Change does not come easily; often it is accompanied by strong effort and a constant fight for rights. Stigmas, prejudice, and ignorance are difficult things to change. Usually it does not happen with just force, but instead with education, support, and “protest”. In _Perspectives on Justice_ by Doris Provine (2010) change is described as, “[. . .] a complex process because it involves both institutional readjustments and changes in prevailing thinking about social issues” (p. 284). This expresses how there is not just one step in change, but many; making the progression multifaceted, and often lengthy.
The Women’s Movement began in July 13, 1848. The online site “Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement 1848 – 1998” by Bonnie Eisenberg (1998) describes the movement beginning at a “tea party” with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This movement was an attempt to help women have more of a part in society. The tea party planned out a convention and followed through; which began the movement that is now known today. Other women that played a large role in the movement were Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony. These women traveled around speaking and establishing the movement for 40 years, and even eventually secured the right to vote. The article “The Women’s Liberation Movement: Its Origins, Structures and Ideas” by Jo Freeman (1971) describes how feminism ended ahead of its time. Though the right to vote was accomplished, there was still more to be fought for.
The civil rights movement ran from 1954 all the way to 1963. The movement began in order to end segregation and the lack of human rights for African Americans. In “The Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1963” by Dennis Simon (2002) Chief Justice Earl Warren is the judge who is said to publicize the judgment on Brown vs. Board of Education. The result was that “the system of segregated public schools in the United States was unconstitutional” (Simon). Rosa Parks was a large influence on the civil rights movement when she got onto a public bus on December 1, 1955. Parks was arrested because she would not leave a seat in the white section of the bus. Martin Luther King Jr. was the main person behind the bus boycott (Simon). This boycott went on until 1956, until bus segregation was also judged by the Supreme Court as against the US Constitution. The fight continued with the integration of Central High School in Arkansas, “the freedom riders” (who would sit-in at “black only” and “white only” segregated places in 1961), project “C” was what was referred to as MLKJ and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (continuing the fight of desegregation), and June 11, 1963 John F. Kennedy and the bill to congress (The Civil Rights Act of 1964) (Simon). The civil rights fight continued as many leaders were assassinated including Medgar Evars, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. “The Civil Rights Era” by African American Odyssey described the civil rights movement as, “[r]esistance to racial segregation and discrimination with strategies such as civil disobedience, nonviolent resistance, marches, protests, boycotts, "freedom rides," and rallies received national attention as newspaper, radio, and television reporters and cameramen documented the struggle to end racial inequality. There were also continuing efforts to legally challenge segregation through the courts.” The civil rights movement is seen as a successful movement ending segregation, and beginning the attempt to a future of US cultural equality.
Both of these movements depended on key players to help the movement continue. The strength and determination of these players were shown by standing up through violence, hatred, and even a risk of death. Both the women’s movement and the civil rights movement fought for equality and the right to vote. They both accomplished the things they set out to accomplish. Yet, the women’s movement still lives on. Women often still fight for the right to equal pay and equality in the work place. Both of these movements prove that policy is in fact the motivating factor in social change. With the civil rights movement it was Plessy v. Ferguson the “separate but equal” policy that created a demand for change. It was then that “Brown v. Board of Education” played a huge role in beginning the Civil rights fight. In the Women’s movement both the policy disallowing women to vote and the lack of equal treatment that encouraged Elizabeth Cady Stanton to discuss her discourse among her friends at the tea party. It was this discourse that began the movement and change in the 19th century. In the article “The Policy Connection: How Movements Matter” by David S. Meyer the relation between social movement and public policy is described, “[w]e’ve seen how social movements are the product of public policy and how they sometimes can change public policy” (Provine, p. 301).
As we see from the past, both laws and social change are important to the social construction of justice. In the article “Struggle for Freedom: Disability Rights Movements” by Willie V. Bryan we are taught that policy alone does not always construct justice. Bryan describes how legislation before the “Rehabilitation Act of 1973” was made without contribution of those who were actually disabled, causing more of a limitation to them. Often this ignorant attitudes of the disabled lacking the capacity to express their needs, in return held those disabled down more. In the end, society needs to be educated and change needs to be employed. With laws and social change, justice is truly assembled. The laws that have influenced me and my perspectives of justice are the many policies against homosexual marriages in the United States. I feel for people who are not treated like humans, but instead treated like they are second class citizens. I would hope that we have learned from our past oppression, but instead I am saddened that people have to continue to fight for equal rights in the United State. Therefore, the LGBT movement is the movement that tells me that complete justice in the US is not truly existent. We still have a long way to go in order to not only change laws, but also create complete social change.
REFERENCES
Eisenberg, B, & Ruthsdotter, M. (1998). Living the legacy: the women's rights movement 1848 - 1998. Retrieved from http://www.legacy98.org/move-hist.html
Freeman, J. (1971). The women's liberation movement: its origins, structures and ideas. Retrieved from http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/wlm/womlib/
Provine, D, Chapple, R, Gray, K, Sefiha, O, & Walker, M. (2010). Perspectives on justice. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
Odyssey, A. (n.d.). The civil rights era. Retrieved from http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart9.html
Simon, D. (2002). The civil rights movement, 1954-1963 . Retrieved from http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/change-civ%20rts.html
IMAGE REFERENCES
Chenoweth, J. (Designer). (2011). A reflection on the day. [Web]. Retrieved from http://doylemarketing.com/2011/01/17/a-reflection-on-the-day/
Hudson, B. (Photographer). (1963). Civil rights movement: civil rights demonstrator attacked by a police dog. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/61024/Civil-rights-demonstrator-attacked-by-a-police-dog-on-May
Jane. (designer). 7, okay 8 quotes for women’s history month, part one. (2009). [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.sevenof.com/?p=1288
Peacemaker. (Designer). Women’s rights….then and now (come on we want them). [Web]. Retrieved from http://peacemakervoices.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/womens-rights-then-and-now-come-on-we-want-them/
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