W. Du Bois was the most influential and successful civil rights leader
Socially
NAACP
Crisis – exposing levels of lynchings
However not so influential socially
Whilst he had exposed the levels of lynching’s that was occurring, he achieved very
little in concluding this common practice and was unable to influence any federal law
to prevent or limit their occurrence.
Indeed the following years had only saw heightened violence against AAs as seen in
the race riots in Chicago in 1919 in what became known as the ‘Red Summer’.
Additionally, whilst the NAACP had proved extremely influential in combatting
segregation, this was only really in the 1950s whilst Du Bois had actually resigned
from leadership in 1934 having fallen out over policies of segregation since he had
actually felt that the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine was an acceptable position for
AAs.
Socially Perhaps other leaders were better
he was replaced by Walter White who had overseen much of the progresses made in
the 1950s and so perhaps White as well as the main lawyer of this period Thurgood
Marshall should be credited as the most important and influential leaders in the
advancement of AA social rights, fighting segregation and discrimination
The NAACP and Marshall undeniably proved absolutely essential to the civil rights
movement of the 1950s and 60s having won major victoried to combat segregation,
namely Brown Vs Board of education 1954 that desegregated schools.
However, the NAACP was only able to fight in the courts and many of its key rulings
did have limitations in that they were not always enforced,
significant SCOTUS rulings on segregation that were won by the NAACP such as
Browder Vs Gayle, Boynton Vs Virgina and Brown v Board of education had proved
all limited.
This was seen by the inability to enforce school segregation evidenced by the Little
Rock 9 case as well as an inability to enforce bus desegregation evidenced by the
violence that had been met at the Freedom rides in 1961.
Therefore, perhaps there were other leaders during this period, that were able to
make tangible social change on a congressional level, namely MLK.
It is undeniable that MLK was pivotal in fighting segregation through his many
marches such as Birmingham and the March on Washington in 1963 and his ability to
galvanise so much support amongst the white folk – a skill that no later leader was
able to replicate.
King had undeniably advanced AA social rights through establishing such a large
support base via his non-violent activism, providing him with copious amounts of
influence on President Johnson pushing him into signing the Civil rights Act 1964 that
outlawed all discrimination and desegregation as imposed by the Jim Crow polices
and Plessy Vs Ferguson 1896.
Therefore, Martin Luther King through his ability to generate so much support for
the AA civil rights cause and ability to influence LBJ into signing such major
Socially
NAACP
Crisis – exposing levels of lynchings
However not so influential socially
Whilst he had exposed the levels of lynching’s that was occurring, he achieved very
little in concluding this common practice and was unable to influence any federal law
to prevent or limit their occurrence.
Indeed the following years had only saw heightened violence against AAs as seen in
the race riots in Chicago in 1919 in what became known as the ‘Red Summer’.
Additionally, whilst the NAACP had proved extremely influential in combatting
segregation, this was only really in the 1950s whilst Du Bois had actually resigned
from leadership in 1934 having fallen out over policies of segregation since he had
actually felt that the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine was an acceptable position for
AAs.
Socially Perhaps other leaders were better
he was replaced by Walter White who had overseen much of the progresses made in
the 1950s and so perhaps White as well as the main lawyer of this period Thurgood
Marshall should be credited as the most important and influential leaders in the
advancement of AA social rights, fighting segregation and discrimination
The NAACP and Marshall undeniably proved absolutely essential to the civil rights
movement of the 1950s and 60s having won major victoried to combat segregation,
namely Brown Vs Board of education 1954 that desegregated schools.
However, the NAACP was only able to fight in the courts and many of its key rulings
did have limitations in that they were not always enforced,
significant SCOTUS rulings on segregation that were won by the NAACP such as
Browder Vs Gayle, Boynton Vs Virgina and Brown v Board of education had proved
all limited.
This was seen by the inability to enforce school segregation evidenced by the Little
Rock 9 case as well as an inability to enforce bus desegregation evidenced by the
violence that had been met at the Freedom rides in 1961.
Therefore, perhaps there were other leaders during this period, that were able to
make tangible social change on a congressional level, namely MLK.
It is undeniable that MLK was pivotal in fighting segregation through his many
marches such as Birmingham and the March on Washington in 1963 and his ability to
galvanise so much support amongst the white folk – a skill that no later leader was
able to replicate.
King had undeniably advanced AA social rights through establishing such a large
support base via his non-violent activism, providing him with copious amounts of
influence on President Johnson pushing him into signing the Civil rights Act 1964 that
outlawed all discrimination and desegregation as imposed by the Jim Crow polices
and Plessy Vs Ferguson 1896.
Therefore, Martin Luther King through his ability to generate so much support for
the AA civil rights cause and ability to influence LBJ into signing such major
