The politics of protest: an analysis of the civil rights movement in the United States

Abstract

This thesis examines the civil rights movement from its inception in 1955, with the Montgomery bus boycott, to its decline at the end of the 1960's. It offers an explanation of the upsurge in black political activity and the adoption, and subsequent abandonment of some blacks, of the nonviolent tactic. Investigation of the background of black politics illustrates the development of protest from early supplication to the strident demands of Black Power. It assesses the successes and failures of the campaigns by focusing on black leaders and their interrelationships, as well as indicating the diversity and heterogeneous nature of the movement. Special attention is paid to the reaction of the government to black activism and to the forces that contributed to the passage of legislation, which attempted to solve particularly black problems. The white reaction to black successes, and the part it played in curtailing further advances, is also taken into account. The conclusion attempts to dispel certain popular misconceptions about the movement and an analysis is put forward of the progress made by blacks and of the reasons why they failed to consolidate their success in the 1970's.