Was the “The Movement” primarily a struggle for Civil Rights or Human Rights?

Civil rights movement in the US history was a political movement of people towards rights and equality before law. It was a tenuous and lengthy path accompanied by various rebellions and civil unrest. It took tremendous efforts and many lives of the US citizens to establish a free and equal society. It refers to the events and movements in the country against public and personal racial discrimination.

“Walking with the Wind” is an incredible book devoted to “The Movement” that was written by John Robert Lewis, who was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement and today is one of the prominent American politicians. Born in Troy, Alabama, a young boy was set to become one of the people who made a significant difference in the past historical events that shaped our country. Lewis was one of those individuals who organized various boycotts and nonviolent protests against racial inequality and voting rights. He became known for playing an important role in the Selma to Montgomery marches because he was always active and a leader of many.

When Lewis was a little child, he was a “different seed” from the kids of his age. From his early childhood, he knew that he had to step out of the orderly line and become a person who will challenge the system. The system that kept him and his family from achieving his full potential and dreams. However, Lewis did not know that he was to become one of those who will be on the forefront of changing the attitude of America on racial discrimination that he laid out in his book “Walking in the Wind”.

“Walking with the Wind” is a book about the son of the sharecropper in Alabama who stepped off the farm of his father and got right into the epicenter of the struggle for the civil rights. John Lewis narrates his life in a simple public and private manner. Born in a rural poverty but in a one loving and caring family, Lewis had an extraordinary life.

John Lewis was a leader of the Nashville Movement which was a student effort to unite the city by means of sit-in techniques according to the teaching of Gandhi. Being a part of it, a young man became one of the key figures of the movement and even set a tone for several major civil campaigns of the 60’s. “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.” (“Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]”) During the Freedom Rides of 1961 Lewis was harshly beaten and got to jail. Later he becomes a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee where he assisted to shape and lead the organization. At the time of the attack of Selma in 1965 at the so-called “Bloody Sunday”, John Lewis has suffered a broken skull during the gas attack by the troops. He was a man of strong will who was not willing to give up his childhood hero, Martin Luther King, and who pursued his believes on and on. Same as Mr. King, John Lewis was a true believer in the nonviolent social action philosophy.

Later in 1966 Lewis was overthrown being the chairmen of SNCC by Stokely Carmichael who was supporting an uprising “Black Power” direction. In several year Lewis was there supporting the presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy and he was with him before the assassination of the latter. John Lewis was committed to the nonviolence principles and devoted a lot of his time to organize millions of voters in the South of the country.