Civil Rights Movement

           One of the pictures I chose from the Civil Rights Movement was a picture of Dorothy Counts sitting alone as the other school children are laughing at her. From this picture, I can see the anger, humiliation, hurt, and fear as she calmly expressed a controlled countenance. I can sympathize with her because I went through a similar experience when I was younger. I came to America at the age of six and was treated like an outcast because of my inability to speak English. The language barrier made it difficult for the other kids at school to accept me; instead, they made fun of the way I look and talk because of my different culture. But Dorothy obviously had to endure a lot more, since she was one out of only four black students enrolled in all-white schools in North Carolina. Not only did she have to put up with the cruel comments and harassment of the other students, their parents also took part in this discrimination and made threatening calls to Dorothy and her family.

 

            The second picture shows an African-American woman being carried by police officers during a Civil Rights Protest. This picture was very powerful to me because it demonstrated what the African Americans were willing to go through just to make their point. During this time, non-violent protests were common. However, the response of the whites towards these protesters was usually violent and physical harm would be inflicted upon them. It makes me angry seeing how the cops carried that woman as if she wasn’t anything better than a ragged doll. Seeing how she was treated upsets me because this woman was a human being despite her skin color, and she deserved to be treated with respect just like any other American.