There were four main Civil Rights groups who used peaceful protests, boycotts, marches, speeches, sit-ins, riots, letters and demonstrations in order to gain Civil Rights in America. Firstly, there was the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) and its main leader was W.E.B Du Bois. The main ways in which the group sought to gain Civil Rights was by speechmaking, lobbing and publicising the issue, peaceful marches and boycotts also by litigation. One of the most famous use of litigation by the NAACP was the Brown Vs. Board of Education in which it helped to win the court case at the Supreme Court meaning the board had to end segregation in schools. Another way in which the group used its litigation strategies was in the Montgomery bus boycott when the group took the case to the Supreme Court and it was eventually ordered that segregation on buses was illegal. The NAACP didn’t only use litigation strategies they also used peaceful marches. In 1963 the march on Washington for jobs and freedom took place. Congress passed a civil rights bill aimed at ending racial discrimination in employment, education and public accommodations in 1964, followed by a righting votes act in 1965. Moreover the NAACP’s main ways to gain Civil Rights were the use of litigation, peaceful marches and boycotts however this may differ from other groups.
The second group which sought to game Civil Rights was the SCLC. Its main leader was Martin Luther King. Ding its first few years SCLC activities were focused primarily on education and voter registration. They were often criticised by younger activists in groups such as SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) for not being active enough which shows that people disagreed. Their tactics were committed to using a Non-Violent approach to tackling Civil Rights which is similar to which the NAACP approached the Civil Rights movement. The group’s most famous encounter of gaining civil rights was the march in Washington for jobs and freedom in which the crowd was an estimated 250,000 whereby 200,000 black and 50,000 white. In front of this crowd at the Lincoln Memorial Martin Luther King delivered his historical ‘I have a dream’ speech advocating racial harmony. Following the march the Civil Rights Act and National Voting Rights Act were passed. The use of the media also helped in this event as it exposed the nation. The use of television literally framed the way in which their local audiences saw and understood the event.
The SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) set-up by Ella Baker was introduced in February, 1960. The group was aimed at the younger youth ages segment; on the other hand the SCLC targeted an elder, and further experienced sector in order to gain civil rights. Several black folks thought that Martin Luther king was functioning too closely with the white politicians. Organisations for instance, the SNCC and SCLC disagreed between themselves. Equally, these groups promoted non-violence; though there were still obvious differences among tactics used to achieve civil rights. The SNCC stressed the significance of sorting out issues with no support of political participation.
The black panthers lead my Malcolm X were against none violence and prompted self-defence. The Black Panther party’s focus on militancy came with a reputation for violence. They often took advantage of a California law which permitted carrying a load rifle or shotgun as long as it was publicly displayed and pointed at no one. The Black Panther party was formed in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale openly used violence against their white counterparts. They wanted blacks to pick up the gun and used riots or violent protests to gain civil rights. Although Martin Luther King and the SCLC did not encourage or directly use violence he knew through bus boycotts and non – violence indirectly gaining media attention in the process. This use of not using direct deliberate violence allowed King to gain sympathy and support from more liberal whites.
