11th Class- Essay of Martin Luther King

Essay: Evaluate the contribution of either Dr. Marthin Luther King or Malcom X to the Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King was a well- known civil rights leader and activist who had a great influence on American society in the 1950s and 1960s. He did many things to bring US society: equality, and to ensure civil rights for all people who received bad treatements because of race. King believed that African Americans could make protests peacefully, and in this way, he began to adopt some methods, such as speeches, boycotts, protests, and marches. The major contributions of Martin Luther King were, his style of leadership to the African American civil rights movement, the emphasize in the importance of non- violent protests, and to bring publicity to major civil rights activities and efforts.

Martin Luther King was present in almost all civil rights movements. After the incident of Montgomery, King led a boycott against city buses that refused to let blacks sit in the front seats of the bus. This boycott resulted successfull as rules of the bus system changed. In addition to this, he participated in the Washington Peace March on August 1963, were aproximately 250 000 people including whites marched to demand civil rights; is in this march that Martin Luther King made his famous speech called ‘I Have a Dream’ in which he persuades many Americans that they were unjusts with blacks and as a result ciitizens began to put pressure to the president Kennedy. However there was also some opposition to King, people who stated that he wasn’t contributing to this problem at all. Many in the north of USA saw Martin as irrelevant, they said he had focussed in segregation, but problems in the north are others, as poverty in the slums.

African- American Civil Rights Movement lasted from around 1955 to 1968. In order to continue with protests, many Americans including Martin, joined to the Black Power Movement. The intentions of this movement were various. For example, blacks demanded that they should take more responsability, power and control in their own communities; or that the government should pay more attention to social and economic issues, rather than political problems. Despite Martin Luther King was participating of this movement trying to convince US government of some reforms, still many blacks felt that the pace of change was too slow.

On the other hand, many Americans also get frustrated because of the non- violent campaigns proposed by Martin. They felt it was humiliating black people and wasn’t bringing change fast enough. However, to my mind, it was necessary to continue with this kind of protests, because instead it could be generated a major problem, which could involve inocent people. King’s non- violent protests on civil rights were able to make genuine headway in American society.

Although there were some disagreements of American citizens with Martin Luther King thoughts, his leadership led to a successfull civil rights movement that finally achived it’s main goal: equal of rights for all US population. As a demonstration of King’s effort and what he represented during this period of time, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors. 

10th Class- First Civil Rights Movements

Effects of Little Rock Nine

It demonstrated that the President would not tolerate open defiance of the law. However, most southern states found ways to resist desegregation and it would take years before black begin with the protests.

White Citizens Councils were quickly formed throughout the South to defend segregation. By 1956, they boasted around a quarter of a million members.The councils challenged desegregation plans in the law courts and Southern politicians, all of whom were White, were supportive. The Ku Klux Klam was revitalized once more.

Rosa Parks, Bus Boycott

December 1955- Montgomery Bus Boycott.

A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying or dealing with a person, organization or a country as an expression of protest, usually for social or political reasons.

Rosa Parks sat in the ‘black section’, then the white section was full, and she had to stand up to give her sit to a White guy, however, she refused to stand and she went to jail.

• For over 381 days, Blacks boycotted the buses.
• They carpooled and walked through all weather conditions.
• NAACP began preparing a legal challenge.
• Rise of Mathin Luther King, urged non- violence.
• The boycott lasted a year. In 1956 the Supreme Court ruled the Montgomery bus segregation law was unconstitutional.

Importance of Bus boycott

• Protest shows what people can achieve when united.
• Boycott shows how effective peaceful and non- violent protest can be.
• Police found it difficult to cope with an organised civil rights protest.
• Showed economic power of black community, 60%- 70% of all passengers.
• 1st time the black community had shown it’s economic power (they refused to go to their work).
• It introduced Marthin Luther King to the civil rights movement.

Segregation becomes Integration

1954- Supreme court bans segregation in schools.

1955- Little Rock Schools unaimously agree to integrate by 1957.

Impacts

Civil Rights Act 1957

ü  1st national act for almost 100 years.

ü  Showed the government was not allowing the states to do as they pleased.

ü  There were limitations to the act. (each state should regulate in which way racial groups were going to be treated).

Supreme Court Victory

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference would have a key role in the movements. Its going to be the organization of MLK for the political platform.

Brotherhood in a context of race segregation.

