Social Justice Essay - Grade: A PDF

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Extended Definition of Social Justice ENGL 101 Social Justice Social Justice is important because it promotes and works toward a society that celebrates diversity and equality. Having more equality and diversity in a society is good for society because it promotes opportunity, growth and social well being. The definition of social justice in Dictionary.com is: “justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.” To me, social justice is described as a society without racial discrimination, equality among people, and freedom regardless of skin color, religion or social status. We researched four sources for social justice. The first source was “February One.” It was a video documentary about the importance of discrimination. Four black American college students decided to stage a peaceful protest at Woolworth’s Lunch Counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. The second source was “Freedom Riders.” Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. The third source was Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Woolworth’s Lunch Counter. The three surviving members of the Greensboro Four participated in an oral history about their bold action that ignited student involvement in the Civil Rights Movement when they staged a sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960. The fourth source was my favorite object in the National Museum of American History. I chose Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves as my favorite object. It was a great museum, and I learned many things about social justice in its different exhibits for social justice. The first source was “February One,” which is a story of the Greensboro four young college freshman: Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain, and Joseph McNeil.

Page 2 Imagine that you’re a freshman in college, and you have to sit at a broken down counter made for blacks only. Your orders are always served to you late, and the staff is surly and mean to you, but you know that’s not the norm. That is how life was like for Black people in the South. They wanted to change the segregational policies of Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. They decided to meet up in a college dorm to find out how they could eliminate the problem of segregation. They were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, who was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule, and his practice of nonviolent protest. On Feb. 1, 1960, they began a sit-in at a Woolworth's whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro. They politely asked to be served, and their request was refused. On the first day of their sit-in, they asked to leave multiple times; however they ignored the request, and they remained on their seats. The next day, more than 20 black students, recruited from other campus groups, joined the sit-in. White customers heckled the black students, who read books and studied to keep busy, while the lunch counter staff continued to refuse service. They ignited a youth-led movement to challenge injustice and racial inequality throughout the South. A few days later, the lunch counter began to close down because of the actions that those four students had taken. On the fifth day, there was no inequality for seats in the lunch counter. Black and white students could seat together. The group was originally comprised of both black and white college students who adopted Gandhi's theories of non-violent direct action (“February One”). By the end of February, sit-ins have spread to Nashville, Chattanooga, Richmond, Baltimore, Montgomery, and Lexington. By the end of April, there have been sit-ins in more than 30 communities in 7 states. By the end of the year, 75,000 students, both black and white, have participated in sit-ins, launching a new phase of the civil rights movement. This is an intimate look at how four African-American freshmen at North Carolina A&T University took a stand for

Page 3 justice by sitting down at a Woolworth’s which is whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina on Feb. 1, 1960. This event shows us that how we can protest in a peaceful way. McCain said: "Fifteen seconds after ... I had the most wonderful feeling. I had a feeling of liberation, restored manhood. I had a natural high, and I truly felt almost invincible. Mind you, [I was] just sitting on a dumb stool and not having asked for service yet" (“February One”). Another source that we searched about was “Freedom Riders.” They were groups of civil rights activists who participated in bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. The original group of 13 Freedom Riders was seven African Americans and six whites who left Washington, D.C., on a Greyhound bus on May 4, 1961. All riders including Genevieve Hughes, William E. Harbour, and Ed Blankenheim left Washington, DC, on Greyhound and Trailways buses. Their plan was to ride through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, ending in New Orleans, Louisiana, where a civil rights rally was planned. Most of the Riders were from CORE, and two were from SNCC. Many were in their 40s and 50s. Some were as young as 18 (“Freedom Riders”). The Freedom Riders intended to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. The Freedom Riders' tactics for their journey were to have at least one interracial pair sitting in adjoining seats, and at least one black rider sitting up front, where seats under segregation had been reserved for white customers by local custom throughout the South. The rest of the team would sit scattered throughout the rest of the bus. They tried to use whites-only restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina, and other Southern states. During the first few days of their trip, the mixed-race group of activists traveled largely without incident. They didn’t have security and didn’t need it—yet. After arriving in Atlanta on May 13, 1961,

