FREEDOM HIGHWAY IN THE USA: THE AFRO-AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

Year 2023, , 585 - 599, 09.08.2023

Fahriye Begum Yildizeli

https://doi.org/10.9737/historystudies.1279287

Abstract

The history of slavery, which started with commercial interests and imperial rivalries in the newly discovered American continent, became a discrimination system in the American society in the 20th century and continued to make its presence felt with racist policies in the post-colonial world order. Western white researchers wrote the history of enslaved blacks from their own perspectives within the framework of political and constitutional boundaries until the 1950s. Despite this, African-American history which went through life struggles and social traumas, started with the arrival of Africans in North America in the 16th and 17th centuries, and started to be rewritten by blacks with the intensifying civil rights movement between 1955 and 1968.
In the period that continued since 1862, when slavery was abolished by President Abraham Lincoln, although there were reactions against Jim Crow laws and de jure discrimination, the awareness movement under the leadership of the leaders in the mid-1950s mobilized the black masses in an inclusive way. Across the country, non-violent protests have gained greater momentum, deepening in the largely racist Southern states aimed at overturning discrimination laws and restoring voting and basic public rights for African-Americans.
The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the black discrimination and the resistance movement, which continue to be the most important issue in the historical process of racism in the history of the USA. Focusing especially on the 12 years of the Civil Rights Movement, which started in 1955, the main features, leaders, the main tools used to mobilize the masses, important turning points and their national and global reflection and effects will be analysed.

Keywords

African-American Civil Rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jim Crow Laws, nonviolent protest, Rosa Parks

ABD’DE ÖZGÜRLÜK OTOYOLU: AFROAMERİKAN SİVİL HAKLAR HAREKETİ VE ÖZELLİKLERİ

Abstract

Yeni keşfedilen Amerika kıtasında ticari çıkarlar ve emperyal rekabetlerle başlayan köleliğin tarihi, 20. yüzyılda Amerikan toplumu içinde ayrımcılık sistemi halini almış, post kolonyal dünya düzeninde ırkçı politikalarla varlığını hissettirmeye devam etmiştir. Oryantalizmin yaydığı Doğu imajı çerçevesinde oluşturulan düşüncelerde olduğu gibi Batılı beyaz araştırmacılar 1950’li yıllara kadar köleleştirilmiş siyahilerin tarihini siyasi ve anayasal sınırlar çerçevesinde kendi perspektiflerinden yazmışlardır. Buna rağmen, yaşamsal mücadele ve toplumsal travmalarla geçen Afroamerikan tarihi, Afrikalıların 16. ve 17. yüzyıllarda Kuzey Amerika'ya gelişiyle başlamış, 1955 ve 1968 yılları arasında yoğunlaşan sivil haklar hareketi ile birlikte siyahiler tarafından yeniden yazılmaya başlamıştır.
Köleliğin Başkan Abraham Lincoln tarafından kaldırıldığı 1862 yılından itibaren devam eden dönemde, Jim Crow yasaları ve de jure ayrımcılığa karşı tepkiler verilse de 1950’li yılların ortalarında liderlerin öncülüğünde bilinçlenme hareketi kapsayıcı bir şekilde siyahi kitleleri harekete geçirmiştir. Büyük ölçüde ırkçı Güney eyaletlerinde derinleşen, ayrımcılık yasalarını bozmak ve Afroamerikalılar için oy ve temel kamusal haklarını geri getirmek hedefinde ülke genelinde şiddet içermeyen protestolar her geçen gün daha da büyük bir ivme kazanmıştır.
Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, ABD tarihinde ırkçılığın tarihsel sürecinde en önemli konu olmayı sürdüren siyahi ayrımcılığını ve direniş hareketini ana hatlarıyla değerlendirmektir. Özellikle 1955 yılında başlayan Sivil Haklar Hareketi’nin 13 yılına odaklanarak temel özellikleri, liderleri, kitleleri harekete geçirmede kullanılan temel araçları, önemli dönüm noktaları ve bunların ulusal ve küresel boyuttaki yansıma ile etkileri analiz edilecektir.

Keywords

Afroamerikan Sivil Haklar hareketi, Martin Luther King, Jim Crow Yasaları, şiddet içermeyen protesto, Rosa Parks

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