Marthin Luther King

King became the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) when it was founded in 1957.

9th Class- Explanation and Antecedents of Civil Rights Movement

What are Civil Rights?

A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury.

Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, and assembly; the right to vote; freedom from involuntary.

Discrimination is different to Segregation.

How was the Civil Rights Movement times of war?

Long Term Causes

1. #14 Amendment (from American Constutitution): negros were worth 3/5 of a White.
2.  Jim crowe laws (slavery conditions  established De Jure Segregation). Slavery conditions in the South to grant cheap labor.
3. In the context of the Great Depression: NAACP--- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, created by the New Deal.
4. UNIA--- Universal Negro Improvement Association.

Short Term Causes

1. The situation of the forces in the context of the Second World War.
2. The situation of women.
3. Situation of Japanese Americans.

Civil Rights for Women?

Women and the workplace: “Rosie the Riveter” was nickname given during WWII to American who did industrial work in the 1940s.

Antecedents of the Civil Rights Movements

1941--- A. Clayton bus boycott in Harlem.

1941--- P. Randolph standstill (quedarse parado como forma de reclamo) in one industry in D.C.

1942--- J. Farmer sit- in in Chicago.

1943--- Bus driver and black soldier (Montgomery Bus Boycott): Results, 24 people end in jail.

Little Rock High School, 1957

Youth were very representative during this period of time 1950s 1960s.

Revolution and boycotts protesting civil rights were made by young people.

8th Class- Fluctuating Relations (1954- 1968)

Aftermath of the Korean War 

• The Korean War caused the globalization of the Cold War. Now USA and the USSR were involved in conflicts around Europe and Asia.
• The war also led to militarization.
• Nuclear threats replaced old military tactics.

USA policy of Containment

• Case 1--- Korea (1953)
• Case 2--- Japan: it was a vital strategic area.
• Case 3---Taiwan: Key territory in the American policy of containment in Asia. It became important during the Korean War.
• Case 4--- Vietnam: North Vietnanese Communist were not contained.   

Eisenhower (1953)

America: Roll- back

• New look: National Security Policy, reflected Eisenhower's concern for balancing the Cold War military commitments of the US with the nation's financial resources.
• The policy emphazised reliance on strategic nuclear weapons to deter potential threats, both conventional and nuclear.

Khrushchev Thaw

• It refers to Khrushchev's policies of de- Stalinization and peaceful coexistence with other nations.
• Peaceful coexistence: this was in contrast to the antagonist contradiction principle that communism and capitalism could never coexist in peace.

On June 16, 1953, workers in East Berlin rose in protest against government demands to increase productivity. Within days, nearly a million east Germans joined the protests and began rioting across hundreds of east Geman cities and towns. The reaction was oppression.

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization [SEATO] (1954)

• In September of 1954, the US, Great Britain, France, New Zeland,between others, signed a treaty.
• It was a military alliance to prevent communism from gaining ground in the region. Only contained two southeast asian countries.

Warsaw Pact (1955)

• The treaty of friendship, co- operation, and mutual assistance was a collective defense treaty among eight communists of Eastern and Western Europe.

The Baghdad Pact (1955) and the Central Treaty Organization [CENTO]

• The Baghdad Pact was a defensive organization for promoting shared political, military, and economic goals by Turkey, Iraq, Great Britain, Pakistan and Iran. It's main purpose was to prevent communist incursions and foster peace in the Middle East. 

7th Class- Phases of the Korean War and the Armstice

Phase 1: Invasion of the North to the South

Escalation (August- September 1950)

   It started with the battle of Pusan Perimeter.

     

      The U.S. Army withstood KPA attacks meant to capture other cities.

    

      The United States Air Force (USAF) destroyed 32 bridges, halting most daytime road and rail traffic.

Phase 2: The US and US intervention to support South Korea.

Battle of Inchon (September 1950)

    To relieve the Pusan Perimeter, General McArthur recommended, an amphibious landing at Inchon.

   Truman told McArthur to fight around the 38th parallel. He said, despite they wanted to contain communism he didn’t want to get in problems and just recover South Korean territory. However, McArthur didn’t obey and invaded North Korea until arriving to China.

China intervenes (October- December 1950).

   Mao, leader of China, warned that if any country of the UN enters to his country he woulld respond militarily.

