When I think about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the first person that comes to mind is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s has been limited to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. I don’t think that this limitation has anything to do with information not being documented, but for the fact that society tends to place an individual, particularly a male, upon a platform and focus upon that one person as being the significant leader of the cause. I do not necessarily disagree with this approach, but unfortunately, many people become excluded and unrecognized for their contributions for the same cause. Just as many have the conception that the Civil Rights Movement in itself began in the 1960s. On the contrary, that was far from the beginning of the fight for freedom by African Americans. The fight for freedom and equality began when the first slaves were shipped to this country, there was always a will to be free and a struggle to obtain that freedom.
However, the women in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, who were not only contributors, but supported, worked extremely hard, and dedicated their lives in the fight for equal rights in this country. Without the women that were involved in Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King would not have been able to accomplish as much as he did. Movement can tell us a lot about the lives of ordinary and extraordinary women and their ability to access and be denied power in a movement for black liberation that was based on the idea of equality.
