Effective black leaders Flashcards
Topic sentence
Historians argue that another reason for the development of the civil rights movement was effective black leaders.
Evidence 1
Leaders such as Malcom X emerged in the 1950s. Malcom X was one of the first civil rights activists to highlight the problems of crime and unemployment in the ghettos in American cities.
Analysis 1
This led to the growth of the civil rights movement because he gained a huge following from young Northern African Americans who were frustrated about the lack of progress in breaking down de facto segregation.
Evidence 2
Furthermore, the Black panthers were a party who attracted attention towards the civil rights movement. They were founded by Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale and were notorious for resembling a militia group as they wore black berets, black glasses and combat clothing.
Analysis 2
This led to the growth of the civil rights movement because the Black panthers drew attention to and made healing news about the movement. They were also credited with helping the community groups and deprived children in ghettos by fundraising for breakfast clubs.
Counter analysis
However the Black Panthers membership started to decrease in the 1970s which meant that their impact on the civil rights movement had started to become limited.
Evaluation
To evaluate, it is clear that effective black leaders were significant in the development of the civil rights movement as they managed to gain large attention to the problems faced by black Americans and they also where popular amongst black people. This is evidenced through Stokely Carmichael and ‘Black Power’ as many young black Americans living in the ghettos were attracted to his more extreme ideas and violent tactics. However, effective black leaders wouldn’t have had to emerge if it wasn’t for the continuation of discrimination and prejudice as this meant that Black Americans still had to fight for their civil rights.
