Civil Rights Museum

Civil Rights Museum Impact

On Friday, November 21^st, our class visited the Civil Rights Museum in Atlanta, GA. The Museum was largely dedicated to presenting the movement of the long 60’s where African-Americans took the charge in denying their alleged fate to be second-class citizens. The movement called for an end to legal racism and sought to protect the rights of minority groups.

            While walking through the museum’s exhibits, I gained a fresh and larger appreciation for all the men and women who put their life on the line to secure rights for all Americans, no matter their creed or color. They recognized that they had to be the ones to finally put an end to de jur racism and put this country on the right path to maybe one day letting us live without racism. The exhibits told the story of some who gave their life to fighting for the cause of justice struck a deep chord. I cannot imagine how much courage it took to protest when you knew that some bigot police chief can send his pseudo-army/cronies of police officers to round you up and do anything with little to no repercussion. The lunch counter exhibit experience gave me a slight glimpse in how it may have felt to be one those peacefully protested but still had to face violent opposition. A few seconds into the exhibit, I had goose bumps all over even if I was well aware it was not real. In addition, the museum emphasized how well the movement was able to bring very large and sometimes isolated groups together to rally America towards a better future. They were able to have not only African-Americans participate in the movement, but also socially conscious and brave white-American young men and women to participate. In addition, they inspired other movements in the United States, like field worker and migrant worker rights under the leadership of Cesar Chavez. Without inspirational leaders from the first wave of the Civil Rights Movement, there may not have been the Grape boycott that finally pushed farm corporations to recognize their field laborers as actual people than just someone controlled by the means of production.

            The museum serves as a great reminder of how far we have come; however, we must acknowledge that we have a very long way to go. Nonetheless, the U.S., along with the rest of the world, is a much better place and I am greatly thankful for all those who contributed to the movement. The Civil Rights movement was a tremendous example of taking sociological principles and findings and using them to enact positive change in the world. In other words, they were able to see the disparity and stratification and acted upon it.