Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, urged the use of nonviolent means of protest in the fight for recognition of the civil rights of African Americans. In these excerpts from his April 16, 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” he defends nonviolent direct action such as marches and sit-ins as the surest means to “open the door to negotiation.”
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Tag Archives: politics
Voices of the Flint Sitdown Strike
During the Great Depression, even workers with employment often found themselves in desperate situations.
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Huey Long
Among the critics of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal was Louisiana politician Huey Long.
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Social Darwinism
Charles Darwin’s ideas of natural selection were applied by some to society, culture, and economics. This was often used to explain and justify economic and political inequalities.
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The Populist Movement
By the 1890s, a new political force emerged which attempted to combine the interests of rural, western farmers and the industrial laborers of the cities.
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Perfecting Humanity
One aspect of the Progressive Era was the popularity of eugenics—selective reproduction to improve humanity. Indiana was the first state in the United States (and one of the first places in the world) to establish laws to determine whether or not the physically and mentally ill or disabled should be allowed to reproduce. This law was controversial from its inception. Signed into law by Indiana Governor J. Frank Hanly, its enforcement was blocked by the subsequent governor, Thomas R. Marshall. The law was found unconstitutional by the Indiana Supreme Court in 1921.
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A Call for War
The First World War was a conflict which the United States remained out of until April 1917. Throughout the years leading up to American entry, debate took place over the war’s justness and whether or not there was a concrete reason for the United States to declare war on Germany.
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The Cold War and the World
Following World War II, geopolitical dominance was split between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union (and its allies)
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Nehru on Non-Alignment
Economic Development and Nonalignment (1956)
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The World Between Two Wars
The years between the two world wars–1919 and 1939–saw a number of crises.
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