Page 4 they even attended a reception hosted by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but the celebration took on a decidedly ominous tone when King alerted them that the Ku Klux Klan was organized against them in Alabama (“Freedom Riders”). Despite King’s warning, the Freedom Riders did not change their course. As expected, when they reached Alabama, their journey took a turn for the worse. The mob attacked the bus with baseball bats and iron pipes. They also slashed the tires. When the hobbled bus pulled over, the mob pulled riders off the bus and beat them with pipes. Then they set the bus on fire. Additionally, 10 students from Nashville who were active in the Nashville Student movement took a bus to Birmingham, where they were arrested by Bull Connor and jailed. The students kept their spirits up in jail by singing freedom songs (“Freedom Riders”). Because of the amount of violence inflicted on Freedom Riders, the leaders of CORE had to choose to abandon the Freedom Rides or continue sending activists into harm’s way. Ultimately, CORE officials decided to send more volunteers on the rides. Dozens of Americans were volunteering to travel on Freedom Rides. In the end, an estimated 436 people took such rides (“Freedom Riders”). The efforts of the Freedom Riders were finally rewarded when the Interstate Commerce Commission decided on Sept. 22, 1961, to ban segregation in interstate travel. Brave people joined this movement, and this source was also a great example of protest again the society which social justice does not exist in it. It was an effective protest for gaining social justice. William H. Hastie, the nation's first black federal judge said: “Democracy is a process, not a static condition. It is becoming rather than being. It can easily be lost, but never is fully won. Its essence is an eternal struggle” (“Freedom Riders”).

Page 5 The third source was Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth's Lunch Counter video. The three surviving members of the Greensboro Four participated in an oral history of their protest. They described the story about the movement that would lead to the desegregation of that particular lunch counter and sparked a student movement that spread across the nation. "In our hearts, we all thought that racial segregation was evil," said participant McNeil. He was just 17 years old when he and his friends refused to leave the segregated counter. At the time, they could have been arrested for breaking so-called "Jim Crow" laws that were enacted to keep blacks and whites separated at public places such as theaters, hotels, and restaurants. McNeil said: “When we had these sit-ins and we faced the prospect of being arrested and going to jail, we didn’t know for how long it was going to be, or whether we were going to jail for one day or one week or six months or one year. We were students! But we were very serious students. We cared about life and our future. But we knew that we had to do this one stand. We had to take on this one thing. Good

things started to happen early in that time when we were sitting down” (“Freedom Riders”). The last source was my favorite object in the National Museum of American History which was Muhammad Ali’s gloves. Muhammad Ali gained fame for his boxing skills, charisma and the controversy generated outside the ring during the 1960s. In 1976 the Smithsonian acquired Ali's boxing gloves and robe for an exhibition on the American Bicentennial, A Nation of Nations. At the donation ceremony, before a crowd of reporters and cheering spectators, Ali predicted that his Everlast gloves would become "the most famous thing in this building." The Muhammad Ali exhibit was surprising. The boxing gloves were a symbol of "The Greatest" at the height of his popularity. Curator Paul Gardullo told Smithsonian.com in 2014 regarding the gloves: “They are more than just a piece of signed memorabilia. They are a window into that moment and the

Page 6 creation of this mythic figure. You can think of that glove as a calling card. It's an announcement of arrival." Muhammad Ali was stripped of license and heavyweight in 1967 only because of he preached different religion. One of his famous quotes is: “I’m always going to be one black one who got big on your white televisions and 100% stayed with representing my people. That was my purpose, and I’m showing the world that you can be here and still free and stay yourself and get respect from the world.” In conclusion, the people who participated in those protests were so brave. They had a goal to eliminate discrimination. They wanted to change thoughts about people who have a different religion, different color, etc. Those people did a magnificent job, and they wanted to show the society the importance of social justice, which to me is a society without racial discrimination, equality among people, and freedom regardless of skin color, religion or social status. Social justice is important for the welfare of society as a whole. Having social justice and responsibility leads to satisfaction and pleasure in life.

Works Cited Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Woolworth Lunch Counter Student Sit-In. Smithsonian. YouTube. 25 Feb., 2010, https://youtu.be/uH6Ur_Jq7dQ February One. Prod. Steven Channing. The Educational Media Foundation and the Southern Documentary Foundation. 2004. DVD. Freedom Riders. Dir. Stanley Nelson. American Experience Films 2011. DVD. “Muhammad Ali’s Boxing Gloves.” The National Museum of American History. 1300 Constitution Ave NW, Washington DC 20560. “Social Justice.” Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/social-justice?s=ts...