Women in the Civil Rights Movement were
undervalued and they are still undervalued today. If you ask most people to
list ten people who they know that were involved in the movement they will more
often than not list exceptionally more men than women.
This blog post is inspired by one of
the presentations given in class on Monday. More specifically, it is inspired
by the section of the presentation that focused on the women involved in the
movement. Their voices were not heard during the movement; however, we still do
not hear about their work today. News flash: we still live in a patriarchal
society. This also links back to something that was in the presentation.
Martin Luther King Jr. is sometimes
said to have been “a man of his time,” but this is not acceptable. It is just
another excuse for men to get away with the way they treat women. We have to
admit that MLK was prideful at times and did not like to take a step down to
other people’s opinions, especially women’s. We have to admit that he, too was
a flawed human.
“A man of his time” is basically the
same thing as saying “Boys will be boys.” No. Boys will be what is taught to
them, or rather, what is not taught to them. It is yet another excuse that
allows boys or men to act the way they are acting without any repercussions.
Women are still not looked at as equal
members of society. I could argue that Dr. King looked at women as inferior
also. Look at the way he treated his wife. Look at the way he treated his
female co-leaders. This is hypocritical of him for one main reason. MLK was a Christian,
and the Bible clearly states that men and women were all created equal in the
image of God. MLK was most definitely familiar with that passage, so I’m not
sure why his acting out on it took such a hit.
I’m not even trying to say that this
Christian mentality is what we should all follow. I’m saying we should follow
what we know deep down inside is the truth. That all of us are equal and should
be given equal opportunities. Think how different the movement would have been
if women were treated equally. Think how different the history of the CRM would
be told if the women that played a part in it were actually recognized.
I disagree with you in one respect, and that's that I don't think the Bible "clearly states" that women and men are equal. There are so many different ways that modern Christians interpret Genesis that there is a significant amount of ambiguity. In Genesis, it states that man was created first and woman was later created from his rib to be his companion. However, many modern Christians still argue that man and woman were created simultaneously and therefore are equal. In older times, men justified their dominance over women using the Bible, and believed that women were created to be assistants or subjects to men. Unfortunately, this ambiguity that the Bible leaves open to debate cannot effectively support any type of argument, since people interpret it in so many different ways.
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