Phase 3: China response and the stalemate in the 38th parallel

Fighting around the 38th parallel (January- June 1951) - Stalemate

   Both the North and the South wanted to maintain the fight in the 38, as they know that if they invaded more there were going to be serious consequences.

Armistice (July 1953- November 1954)

    This determined the end of the stalemate.

 The war could end by using force (denied by the UN) or by signing the Armstice.

 In 1952 the US elected a new president: Dwight D. Eisenhower. And on 29 November 1952 he went to Korea to learn what might end the Korean War. As a result the Armstice was signed.

Stalin died---- March 1953--- New President Nikita Krushev.

6th Class- 2 Essays Reason of US economic assistance and Korean War

1.  To what extent economic assistance of the United States in the world has serve the purpose of containing communism? (Exemplify with one Latin American case between years 1946 – 1953.

With the creation of the Marshall Plan in June 1947, American Secretary of State George Marshall launched his European Recovery Program (ERP), which offered economic and financial support to any country in Europe who needed. George declared: “Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos”. Thus, it was assumed that the plan main goal was to recover Europe economically, in order to ensure markets for American exports. However, it’s principal aim was political, Truman didn’t want communism to spread through western Europe. Communism was less likely to gain control in a prosperous western Europe.

Based on the Truman doctrine, the United States established a policy of containment, to stop Soviet expansion during the Cold War. This policy influenced relations between the United States and it’s hemispheric neighbors. Stability, not democracy became a goal in the fight against communism.

2.  Explain which were the three stages of the Korean War and analyze the reason for the participation of Canada and Colombia in the war.

The three main stages of the Korean War 1950- 1953 were, first the North Korean invasion of South Korea, secondly, the US and UN intervention to push North Korean troops all the way back to the Chinese border, lastly, China pushed the US and UN back to the south and both sides reached an stalemate. This events, lasted from June 25, 1950 until July 27 1953 and the result was the permanence of the division at the 38th parallel.

The first stage of the Korean war is the North Korean attack to South Korea,North Korean forces, supported by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. Thus, the United Nations Security Council recognized this North Korean act as invasion and called for an immediate ceasefire. By September 14 1950 North Korea had covered almost all South Korean territory. However, the UN, led by the United States was going to intervine in the conflict sending their troops from Japan as fast as posible to prevent the defeat of South Korean troops.

On 27 June, the Security Council published the ‘Complaint of aggression upon the Republic of Korea’ and decided the formation and dispatch of the UN Forces in Korea. After three months of battles South Korea was on the point of defeat, their troops were forced back to the Pusan perimeter. However, on 12–14 July, the 1st cavalry division of the UN embarked from Yokohama, Japan to reinforce the 24th infantry division inside the Pusan Perimeter. Finally, on November 25, 1950 South Korea had push North Korean troops to the China border, Yalu. It’s important to say that Canada also contributed in the war effort in favor of South Korea. Louis St. Laurent, canadian prime minister, and his cabinet were determined to support the UN and send aproximately 27 000 soldiers, sailors and aircrew to Korea. Canada was the third largest UN contingent after the United States and the United Kingdom.

As a third stage is considered the North Korean and China response to the brutal and desastrous attacks of the United States and the UN. By November 25, 1950, as mentioned before, North Korea was pushed to the frontier of China, the province of Yalta; seeing this the Chinese and the Soviets launched a series of attacks against the US and the countries of the UN, in order to regain North Korean territory until the 38th parallel, as a way to support communism. Then an stalemate was created in the parallel, in which huge battles, ocurred until July 1953, such as the battle of Bloody Ridge (18 August- 15 September 1951) or the battle of Pork Chop Hill (23 March- 16 July 1953), which was the bloodiest battle of the war. In this last battle countries as Colombia supported in military. Colombia sent roughly 6, 200 soldiers, plus six warships, in a sign of hemispheric solidarity.

The Korean War lasted three years of intense battles, from 1950 to 1953. It can be divided in three stages as stated before: the North Korean attack, intervention of USA, the UN and other several countries as Canada and Colombia who saw involved because of close relations with the UN and to show solidarity, and the North Korean, supported by China and the Soviets, recovery of the desastrous results of US attacks, generating an stalemate in the 38th parallel.  

5th Class- Korean War and Essay

What was the Korean War? (1950-53)

Is in this moment that the Cold War became a global conflict.

In 1945, Korea was freed from the Japanese. US troops stayed in Korea until 1946.

