MARCH BOOK THREE ESSAY
December 2018
John Lewis wrote March: Book Three so people can understand the events that took place during the Civil Rights Movement helped influence the course of The United States’ history. The deaths of Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Westley, and Denise McNair showed African Americans that racism in America was so overwhelming that people would bomb churches with children just to stop a person of color from voting. The internal struggle Lewis had about committing to SNCC or to march for he knows is right was a significant change in Lewis’s thought process. Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech about the American Problem changed the way the white population thought about racism and oppression in the South. These critical events galvanized the determination and commitment of the African Americans to obtain voting rights for all races. Civil Rights leaders, such as John Lewis and Martin Luther King, influenced key groups of the opposition to understand how racially discriminating and prejudiced they really were.
The murders of the four innocent girls fueled the African Americans’ discontent with the United States and led them to work harder for their civil rights. As Martin Luther King gave the eulogy for the four little girls, he told the audience, “These children – unoffending, innocent, and beautiful--, were victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. and yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and dignity” (17). King wanted the people mourning to know that these children would not be forgotten but would be a key reason to fight for their own rights, if no one else would. Although these people were mourning, it did not make them fear the racist people, it made them determined to persevere through this atrocity, so it would never happen again. This event was significant, because it was such a hateful crime that it led to more people wanting to help the African Americans during this movement.
When Lewis detached himself from SNCC to march with the SCLC, it became evident that it did not matter which group Lewis was in, but to do what he believed was right. When Lewis wanted to march from Selma to Montgomery, he wanted to explain to the SNCC why he decided to go against his own organization, “You know I’ve been to Selma many, many times, I’ve been arrested there. I’ve been jailed there. If these people want to march. I’m going to march with them. You decide what you want to do, but I’m going to march” (185). At this moment, Lewis understood that he had to focus on ways to take a stand for civil rights instead of siding blindly with the SNCC. Although Lewis had to disassociate himself from SNCC, he was determined to not let that stop him marching for what he firmly had faith in. This event helped him work harder to march and protest for civil rights instead of worrying about how to create peace between the SCLC and the SNCC.
President Johnson’s speech addressing Bloody Sunday and all the brutal events caused by white supremacists challenged the nation to understand how their actions were causing morally unjust violence in the United States. His speech admits to needing change for the betterment of America now and in the future. He wanted the country to understand that for every act of brutality committed against these black people, the nation’s history represents these violent and wrongful deeds; which is why he said, “...and still be unequal to this issue – then we will have failed as a people, and as a nation. For with a country as with a person, ‘What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ There is no negro problem, there is no southern problem. There is no northern problem. There is only an American problem… Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it’s not just negroes, but really, it’s all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice – and we shall overcome” (223-224). President Johnson wanted the people of America to realize their mistakes and become better for it – which was the reason for his speech and for his actions after it. President Johnson had to have the intent to pass the Voting Rights Bill or else it would have never been regarded as one of the most significant bills today. He may not have seen eye to eye with some African American leaders in the movement, but he wanted the same things, although he had other ideas on how to get the Voting Rights Bill signed.
The Voting Rights Bill would have never been passed if not for the determinedness and resiliency of the people who protested for this civil right. The 16th Street Church Bombing affected the way people thought about the Civil Rights Movement. It provoked white people to realize how their racism can cause violence in a place meant to be a safe space. Suppose that Lewis had not marched with the SCLC, he might not have been as influential in this movement as people see him as today. If Lyndon B. Johnson had never given his speech about overcoming the American problem, white people would not have been inspired to be the change for their nation needed. The perseverance that African Americans had shown during this movement inspires people today to stand strong in what they believe is right. This movement motivated others who have experienced cruel oppression to have the determination to stand together in the fight against bigotry and injustice not only in the United States, but all over the world.