Essay Sample on Overcoming Oppression

Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character." This is an infamous quote that inspired millions of Americans across the world to spread love and equality. Dr. King said these inspiring words during the impactful March on Washington. According to the Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, "The March on Washington was a political demonstration held in 1963 in Washington, D.C. by civil rights leaders to protest racial discrimination and to show support for major civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress." These leaders included the likes of Martin Luther King and John Lewis, who fought for civil rights. In summarization, the civil rights movement is a great example of how minority groups overcame oppression. The civil rights movement guided African Americans towards freedom from oppression through advancements in education, outlawing disenfranchisement, and starting many peaceful protests.  

First, minorities overcame oppression through educational advancements. For example, the author of the story "Hidden Figures" states Female mathematicians had been on the job at Langley since 1935. And it did not take long for the women to show that they were just as good or even better at computing than many of the male engineers. " According to this evidence, colored women were seen as below others and treated as if they did not have the capacity for a proper education. Another piece of evidence comes from paragraph 13 of this same story, where the author states, "A civil rights leader named Philip Randolph encouraged President Roosevelt to sign an executive order. An executive order is a law that orders the desegregation of the federal government and defense industry and creates the Fair Employment Practices Committee. "Immediately, this executive order allowed all educated and skilled colored women to continue to work in the once male-dominated facilities. Thus, they are pushing the civil rights movement in the right direction. Furthermore, the author of Hidden Figures expresses, "The Federal Government also helped create special training classes at black colleges, where people could learn the skills they would need to be successful in war jobs." Even with the oppression they faced, given the resources to succeed, even the minority groups prevailed. In addition to the Hidden Figures women, another example of minorities overcoming oppression through educational advancement comes from the text Booker T. and W.E.B., where the author states, "If I should have the drive to seek "I have no knowledge of chemistry or Greek, but I will do it."This means that to overcome oppression, he will seek out the highest forms of education. Lastly, the federal government is also supporting the Civil Rights Movement by helping African Americans get a proper education so they can be free from oppression. 

Second, disenfranchisement is the next example of how minorities were oppressed and overcame it. During the civil rights movement, minority groups were often disenfranchised. Specifically, African Americans. According to the Cambridge University Press, disenfranchisement is the process of depriving a group of voting rights. There are multiple ways to disenfranchise a group of people. For instance, the author of websites.umich.edu states that poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause were all used to prevent minorities from voting. First, A poll tax is "a tax a person is required to pay before he or she is allowed to vote." This was used to keep African Americans from voting because, during the civil rights era, they did not have enough money to pay the taxes. Secondly, a literacy test is described as "requirements that voters should be able to read." This oppressed African Americans because most of them were not allowed to get an education to read. Lastly, the grandfather clause is defined as "a clause in registration laws allowing people who do not meet registration requirements to vote if they or their ancestors had voted before 1867." This oppressed African Americans because their grandfathers were not allowed to vote because they were slaves. Collectively, this shows the oppression that African Americans went through during the civil rights era. And these obstacles also show how hard they fought to overcome oppression. The final example of African American groups overcoming oppression comes from the author of the source, www.archives.gov. The author of this source claims "John Lewis’s infamous protest, known as Bloody Sunday, was a major deciding factor in the passage of the voting rights act, which officially ended disenfranchisement." 

Lastly, the Civil Rights movement led African Americans to overcome oppression through peaceful protests. According to the author of www.dictionary.com, A protest is defined as "an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid." Protesting is an intelligent way of expressing one's feelings towards a decision or opinion. Additionally, civil rights groups such as SNCC, SCLC, etc., were engaged in peaceful protests to overcome oppression. An example includes sit-ins. As stated by an Interview with John Lewis, "I studied the philosophy and the discipline of nonviolence in Nashville as a student. And I staged a sit-in in the fall of 1959. " A "sit in" is an "organized protest in which a group of people peacefully occupy and refuse to leave a prime site." Furthermore, several civil rights groups participated in these sit-ins, which led to the civil rights movement. One more example of a protest helping a group overcome oppression comes from the same interview where John Lewis states, "In Anniston, Alabama and on the outside of Anniston, Alabama, this bus was burned." This shows that though the protesters were oppressed, they remained peaceful to overcome this oppression. Martin Luther King also had things to say about the effects of peaceful protests on society. To maintain peace and overcome oppression, in his "I Have a Dream Speech," he concluded, "We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence." In the end, civil rights groups participated in a peaceful protest that would show their contribution to the civil rights movement. 

In conclusion, the civil rights movement was a key example of how a group of people overcame oppression by fighting for change. During the civil rights movement, African American communities inspired progress in America through peaceful protest, getting an education, and outlawing disenfranchisement. Firstly, education was used to overcome struggles by showing hard work and dedication. Secondly, disenfranchisement was used to overcome struggles because the civil rights movement started due to African Americans' growing tired of not having equal voting rights. Lastly, peaceful protests were to overcome struggles because they sent an important message and got their act passed through legislation. Overall, the civil rights movement was a crucial event that had many challenges, but this event fought against oppression of African Americans and paved the way for their future.