The country was split in half at the 38th parallel:

     • Communist North Korea led by Kim Il Sung.

     • Capitalist South Korea led by Syngman Rhee.

Note----- China became communist in 1949.

Domino Theory

Truman believed that, if one country fell to Communism, then others would follow, like a line of dominoes. He was worried that, if Korea fell, the Communists would capture Japan.

Justification of US intervention in the War

Truman realized the USA was in a competition for world domination with the USSR. By supporting South Korea, America was able to fight Communism without directly attacking Russia.

Kim Il Sung (North Korea) visited Stalin. In 1949, he persuaded Stalin that he could conquer South Korea. Stalin did not think that America would dare to get involved, so he gave his agreement.

Later Kim also went to see Mao Zedong, the leader of China, to get his agreement.

How did the war begin?

Korean War began as a Civil War between North and South Korea, but then became a Limited War when the US and the UN decided to support South Korea while the People’s Republic of China supported North Korea.

Division of Korea in parallel 38

The division between North and South would be a temporary administrative solution.

Elections were planned for 1947 and the reunification of Korea to be achieved by democratic means.

Soviet Union supported young leader Kim Il Sung as president of the People´s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

USA decided to participate in war

1. ‘Domino theory’: Eastern Europe was not the only place where Communists were gaining power. In the Far East China had turned Communist in 1949. He was worried that if Korea fell, the next ‘domino’ would be Japan, which was very important for American trade and military presence in South East Asia.
2. Undermine Communism: Truman believed that capitalism, freedom and the American way of life were in danger of being overrun by Communism. In April 1950 the American National Security Council issued a report recommending that America abandon ‘containment’ and start ‘rolling back’ Communism. This led Truman to commit to driving the Communists out of North Korea.
3. Indirect attacks: Truman realized the USA was in a competition for world domination with the USSR and by supporting South Korea, America was able to fight Communism without directly attacking Russia, and gain support from other countries in Asia and Africa.

     

     Essay: ¿To what extent was justified American incursion in the Korean War?

     The Korean War was a limited war between North Korea, supported by communist China and the USSR, against Korea and the US, who was afraid of communism expansion. Their were a series of reasons of why USA intervined in this conflict. The main reason is that as the Domino Theory stated, if communism expand to Korea then it would continue to spread all around Asia. In addition to this, Truman was convinced by the American National Security Council report, which recommended US president to start ‘rolling back’ communism instead of using his policy of containment.

Since the end of the Second World War, US president, Harry Truman, was concerned of communism expansion all around Europe. Under he’s policy of containment stated in the ‘Truman Doctrine’, USA tried to stop communism. However, USSR was a big influence in Europe and Asia. Despite, US prepared a plan called the ‘Marshall Plan’ as a way to support European countries economically and do not fall into communism. However, all this intentions could be ended in the Korean War, if communist North Korea win the war, then most part of Asia would be influenced to adapt communist ideologies. Thus, in April 1950 the American National Security Council issued a report, called in ‘NSC 68’,  recommending that America abandon ‘containment’ and start ‘rolling back’ Communism, immediately US joined forces with South Korea to defeat North Korea.

In August of 1945 the Soviet Union invaded North Korea, which had been under Japan's control since 1910. The US, fearing that the USSR seize the whole peninsula from their position in the North, placed troops in South Korea to prevent a communist expansion. The decision to intervene in Korea grew out of the tense atmosphere that characterized Cold War politics. Truman realized that USA was in competition the Soviet Union for world domination and by supporting South Korea, America was able to fight Communism without directly attacking the USSR and in this way, gain support from other countries of Asia or Africa.

In June 27, 1950, Truman made an speech in which he stated his concern about communist aggression and expansion. Truman agrees that “communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer indepenent nations and will now use armed invasion and war”. Truman thought that the attack by North Korea was part of a plan of China to spread communism and, by extension, the Soviet Union.

To sum up my ideas, to my mind, US reasons to intervine in the Korean War 1950- 1953, were three. Firstly, Truman thought he was in a competition with the USSR for world domination and it used this conflict to attack Russia inderectly. Secondly, the American National Security Council convinced Truman through the ‘NSC 68’, to make heavy increases in military funding to help contain the Soviets. Lastly, as stated in Truman’s Domino Theory, if communism expand to Korea then it would continue througout Asia and other countries.