The History of U.S. Civil Rights Essay

The U.S. Civil Rights Movement was a movement involved in the struggle meant to rectify social injustices that happened during the 1950s and the 1960s. History traces those associated with the movement to black whose rights were under infringement by the white supremacist especially in the 1950s and 1960s. They struggled to gain equal rights under the laws of the United States of America. Even though the U.S. Civil War fought for the abolishment of vices like slavery, it did not end the vices immediately based on the manner in which they continued to endure the serious implications of racism particularly in the South. As the fight against racial prejudice and other forms of inequality approached the mid-20th century, most of the African Americans had experienced violence and more than enough prejudice. Other whites joined them in the movement as they pulled towards the unprecedented fight for equal treatment, something which they struggled with for not less than two decades.

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One of the books which advance the understanding of the history of U.S. civil rights and the related movement is that of Jessamyn Ward on "Sing Unburied, Sing." The book tells a story about a biracial family which is living in Mississippi with a somewhat interwoven and complicated family. The author uses different characters in trying to image the different events that unfold within the family. The characters used are Leonie, Richie, and Jojo. It also presents the mother within the family as one who is struggling with the effects of drug addiction and the need of being a good parent to the children. Her roots can be traced to the Caribbean society based on the fact that she is black and her parents are the main guardians of her two children. The children are Kayla and Jojo. The mother later dies of cancer while the children remain interested in taking after their grandfather, the most interested is Jojo. He is also interested in knowing about his identity even as he battles with the war of protecting the younger sister. Their father is Michael, and he has been in jail in some states away in Parchman, the grandfather was once imprisoned in the same jail some time back.

The book also us takes back to earlier events before the death of Leonie (mother), the flashback is based on the time Leonie and Michael planned of getting married. The parents of Michael refused that their son cannot get married to Leonie who was a Black American. What the author also informs of Michael's family is responsible for the death of Leonie's brother (Given). The brother was killed in a fake hunting accident when both Michael and Leonie were teenagers. Given haunts Leonie frequently especially when she is high, something which has promoted her drug addiction behavior. The family, therefore, ends up living in tension and things become worse when the family is on their way to go and pick Michael from prison, the children become more divided in opinion with their mother, and the situation becomes worse when Kayla fell ill. During her illness, she refused to acknowledge Leonie as the mother and prefer getting the parental comfort from the older brother. At the same time, Jojo anchor in mind the stories of his grandfather and the Parchman prison. He recalls the tragic stories his grandfather told him about Richie even though they were never completed. The author opines that at one time in the prison, another ghost from the past was brought into the story when the old friend of Pop came to visit Jojo in the car and stays along for a ride back home after Michael is released from Prison. The moment the family reaches home, something funny happens, the ghost of the past and the present reconcile as the grandmother passes away and Jojo becomes an adult. The ghost of the past is the one who was with the grandfather and Richie in prison while that of the present is "Given" who was killed in a fake hunting expedition for Leonie and Michael during their time as teenagers.

Based on the discussion given, it is first important to note that Jessamyn Ward's work covers a detailed description of some of the common issues which Black Americans experienced in the contemporary American society hence helping us understand further the history of Civil Rights in the United States. First, the family is made up of the Whites who are supremacist and the Black. It is the difference in a race that makes Michael's family who was whites refuse the marriage of Michael and Leon. Leon had his family roots traced from the Caribbean society, something which disadvantaged her marriage. I believe that her involvement in drugs might have been brought by some of the life challenges which she was going through as a Black living amongst the whites. I also believe that the serious division between her and the daughter Kayla might have not been attributed to by her drug addiction nature only but also because of her distinctive nature from other people. The story must have, therefore, been written at a time when civil rights movement were rampant in the United States and the Blacks were battling with various forms of racial prejudice with major cases touching on racial inequality to mention but a few.

