Preview

John Lewis The Power Of Nonviolence

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
506 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
John Lewis The Power Of Nonviolence
“The Power of Nonviolence” essay

“We heard that the city had decided to allow the police officials to stand by and allow the hoodlum element to come in and attack us”. The story “The Power of Nonviolence” by John Lewis takes place in the Southern United States during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. An important theme revealed in “The Power of Nonviolence” is life can be hard but you should always keep going that is what gets you were you are. Three ways that this theme is revealed are, John Lewis and other blacks being discriminated against, John and his friends doing the sit-ins, and Nashville desegregating the lunch counters.

The first way the theme is revealed is by John Lewis and other blacks being discriminated against. In the Southern States black people were discriminated against and were not allowed to eat or watch movies at the same places as white people because they were “colored”. Because of their skin they were denied the same things as white people. As shown in this quote “You bought your ticket at the same window that the white people did, but they could sit downstairs, and you had to go upstairs.” This quote supports the theme because it shows how hard life is on them and how they go on. …show more content…
Many people would go into the segregated places that served food and sit at the counters and wait to be served. Some times they wouldn’t get served at all other times they would get attacked, but they refused to fight back violently. As seen in this quote “They would sit down in a very orderly, peaceful, nonviolent fashion and wait to be served.” This quote supports the theme because they won’t back down and kept going on through hard
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Equality By Lewis
    • 104 Words
    • 1 Page

    Rhetorical Analysis Of Equality By Lewis

    Lewis challenges his audience to take action in the protest that will alert people of the racism African Americans go through and to establish equality no matter the person’s race. Many African Americans suffer through abuse physically and have put up with this in order to gain equality. The government also does not provide aid and instead proceeds to keep the protester’s ideas under wraps from the public. The government, in their own view, ignore the protester’s claim of the officials being unjust to maintain their position of power. Equality is for everyone. The beliefs by which America was built on the support…

    • 104 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail Heart-Felt Main Points
    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham City Jail Heart-Felt Main Points

    Martin Luther King was an extreme advocate of nonviolent protests in order to achieve social changes. He was the leader of nonviolent protests against segregation “Negros” and “Whites”. Unfortunately, his nonviolent protests to obtain equality between “Negros” and “Whites” were unsuccessful. Additionally, Birmingham City passed a stipulation prohibiting street marches without approval to do so. Therefore, King took action and began protesting for equality because he and his followers were displeased with this legislation. In reaction to the protest, King was arrested and “A Call for Unity” was published that day by clergymen criticizing King saying that the protest was “unwise and untimely.” While King was in jail, he addresses his “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” to the clergymen explaining that what he was doing was the right thing and was at the right time. In his letter, he points out five main points: we are all interrelated, his nonviolent campaign, just laws versus unjust laws, nonviolent resistance, and the misconception of time.…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dr King Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis
    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Dr King Letter From Birmingham Jail Analysis

    In Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he shows that nonviolence is the way to get the positive attention that his plight deserved. He believed that to use violence was negative on a couple of points. First, violence always gets negative attention. Second, violence was the way the Klu Klux Klan went about their business. He wanted to expose unjust laws and do it in a fashion that conveyed his beliefs without causing other problems. In Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he is trying to convince his “fellow clergymen” (566) that his fight for the civil liberties is a just one, and that the march was a nonviolent one and one that was surely needed. Dr. King stated, “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny” (566). King is saying that it’s something that can no longer be ignored, that he can no longer sit on the sideline and be an idle observer. The black man has to take it to the streets. In this letter, Dr. King showed that nonviolence, direct action, and the ability to stand by one’s convictions are the right path.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letter From Birmingham Jail, By Josephine Baker
    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Letter From Birmingham Jail, By Josephine Baker

    In the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King Jr. and the “Speech at the March on by Josephine Baker each article passionately argues about the disadvantages of the black community during the 1960s and about equality and the power of education. In order to achieve true freedom one must make changes through peaceful protest.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Radio Free Dixie
    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Radio Free Dixie

    Tyson uses Williams life to illustrate his central thesis: how both the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement emerged from the same roots, confronted similar predicaments, and ultimately were fighting for the same thing: justice and freedom for blacks in America. Historians have customarily portrayed the civil rights movement as a nonviolent call on America's conscience juxtaposing he subsequent rise of Black Power as a violent repudiation of the civil rights dream. As Robert Williams's story demonstrates, independent black political action, grassroots organizing, and armed self-reliance all operated in the South in conjunction with legal efforts and nonviolent protest. Tyson’s use of biography allows the readers to better relate to the experiences of Robert Williams therefore emphasizing the parallels and common threads between the two movements. For example, it could just has easily been Dr. King, as a young boy that happened to witness that elderly black woman being beaten by a racist police officer; and the likelihood that any black person could have witnessed a similar event during that time period, unfortunately is quite likely. With the scene that Tyson created, it becomes instantly relatable and of course it would seem only rational to retaliate; the…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Brent Staples A Brother's Murder
    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Brent Staples A Brother's Murder

