Collective Action for Social Movements Assignment

Collective Action for Social Movements - Assignment Example Although the African-American struggle for civil rights became apparent in the 1950s and 1960s when the most dramatic progress in the battle for equality and justice was made the struggle had been on-going for decades. This struggle would be traced in the actions of people like Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), an African-American journalist, editor of Memphis Free Speech, who became a brave crusader against lynching. In 1895, Ida wrote â€Å"The Red Record† which recorded the number of Africans lynched over a three-year period (Jones, 2011). In her own way, Wells and others who shared her ideas demonstrated resilience in fighting injustice. Other individuals in the early days included Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), an African American a former slave; he had made an eloquent appeal for the African-American struggle (Jones, 2011). In retro respect, before the mostly proclaimed heroes of the African-American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s there had been other preceding active participants. These prepared ground for future efforts and helped demonstrate the depth of injustice against the African-Americans. In the 1950s and 1960s the civil rights movement took a more pro-active approach and benefited from more informed and aggressive activist who were able to mobilize the African-Americans and to some extent some whites. These individuals included Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X. Even though they provided leadership they could not singlehandedly stem discriminative practices existent at the time. Fortunately, they realized this and focused on ensuring collective effort (Ling, 1998). The primary means of agitation was not through boycotts or public demonstration at lunch counters but through discursive methods. Activists largely utilized the black press to create discursive realm of political action. African Americans were able to develop political capacity and formed