A quote to support the argument can be found on David Oshinsky's book, worse than Slavery: The Parchman Farm. The book begins with imaging the events experienced during the reconstruction era where the Mississippians were determined to overthrow the Republican regime. They, therefore, devised schemes and methods which would later become the model of the democratic redemption in another locality. The model is the so-called Mississippian Plan. The plan was drafted with the aim of regaining control of the United States and all the means including fraud and murder were supposed to be used as long as the plan was going to work. The plan became successful with the Democratic Legislature regaining control of the United States by 1875. The legislature was part of the group who advocated for a white supremacist. The moment they regained control, they were charged with the mandate of addressing two things, the shortage of labor which would later be offered by the Slaves from the South and the restoration of the White Supremacy. During the time, there was the enactment of criminal statutes which was basically concerned with pig laws. The pig laws stipulated that the theft of farm animals were to be punished by at least five years in prison.

Along with the laws was the Leasing Act. The Act stipulated for convicts to be leased out if they were serving a jail term of fewer than ten years. Most of the whites were serving serious crimes at the time, and their jail terms made they acquire the relative safety of the state penitentiary at a place known as Jackson. The exact quote to support my argument can be found on page 46 to 47, where the author documents that, "the labor was readily replaced by the Blacks who served as slaves, an issue which made mistreatment against slaves almost non-existent. The author catalogs the horrors which awaited those who were leased and their suffering in the hands of the white supremacists. The quote justifies the history of civil rights and the related movement together with the reasons why they were involved in their course of action. It equally justified the challenges Leonie was faced with in Sing Unburied, Sing.

It is also worthwhile to note that Sing Unburied, Sing gives a highlight about the presence of the ghost in the past lives of characters and today's Mississippi. According to the novel, the ghost in the past can be traced through Jojo who remembers the stories told to him by the grandfather about Richie while the duo (Richie and grandfather) were in prison. It is at the time that we encounter the ghost from the past which by the story ends up reconciling with the ghost in the present at the death of the grandmother. The ghost from the past has, therefore, been used symbolically to show peace and unity. The presence of the ghost from the past ended the suffering of Michael's family and, therefore, plays an important role in the life of the characters. Their long-suffering and family division finally came to an end. It is like all their sufferings were buried with their grandmother. Today's Mississippi is a place of peace with nonpartisan individuals. Everyone is treated equally, and cases of racial inequality taken seriously and punished severely. The ghost of the past symbolizes such kind of a life based on the effort it made towards reconciling with the ghost of the present. The ghost of the present symbolized the life the past Mississippi which was coupled with many life challenges and injustices to the African Americans. It is notable that the ghost from the present was the actual reason for the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement. Another quote to support the existence of the civil rights movement in the United States can still be traced in the book, worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm on page 110. It is argued that "the need to end convict leasing in Mississippi brought about the development of the Parchman Farm with the man behind the brilliant idea being Governor James K. Vardaman." He was a white chief and was not pleased with the past Mississippi as symbolized by the present ghost in the life of Leonie after their fake hunting which resulted to the death of "Given" (Ghost). The focus of the Parchman Farm later shifted to the slaves who were leased for work. These people were mainly the African Americans who worked in the European farms and were deprived of their rights.

Conclusion

In summary, the history of American civil movements can be traced from the works of major writers like Jessamyn Ward in Sing, Unburied, Sing, and David Oshinsky's work on worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm. Their works documents the treatment most of the Black Americans went through in the hands of the White supremacist. The major book which has been used to offer major illustrations and scenes within the essay is that of Jessamyn Ward "Sing, Unburied, Sing." The book by David Oshinsky's has majorly been used to offer supportive quotes and to explain the scene involving Michael's family and the reconciliation of the ghost of the past and present about the current Mississippi.

References

Bell, M. (2017). Criminalization of Blackness: Systemic Racism and the Reproduction of Racial Inequality in the US Criminal Justice System. In Systemic Racism (pp. 163-183). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

Lloyd, C. (2018). Conclusion: Corporealizing Southern Studies. In Corporeal Legacies in the US South (pp. 211-217). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.