Anna Posyniak‑Dutka They Had a Dream…

A) The Constitution

The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendmentsamendments [amendment]amendments to the US Constitution grantedgranted [grant]granted African‑Americans basic civil rightsbasic civil rightsbasic civil rights. The first one granted citizenshipcitizenshipcitizenship and equal civil and legal rights to all persons born or naturalised in the United States, and the latter guaranteed that race, colour or previous condition of servitudeprevious condition of servitudeprevious condition of servitude cannot be used to deny anybody the right to voteright to voteright to vote. The amendments were passed in 1868 and 1870 respectivelyrespectivelyrespectively. Nevertheless, well into the second half of the 20th century, black people were still subject to discrimination in terms of access to services and institutions which in theory was guaranteed to them by the American Constitution. Let’s dive into the biographies of three people who refused to accept that status quostatus quostatus quo and changed the world for future generations. Some of them paid the highest price for it.

B)   Rosa Parks

We move back to the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the United States to meet its mother, Rosa Parks. An unknown seamstressseamstressseamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, she became an icon of defiance of systemic racismicon of defiance of systemic racismicon of defiance of systemic racism. How? On 1 December 1955 Rosa Parks was riding home on a crowded bus. The driver, having noticed that there were some white passengers standing in the aisle, demanded that Rosa and a few other black passengers stand up and give their seats up to white passengers. She refused, asking the police officer who was called to come onto the scene why he was pushing her around. He only said that the law was the law and she was arrested. She was also given a finefinefine and court costscourt costscourt costs to pay. She paid neither. Her brave action initiated a boycott ofboycott ofboycott of the municipal bus companymunicipal bus companymunicipal bus company and because African Americans were about 70% of the riders, the company suffered big losses due to their protest. It took a year for the US Supreme Court to declare Montgomery’s segregated bus seating unconstitutionaldeclare Montgomery’s segregated bus seating unconstitutional [declare something unconstitutional]declare Montgomery’s segregated bus seating unconstitutional. Rosa Parks died in 2005.

C)   Martin Luther King, Jr.

King came from a family of Baptist ministersBaptist ministers [Baptist minister]Baptist ministers and himself became one. He wanted to reform the United States society using dialogue and nonviolent interracial activismnonviolent interracial activismnonviolent interracial activism. Martin Luther King was a visionaryvisionaryvisionary who dreamt of seeing black people of America live in peace and enjoy the same rights as all the other citizens of the country. The results of his calls to action were, among others, the Montgomery Bus BoycottMontgomery Bus BoycottMontgomery Bus Boycott or the massive March on Washington. The Civil Rights ActCivil Rights ActCivil Rights Act and the Voting Rights ActVoting Rights ActVoting Rights Act were the landmark legislationlandmark legislationlandmark legislation which were passed as a result of those and many similar initiatives. The former act made discrimination based on race, colour, religion or sex illegal, and the latter outlawedoutlawed [outlaw]outlawed discriminatory voting practices such as literacy testsliteracy tests [literacy test]literacy tests as conditions to be able to vote. For his efforts King was awarded the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinatedwas assassinated [assassinate]was assassinated in 1968. Since 1986 Martin Luther King Jr. Day has been a federal holiday in the US.

D)   Malcolm X

Born Malcolm Little, he changed his name to Malcolm X to emphasise the fact his African ancestral surnameancestral surnameancestral surname was unknown but he consciously rejected the name Little as the one imposed on his family by a white slavemasterslavemasterslavemaster. As a child he experienced violence from the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux KlanKu Klux Klan and discrimination from state institutionsstate institutions [state institution]state institutions. He got involved in crime and ended up serving a sentence for theftserving a sentence for theft [serve a sentence for something]serving a sentence for theft. It was in prison where he came acrosscame across [come across]came across the teachings of the Nation of IslamNation of IslamNation of Islam, a black nationalist movement which considered white people the source of evil and the cause of black people’sblack people’s miseryblack people’s miseryblack people’s miserymisery.  Contrary tocontrary toContrary to the passive resistancepassive resistancepassive resistance of Rosa Parks and peaceful teachings of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X encouraged his fellow black Americans to use “any means necessaryany means necessaryany means necessary” to protect themselves against white aggression. He will be remembered as a charismatic speakercharismatic speakercharismatic speaker and a proponent of Black nationalismBlack NationalismBlack nationalism, a belief in black separatism. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1956.

1 Źródło: Anna Posyniak‑Dutka, [na podstawie:] American civil rights movement, https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement [dostęp 4.09.2022], Fourteenth Amendment, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fourteenth-Amendment [dostęp 4.09.2022], Fifteenth Amendment, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fifteenth-Amendment [dostęp 4.09.2022], Rosa Parks, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/rosa-parks [dostęp 4.09.2022], Malcolm X, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/malcolm-x [dostęp 4.09.2022], Martin Luther King Jr., https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/biographical/ [dostęp 4.09.2022], Civil Rights Movement, https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/civil-rights-movement [dostęp 4.09.2022], Freedom Riders, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/freedom-rides [dostęp 4.09.2022], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.