During our history many AFrican Americans have rised up and made a huge impact on our nation. Each fought against oppression and had a common goal. Civil Rights were a very important goal and these Famous African Americans helped us achieve it. Among them were the late and great Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Langston Hughes.
Malcolm X was one of the first to fight for civil rights and his quest really began in 1946 when he was arrested. In Jail he met the members of the Nation of Islam and became a member also. After his parole he became very active in the organization, rallying as many people as he could. Supporters grew and he moved to Harlem, Ny where he became a minister for an all black temple. He also became the spokesman of the Nation of Islam. They believed in the radical separation of blacks and whites. He believed like all others in the Nation, in aggressive self defense and supported militancy against whites who threatned to take away thoses human rights. they did send fear into many white communitites but it seemed to be the wrong appproach.
Malcolm X wanted to make a difference, a real impact. He did not feel as if the Nation of Islam was doing enough. He left the organization and went to Mecca where his views were changed forever. He saw that some white Muslims believed in equality of all races and heh realized that balcks and whites could coexist. Malcolm moved to a more practical and political approach. He created his own group called the Organization of Afro American Unity and continued to press for equality bringing the United States to the world court for human roights violations against people of african american decendant.
Another great leader of the Civil Rights Movement is Martin Luther King Jr. Already a member of the NAACP. He accepted the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of modern times in the United States. This was the bus boycott that lasted 382 days and resulted in the Supreme Court’s ruling on December 21st 1956, that the laws requiring the segregation of blacks and whites on the buses were unconstitutional. Now because of his efforts blacks and whites could ride on the bus together as equals. During these times his house was bombed, he was arrested and went through personal abuse.
As president of the southern Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King Jr, took ideals from Christianity and techniques from Gandhi in his fight for human rights. For eleven years he went to all protests, scenes of injustice actions and wrote many articles and five books. The protest in Birmingham, Alabama caught the attention of the whole world putting Civil Rights on the main agenda and he planned a drive for the registration of Negro voters. We all remember the incredible “I Have a Dream” speech that he delivered too the nation in Washington D.C. He also turned over the money that he received from the Nobel Piece Prize to further the aid civil rights movement
Langston Hughes is one of the most influential poets and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance, the African American artistic movement of the 1920s. He helped shape American literature and politics. His books condemned racism and injustice. In his novel “Negro & the Racial Mountain” he spoke about African American poets that did not want that categorization. He suggested that this was because they were not proud of their culture. He emphasized that African Americans were both beautiful and ugly and it did not matter whether either blacks or whites were glad or unpleased with it.
Langston Hughes encouraged his people to be proud and to look towards success and their human rights. “I, Too Sing America” was only one of his famous poems that tackled the issue of human rights. It talked about the unfair treatment of African Americans then and the belief that soon his people were to grow bright and strong and take their rightful place in society with all the civil rights of any white American and that those that oppress them shall see how amazing the race is and be ashamed. In his poem “Let American is America Again” he speaks of the American Dream and how hypocritical it is; the fact that many of the liberal promises symbolize and the civil rights were not extended to African Americans. Langston Hughes wrote these poems to let the nation see the harsh truths and make a change.
Through the efforts of these three people along with many others, we are able to coexist with equal civil right today. They have been through many hard times and situations but they made their point, got the results and left an impression in the minds of everyone who hears and learns of these struggles.