    Martin Luther King, Jr. once said “Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself.” Twenty-five years after Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his Nobel Lecture, Brent Staples wrote “A Brother’s Murder” describing the circumstances of growing up in a heavily poor, heavily black neighborhood (Staples 505). The acts of violence in the small neighborhood in Chester, Pennsylvania are not related to the acts of racism around “their hood.” The narrator describes how one could get stuck in the rubble of the violent drama, like his brother Blake, and how one can avoid it completely, like the narrator did. Staples elaborates on the conditions in which these young males were being killed, their race and gender, and he explains how he avoids it entirely. THESIS??…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Freedom Walkers: The Power Of Nonviolence
    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Freedom Walkers: The Power Of Nonviolence

    In the book Freedom Walkers and the text, the Power of Nonviolence both of the authors talked about one common theme. The authors talk about how African Americans tried to overcome racism. Not all of the tries were successful.…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Response: Nonviolent Resistance, By Cesar Chavez
    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Response: Nonviolent Resistance, By Cesar Chavez

    The cycle of oppression, violent rebellion, and oppressor has occurred in different circumstances and forms since the beginning of organized society. In a well-crafted essay, Cesar Chavez develops an argument about nonviolent resistance as a mean to achieve equality and respect in society. Chavez argues for this strategy by using historical references, logical fallacies, and examples.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Boyz N the Hood
    • 2359 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Boyz N the Hood

    For my paper on the movie Boyz N the Hood as well as the reading Black Freedom Fighters in Steel, I will find a common theme that is used in both and explain how they used that theme in their work. The common theme that I found that was used in both the movie and the book is how the characters dealt with the oppression that was in their lives. The characters from the movie Boyz N the Hood that I will be referring to are Doughboy, Officer Coffey, and Shalika. The characters that I will be using from the book Black Freedom Fighters in Steel are George Kimbley, Curtis Strong, and Jonathan Comer. They all dealt with oppression differently some used it to their advantage, some people used it to hurt others, some made something of themselves, and some did nothing to make themselves better.…

    • 2359 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Lesson Before Dying Themes
    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Lesson Before Dying Themes

    There are many themes that are the same between the moviee and the poem. The first theme that’s the same is that they both have Judgment in them. They both have judgment in them by having the movie judge the blacks in most things that they do and in the poem they judge them by calling the blacks hogs instead of their real name. Another theme they both have in common is racism. The movie has it by the whites calling the blacks names and being disrespectful to them and we also see and read that in the poem. That’s just two of the many themes they have in common.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Letter from Birmingham, Martin Luther King Jr.
    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Letter from Birmingham, Martin Luther King Jr.

    King explains that he traveled to Birmingham to participate in non-violent protest against segregation, stating “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (289). King responds to the clergy by saying, “your statement… fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations” (289). King continues by explaining the four basic steps of non-violent direct-action, which are: “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct-action” (290). While providing great detail on the situation and steps taken, King continues to build his argument against the statements made by the clergy.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why did more radical black movements emerge in the late 1960s?
    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why did more radical black movements emerge in the late 1960s?

    Before ‘Black power’ had emerged, changes that had occurred were slow and painful for the Black communities spread across America. The laws that had been passed had rarely been enforced, although they were passed as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, such as desegregation in schools and the desegregation on all interstate buses and so on. The members of black power had wanted to focus mainly upon the social issues faced by black people who consisted of poverty and the ways of living in ghettos, which meant that black people were becoming increasingly interested as it had appealed to them and that was a major issue that impacted their life. Impatience grew and according to Vivian Saunders “...America’s ghettos erupted into violence each summer.” This proves that black people had enough, turning to and showing an interest in the radical and violent ways that black power had to offer. This is extremely significant due to the fact that without the slow movement of the civil rights movement, black power would not have interested desperate black people of America at all and the radical forms of protest would not have been necessary. In addition to that there had been reports that were distributed putting an emphasis on the harsh living conditions in…

    • 826 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Main Causes Of The LA Riots
    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Main Causes Of The LA Riots

    The LA riots were the main theme for this week’s reading. Needless to say, it was a mortifying past for both the African Americans and the people of LA. The emotion explosion that accounted for thousands of injuries and billions of dollar worth of damage originated from the discriminatory decision of a court case. Rodney King, a middle-aged African American man, was pulled over on a highway for drunk speeding. He was brutally beaten by four police officers for no apparent reasons, and someone recorded the scene. The short clip soon hit the news, which shook the African American community and many questioned the legality of the police’s action.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    August Wilson Fences
    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages

    August Wilson Fences

    “Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the gun down.” This quote was said by Malcolm X, who was an African American Minister and a human rights activist. It means that sometimes you have to fight in order to achieve peace. I agree with what he said because in order to get what you want you have to fight for it. Two literary works that reflect this quote are Fences, a play about the struggles of African American before and during the Civil Rights Era in the 1950s and 60s, by August Wilson and “The Yellow Wallpaper” a short story that shows the difference between women and men during that time, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. ‘Fences’ shows the revolution the characters face, their actions and what is the result of those choices. Whereas, ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is about how the wife struggles to speak against her husband. She shows revolution when her husband tells her not to write but she secretly writes in her journal. Both literary pieces, Fences, by Wilson and The Yellow Wallpaper by Perkins Gilman, shows how the lack of communication, the lack of acknowledgment and the demand for changes shows how the characters fight for what they want.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mahatma Gandhi and Nonviolence
    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mahatma Gandhi and Nonviolence

    1. There has been more than 500 books written about the life and thoughts of Mohandas Gandhi.…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics