Civil rights community activism paper

The source article was written by Michael P. Johnson and is entitled “Chicago Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. This was a leaflet from during the height of the civil rights movement. When reviewing the source, the intended audience is primarily the African American community. Here, the document is an attempt to inspire, empower, and galvanize the black community. By doing so, the aim is establishing an economic and politically powerful coalition in order to enact politics that provide equality opportunity for all. This article is unique in that it is very clear in what it wants the community to do. The very first line in the document notes that, “ The black man in America is in a perpetual state of slavery no matter what the white man’s propaganda tells us.” This alludes to the need to address political, economic, and financial slavery that tends to heavily impact the black community.

This document is particularly relevant to the primary sources of “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,” and “Rosa Parks on Life in Montgomery, Alabama.” Here the “We want Black Power Leaflet” was written roughly a decade after the two events mentioned above. Here, the leaflet is a culmination of the life and experience of the black community in society in written. The leaflet is more of an action plan designed to communicate the need for economic and financial freedom. It also stresses the need for the black community to stick together in a much more unified manner to combat many of the issues they were facing at the time of the leaflets writing

During this period, the black community was united as it relates to the overall goals of the civil rights movement, but many were not connected on a policy level. In fact, many policy ideas by separate factions in the civil rights movement conflicted with each. Some such as Dr. Claud Anderson advocate a complete separation of black communities from the white counterparts. Here, African American should have a fully owned city or establishment. Here, African American’s would primarily own all the land, own a majority of the businesses, and have a direct ability to help contribute to the wealth creation of the black community. Other civil rights leaders advocated for more of an integrated approach to allow African Americans to learn and growth through various cultural experiences. These policies conflict somewhat but advocated for many of the elements found with the “We Want Black Power Leaflet.”