My Soul Is Rested Essay

Words: 1353
Pages: 6

My Soul Is Rested: A Critique of Raines' Work.

The Civil Rights Movement in the Deep South is one that is well known and familiar to us all. We all know of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the charismatic preacher who was undisputedly the leader of the civil rights movement in the South. We have all also heard of Rosa Parks, the black woman who would not give up her seat in the bus and was thus arrested for it, she was the catalyst that sparked the civil rights movement. They were the famous people often mentioned in the Civil Rights Movement. However, they were not the only people engaged in the Civil Rights Movement, there were many more, and their stories are just as important as that of Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. That reason
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King was also the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Even though the Civil Rights Movement was a long, trying event; and at times downright bloody, King always emphasised the fact that the protest was rooted in Christian principles. Being the president of the SCLC, King never condoned violence, and that the black protestors were to not use violence themselves, even when faced with violence. John Lewis & Albert Bigelow was entering a white waiting room in South Carolina, but "they clubbed him, beat him and knocked him down … and he didn't hit back at all" (111) showing a true testament as followers of King's preaching. Gaining ground for the Civil Rights Movement was not easy. As expected, there was opposition from various sides. May 14, 1961, a white mob burns a Freedom Rider bus outside Anniston, Alabama. Freedom Riders aboard a second bus are also severely beaten by Klansmen in Birmingham (14). Not only is there opposition from the white supremacist group the KKK, but there is also resistance by some of the general white populace. One doesn't have to be a member of a white supremacist group in order to protest the advancement of the blacks it seems. From the lower ends of the human race to the higher ends of the community, opposition comes in the shape of Alabama Governor George Wallace. On June 11, 1963, Governor George Wallace stages his "Stand in the School-house Door" that tries unsuccessfully to block integration of the