History

The Civil Rights Movement

            The Civil rights movements refer to the movements that were initiated in the United States of America especially by the black Americans to fight for their fundamental rights as citizens. They were mainly developed to fight racism that was rampant in America. Alain Locke in his edition of “The New Negro Voices of Harlem Renaissance” has shown evidence of the historical evidence that prompted the development of civil rights especially among the black people. Harlem Renaissance developed in the early twentieth century when the developed writers of black origin had started to advocate for the rights of the black people. There were persons such as W.E.B Du Bois who led the black people in advocating for their rights in what was referred to as Pan-Africanism.

The experience that the black people had in the First World War was responsible for the development of the New Negro movement. This resulted from the kind of freedom that black solders experienced and they had to rethink on the treatments their race had in America. In addition, the fight was an effort to restore democracy and therefore they had to fight for their civil rights as well. There was also the great migration of the African Americans to the North and hence they sought to assert themselves. The people that formed the Voice of the New Negro were against racism that was characterized by inequality and isolation (Locke, 1999). This movement was formed by Hubert Harrison and this makes him the head of the Harlem Radicalism. There was great development in artwork and literature of the black people especially in poetry, music; writing and paintings and therefore they used this as a basis of putting across their agenda of achieving equality.

The new Negroes wanted to shed the past so that they could achieve a dignified status that would be respected by other races. Therefore, in the analysis of the New Negro movement, Locke has stated that the pioneers of this movement wanted to achieve social and cultural pluralism of the black people. This movement played a great role in the development of the civil rights of the black people because it changed their attitude and the way they perceived themselves. Therefore, it has been experienced that the Harlem renaissance played a great role in the development of the civil rights. The migration of the black Americans changed the perception that people had of them as rural peasants. This helped in re-defining the African American culture identity.

New Negro movement provided the basis upon which the rights movements developed in the 1950s developed. With the successful achievement of respect for the culture of the black people by other races in the North, it was evident that the blacks would achieve their efforts for racial equality. The black people wanted to achieve respect for their culture through civil unrest and uprisings within the civil movements. There were many groups developed to help in the development of rights especially at the South. The civil rights movements developed in this period were to help both the black people and the minority groups in America. Therefore, it is evident that Harlem Renaissance was very instrumental in the development of the civil rights movements. This provided the basis of the history of civil rights movements because it showed that people could meet their objectives as long as they articulated for them.

The movements were developed by persons such as Martin Luther King Junior who fought earnestly for the rights of the minority in America. The leaders of these groups were successful as they were able to achieve their goals because the end of the civil strife was marked by the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by the Congress (Locke, 1999). With the introduction of such legislation, there was tremendous change in the lives of the minority people in America. In conclusion, we observe that the history of the civil rights movements was very instrumental in changing the lives of the minority people. The Harlem Renaissance was helpful not only to the black people but also to other minority races in America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Locke, Alain, Ed.  The New Negro voices of the Harlem Renaissance. Austin, Texas: Touchstone, 1999. Print.