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The Civil Rights Movement of 1964 from a Psychological and Sociological Perspective

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The African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s focused on attaining the most basic rights for African Americans. This Movement focused on the fundamental issues that for White Americans were a basic right. They were freedom, respect, dignity, and economic and social equality. This was a movement of ordinary people who made the difficult decision to stand up for what they believe in. They did this knowing that there would be a price to pay, whether it be being jailed, assaulted, or in some cases even killed. The sociological and psychological motivation behind this Movement, and what drove ordinary people to stand up for what they believed in, and accomplish extraordinary achievements for African-American Civil Rights is that …show more content…

Following the lead of their charismatic leader, Malcolm X, they would do just that. The down side to this is that their ideologies were those of again segregating African-Americans from the White Americans, and this would serve to confuse the message that African-Americans were trying to propose to the nation to become one.
It was charismatic leaders like Martin Luther King that offered the most visionary answer to this cause (Farber, 1994). He believed that society could be made whole, and chose the message of the power of love and suffering. He believed that every person no matter what their race, gender, or creed was a child of God. King became a member of the power elite, and taking inspiration from Gandhi delivered his message through nonviolent resistance (Farber, 1994).
On August 28, 1963, 250,000 people were gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Farber, 1994). This group of people was comprised of whites and blacks, and the key speaker and most integral part of this march was none other than Dr. Martin Luther King. His charisma and ideologies of unifying the nation where no one is judged by the color of their skin brought together the nation to watch his most profound speech, the “I have a dream” speech. By assembling such a large group of people, and organizing such a large rally King was finally able to receive the audience he deserved, the nation. King’s speech

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