The Fight for Racial Equality
Religious Studies: KS3, topic 3.4.7
The Fight for Racial Equality
Despite the work done by Wilberforce and others, racism and slavery continued.
Racism in the United States
- Slavery and racism formed a major part of life in the Southern United States.
- Slavery was only abolished following the American Civil War.
- However, the end of slavery in the US did not end racism.
- The Black population continued to face a lot of discrimination, including:
- Segregation.
- Being denied the vote.
- Subjected to fatal violence.
- Until the 1960s, in some States segregated housing was enforced by law.
The Civil Rights Movement
- It wasn't until 1971 that laws were enforced in order to end segregated education.
- Gradually other laws and changes came about, mainly due to the work of the American Civil Rights Movement.
- Two men who led the movement for change were Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Martin Luther King Jr.
- Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist Minister.
- King encouraged the Black community in the US to use non-violence and civil disobedience to bring about change.
- King led a boycott of buses in Montgomery, Alabama, led to a change in the law that banned segregation on buses.
- King was famous for his preaching.
- King's 'I have a dream' speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington spoke of this vision for an America free of racial and religious division.
- King was assassinated in 1968.
Malcolm X
- Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim.
- Malcolm X advocated more direct action and criticised non-violent campaigns.
- Malcolm X said that if the political route to ending racism failed, people may need to take up arms.
Malcolm X (cont.)
- Malcolm X saw a way of promoting equality through Islam.
- On a pilgrimage to Mecca Malcolm X saw Muslims ‘from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans’.
- Malcolm X went to England and warned the Black community in Birmingham that racism was a threat to their lives.
- Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965.
The Fight for Racial Equality (cont.)
Racism across the globe
- Martin Luther King and Malcolm X both remind us that racism has been, and still is present in societies all over the world.
- In the middle of the 20th Century in Europe, the Holocaust led to the mass killing of European Jews as a result of racist beliefs.
- For most of the 20th Century South Africa practised apartheid: a separation of Black and white races.
- This led to great poverty and oppression within the majority Black community.
George Floyd
- More recently, the killing of George Floyd (1973 - 2020) in Minneapolis, US, was a reminder that racism is still present.
- Floyd, an African American, died at the hands of a police officer who knelt on his neck for over nine minutes.
George Floyd (cont.)
- Many African Americans die each year at the hands of the police and vigilantes, yet often no one is prosecuted.
- Floyd's death led to the campaign known as the Black Lives Matter movement.
- The Black Lives Matter movement promotes racial equality, and asks for justice from the legal system.
Test yourself on The Fight for Racial Equality
After which war was slavery abolished in the United States?
When was segregated education legally ended in the USA?
What was the response to the death of George Floyd?