Looking Back to Look Forward: Comparing the Civil Rights Era to the Black Lives Matter Movement

By Lola Wright, Second Year History

Following the murder of George Floyd by white police officer Derek Chauvin, the Black Lives Matter movement has grown exponentially to become a household name, with the hashtag #BLM garnering an astonishing 48 million tweets at the height of the unrest in 2020. By comparing the Black Lives Matter movement to the Civil Rights Era, recognised by most as the struggle against discrimination post-World War Two, The Bristorian explores what #BLM can tell us about the fight for racial justice in contemporary America.

When the phrase ‘civil rights’ is heard, most conjure up images of Martin Luther King Jr and his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, or perhaps Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott. However, mention Black Lives Matter and no single figurehead springs to mind. It is this purposeful decentralised structure, refusing to name a single leader, that provides such a stark contrast to the so-called ‘Great Men’ of the Civil Rights Era and suggests how racial injustices have evolved.

Whereas the fight for civil rights following World War Two was centred around figureheads like MLK, BLM founder Alicia Garza is focused on prioritising the ‘average person’s role in creating change’, in contrast to a movement whereby ‘some leader swoops from the sky to save us’ as King was criticised for doing. BLM’s prolific use of social media is testament to the movement’s focus on accessible, grassroots activism. Although in use before its skyrocketing popularity in 2020, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was tweeted 3.7 million times a day between May 26 and June 7, 2020. It is this astonishing inclusivity and breadth compared to the centralisation of activism around the ‘Big Six’ of the later twentieth century which suggests the changing nature of racial injustice in America.

Whilst single figures like King were able to bring about legislative change like the 1964 Civil Rights Act, this was because racial disparities at the time adopted a more obvious face in the form of legal discrimination and segregation. However, we can infer from the accessibility of the grassroots nature of the BLM movement that these challenges have evolved to become more insidious: set inside institutions which require a plethora of different activists and approaches to overturn, and facilitated by the decentralised structure of the movement.

Indeed, an account of the sense of community present during the 2020 Minneapolis protests following Floyd’s death which describes how ‘people took turns […] to tell their own stories of police brutality and racial injustices’ supports this notion of racism in contemporary America as an evolving force. The unwritten, institutionalised nature of racism means it is no longer feasible to spearhead change through the actions of select figures. Instead, the nature of the BLM movement shows us the value of the power of the masses.

However, despite the obvious disparities between the old and the new highlighting the evolving nature of racial injustices, by looking at the methods of protest used we can gain an insight into the enduring nature of racism in America. Although starkly different in terms of the structure of both movements, the methods of protest employed by BLM bear striking similarities to those of the Civil Rights Era.

The chilling police bodycam and bystander footage of both George Floyd and Eric Garner’s deaths which were shared worldwide on social media draws parallels with the media attention following the lynching of 14-year-old Emmet Till in 1955. Having been brutally attacked, Till’s mother opted for an open-casket funeral to ensure the mutilated face of her child was publicised. This sent shockwaves throughout the country, and roused significant public support for civil rights.

This exploitation of the power of the media present in 1955 has subsequently been an invaluable tool in the BLM movement’s inventory. Video footage from bystanders and police body cameras makes police brutality against Black Americans undeniable. The often-graphic nature of these videos understandably causes outrage amongst millions and gives momentum and moral supremacy to the movement, much like what happened in the case of Till.

It is these echoes between the two eras which suggests that despite the substantial progress made in America in the form of overturning legal discrimination, significant challenges remain in the persistent socio-economic injustices and violence that Black Americans face because techniques from the past continue to be employed.

The utilisation of the power of the media by the Black Lives Matter movement is not the only parallel we can draw between the Civil Rights Era and the contemporary fight against racial injustice. A comparison of the images below of the Woolworths lunch counter sit-in led by the SNCC in 1960 and of an unarmed female protestor in Washington DC in 2020 implies continuity in the methods of protest employed by both groups. The students in 1960 participating in the non-violent protest are passive in the face of white supremacy as drinks are poured on them whilst the delicate summer dress of the young woman in DC contrasts sharply with the heavily armoured guards standing opposite her. In both cases, the maintenance of non-violence in the face of such hostility is used as a way of building support and empathy.

Although the Civil Rights Era culminated in 1968 having achieving legislation securing ‘fair’ housing, employment practises and voting rights, this continuity explored in the methods used by activists in both the Civil Rights Era and contemporary America, as well as the differences in their structure, highlights the enduring nature of racial injustice in America.

Despite legal discrimination being dismantled, it becomes clear that the fight against racial injustice faces a new challenge of insidious discrimination in both institutions and the socio-economic foundations of contemporary America. Although the Civil Rights Era culminated in legislation securing ‘fair’ housing, employment practices, and voting rights, the continuity we have explored in both the Civil Rights Era and contemporary America, as well as the differences in their structures, highlights the enduring nature of racial injustice in America.