Johann N. Neem: MLK built on American tradition of organization and protest
[Johann N. Neem is associate professor of history at Western Washington University in Bellingham. He is author of "Creating a Nation of Joiners: Democracy and Civil Society in Early National Massachusetts" (Harvard University Press, 2008).]
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of other Americans from all backgrounds took to the streets to advocate equal treatment for all Americans. The civil-rights movement was organized from the grass roots. Voluntary groups — from African-American fraternal clubs and churches to student associations on college campuses — mobilized ordinary citizens to demonstrate and to march peacefully for change.
The streets echoed in the halls of government. Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson both felt the heat, and they responded to it. In a famous moment, Johnson stood before Congress in 1965 and, invoking the language of the streets outside, promised his fellow Americans that "we shall overcome."
The 1960s civil-rights movement demonstrates the power of citizens in civil society — the realm of action outside the privacy of the home but independent of the official public institutions of the state. But we often forget that the civil-rights movement built on earlier struggles by Americans following the Revolution....
Like African Americans in the 20th century, Americans after the Revolution took to the streets. They advocated causes that political leaders wished to avoid, from temperance, peace and female suffrage to, most controversially, the abolition of slavery. They believed democratic citizens should appeal directly to their fellow citizens....
As we celebrate the Rev. King and the other Americans who participated in the civil-rights movement, it is worth remembering they too had to defend their right to organize and to speak in the face of intense, often violent resistance. Let us thank King for reminding us of how important a free civil society is to citizens in a democracy, and let us take this moment to remember our own past in order to sympathize with ongoing struggles around the world today.
Read entire article at Seattle Times
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of other Americans from all backgrounds took to the streets to advocate equal treatment for all Americans. The civil-rights movement was organized from the grass roots. Voluntary groups — from African-American fraternal clubs and churches to student associations on college campuses — mobilized ordinary citizens to demonstrate and to march peacefully for change.
The streets echoed in the halls of government. Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson both felt the heat, and they responded to it. In a famous moment, Johnson stood before Congress in 1965 and, invoking the language of the streets outside, promised his fellow Americans that "we shall overcome."
The 1960s civil-rights movement demonstrates the power of citizens in civil society — the realm of action outside the privacy of the home but independent of the official public institutions of the state. But we often forget that the civil-rights movement built on earlier struggles by Americans following the Revolution....
Like African Americans in the 20th century, Americans after the Revolution took to the streets. They advocated causes that political leaders wished to avoid, from temperance, peace and female suffrage to, most controversially, the abolition of slavery. They believed democratic citizens should appeal directly to their fellow citizens....
As we celebrate the Rev. King and the other Americans who participated in the civil-rights movement, it is worth remembering they too had to defend their right to organize and to speak in the face of intense, often violent resistance. Let us thank King for reminding us of how important a free civil society is to citizens in a democracy, and let us take this moment to remember our own past in order to sympathize with ongoing struggles around the world today.