Disobedience In The Civil Rights Movement

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“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it,” (Howard Zinn). In a democracy, people are allowed to protest their opinions to potentially make a change. America is known as the “land of the free,” meaning freedom for all who reside there. Certain laws can be combated to enforce this title, or may infringe upon it. There are multiple examples of civil disobedience that contain mixed outcomes for protesters. These include the Boston Tea Party, the fights that produced amendments I and IV, and the Civil Rights Movement. One of the most well known acts of disobedience by Americans took place in 1773 when merchants sold smuggled Dutch tea as the British East India Company established a monopoly on tea in America (UShistory.org). Americans refused to …show more content…
In “Jim Crow”). According to PBS, this principle was put into place after Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. In response to these laws, African Americans protested through sit-ins. This form of disobedience became greatly popular during the 1960s where they demanded rights to voting, schooling, healthcare, jobs and reformation (Janken). Rosa Parks and MLK were notorious leaders in this movement. These protests had a positive effect, as segregation has since been destroyed. The fight for African American rights against unjust laws made a great impact to their freedom in society.
The Civil Rights Movement, establishment of religious, press and privacy freedoms, and the Boston Tea Party reflect the great impact that civil disobedience has on a free society. An ongoing pattern between these events was a negative impact on the individuals who made a difference, or heavy costs. However, the final results caused crucial changes that bettered our country. Protesting has taken place throughout history, mostly resulting in change that had been longed
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