Non-Violent Strategy

Paper Summary:

With his strategy of non-violent direct action, Martin Luther King defined and shaped the civil rights movement?s effort to transform the racist oppression of American society. The paper shows that, manifested in different versions such as the lunch counter sit-ins, bus boycotts and peaceful protests, the non-violent strategy relied upon the massive mobilization of resources and the commitment of African American communities to stand united behind their fight for desegregation and the right to vote. More significantly, the paper shows that the strategy of non-violent direct action exposed the ugliness and brutality of racial oppression and demonstrated convincingly that peaceful forms of protests could be effective in eroding away the power of oppressive authorities. The paper argues that against the backdrop of rising resentment of African Americans who turned to militant groups to vent their frustration, King?s strategy of non-violent direct action distinguished the civil rights movement from the violence of the African American militants.

From the Paper:

"The African Americans who had set the precedent for the civil rights movement in the past had also indirectly contributed to King's civil rights strategy of non-violent protests. Although the Poor People's Campaign of 1968 was based on the principles of non-violent direct action, it was inspired by A. Philip Randolph's original March on Washington movement of 1941, which addressed the exclusion of African Americans from defense employment (Ling 19). Therefore, the past tradition of African American protest was also important in defining King's civil rights strategy."

More papers on Non-Violent Strategy:

• Essay # 61282 : "Non-Violent Social Movements"
• Analytical Essay # 141790 : "Non-Violence as the Hallmark of the Civil Rights Movement"
• Analytical Essay # 10951 : "The Philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."

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