was set up to fight this discrimination and to abolish the thought that white people were above black people. Examples of organisations involved in combating racial inequality included the NAACP, Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam.
The first Civil rights group I will look at is the NAACP. The Naacp was led by Dr. Martin Luther King, a world renowned leader, who was later assassinated. His father was a Baptist minister, hence his beliefs were heavily linked with Christian teachings. He believed that racial equality would be achieved through peaceful methods, such as protests and lobbying. An example of this is the Montgomery Bus Boycott, this is where a Black lady refused to give up her seat on a public bus to a white person, and was arrested for it. Once Dr. King heard about this, he told all Black people not to ride the buses, it was known as freedom rides. It went on for a year, until the law was rectified to make Black people have the same rights as White people on buses. Dr. King’s militant non-violent method achieved desegregation on buses, and was much admired by the Black public. The Naacp believed that these methods would achieve racial equality as they had been seen to have been working on many occasions.
The second Civil rights group I will look at is the Nation of Islam, which was led by Elijah Muhammad. Although a dominant member of the Nation of Islam was Malcolm X. Malcolm X disliked White people, and had taken a lot of abuse from them as a child. He believed that violence was the answer, and while in jail, he came to know of the Nation of Islam. After undergoing a big change he joint the Nation of Islam. His views differed from Dr. Kings, a clear example of this is the following quote, “non-violence is a delayed solution to racial equality. To me, a delayed solution is no solution”. This quote explains that he held this belief as he believed that violence was the only way to achieve racial equality.
The third Civil rights group I will look at is the Black Panthers, who was founded by Huey Percy Newton and Bobby Seale. The Blank Panthers believed in Marxism and was created to help protect Black communities from racism. There beliefs in Marxism led them to believe that the only way racial equality could be achieved is if the America turned into a capitalist state. They believed this as many Black people were poor, so what would the point of them being allowed to eat in restaurants with White people if they couldn’t afford to eat there in the first place. They realised that Capitalism would make everyone more or less the same financially, and therefore Black people would be able to afford everything a white person could.
As you can see, there were many different groups with different beliefs and attitudes on how to achieve racial equality, one of these was because of upbringing. Many beliefs that you gather as a child due to your upbringing tend to stay with you. Another reason for the difference of attitudes was religion. Religion has always varied peoples beliefs, and always will, as all religions teach different beliefs. There were other reasons for the different attitudes which included, social groups, social outlook, location and many more.
Attitudes of Black people changed over time, an example of this is Stokeley Carmichael. Stokeley had previously been a follower of the Naacp and had helped in the freedom rides project, and had believed in non violence. His beliefs changed after he began to criticise Dr. Kings non violence approach as it hadn’t made much more progress after the freedom rides. Many followers of the Naacp changed their views on non violence after the assassination of Martin Luther King.
Finally, in conclusion the opinions on how to achieve racial equality varied because of the impact that the three major groups had. It is noticeable how many leaders of racial equality groups changed religion from Christianity, which changed ideals and thoughts. A vast population of the America was Black, and it cannot be expected that each and everyone believe the same thing, as everyone is different, thus causing for attitudes on achieving racial equality differed,
