Civil Rights Movement And The American Revolution

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An ideal society is often characterized by social order maintained through the imposition of laws and regulations thought to be based on a distinction between right and wrong. But what happens when “right” and “wrong” do not mean the same thing to everyone? Since the inception of our country, there have been many systems of order that have proved not to guarantee justice, and most importantly, freedom for all of its citizens. Through movements, protests, and increased awareness, these systems have been changed or removed completely to get to where we are now. These reforms all have one thing in common: they started with disobedience. Historic examples like the beginning of the American Revolution, and the Civil Rights movement prove philosopher …show more content…
This tension came to a head in the 1770s, when England established the infamous Stamp and Tea Acts on American colonies. American patriots grew outraged and demonstrated their contempt toward these regulations by directly defying them. The Boston Tea Party, where colonists threw tea into the Boston Harbor to protest taxation, and The Boston Massacre, where British soldiers killed five colonists in a confrontation, laid the groundwork for the American Revolution, which later gave us the Declaration of Independence, the final step towards freedom for the United States. By refusing to comply with the policies imposed by England that silenced them and oppressed them, Americans set an example for future revolutions, showing the world that defiance is instrumental in the fight for freedom. These early acts of rebellion and defiance clearly show that to be liberated, one must go against what is established. Although our country was considered free after its independence, this wasn’t the reality for all of its …show more content…
Rosa Parks, one of the most prominent figures of the movement, made waves when she defiantly refused to adhere to the oppressive laws of racist America by sitting on a bus seat prohibited to Black Americans. Disobedience became a pattern in the fight for black freedom, as it was also seen in the Greensboro Sit-Ins, where young black students similarly protested segregation in public settings by sitting in areas that were prohibited to them and refusing to leave when authorities tried to enforce oppressive laws. As the country witnessed this rebellion, it became clear that full liberation of African Americans was on the horizon. The Civil Rights movement once again demonstrated that disobedience is essential in the fight for true freedom. Although fictional, the TV show adaptation of Margret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a dystopian American society where women are oppressed by being held as handmaids who are forced to conceive and bear children for high-ranking members of the social class. The show follows the main protagonist, June Osborn, and her struggle to gain freedom from the cruelties of the new nation of
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