There were many prominent male figures in the Civil Rights Movement, such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, or A. Philip Randolph. However, many women played a large role in the movement. Rosa Parks became the symbol of the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she refused to give up her seat. Ella Baker helped form both the SNCC and the SCLC. Frances Beal brought up the issue of the exploitation of black women in America’s economic system. The role of gender was still an issue, as it was men who held more leadership positions. Without the involvement of women in the movement, charismatic leadership would have been the main way of leadership, and there would not have been as much group-centered leadership. The involvement of women in the movement brought …show more content…
However, according to August Meier, he was criticized by many other activist leaders in the movement because he occasionally displayed indecisiveness and a “tendency to accept compromise” (Meier, 195). King was considered a charismatic leader for the movement for his famous “I Have A Dream” speech and because of his ability to use his charisma to mobilize people, but he definitely wasn’t indisposable to the movement itself. The movement would have happened even without his leadership. Clayborne Carson explains that, “In Montgomery, for example, local black leaders such as E.D. Nixon, Rosa Parks, and JoAnn Robinson started the bus boycott before King became the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association” (Carson, 204). Two of these leaders just so happen to be female. In fact, it was JoAnn Robinson who called for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This proves that charismatic leadership was not an essential characteristic of the movement, that activists did step up and contributed to the movement without any guidance from a prominent leader. A major critic of charismatic leadership was Ella Baker. Baker argued that charismatic leaders don’t always focus on the social movement thriving, but for self promotion. She also …show more content…
African Americans were at a major disadvantage economically, as they had a very little amount of economic opportunities compared to white people. Groups such as the NAACP fought for economic equality. Booker T. Washington argued for it as early as the late 1800’s. Although it still was not achieved even in the 1960’s. White people her paid much more for doing the exact same job as African Americans. Although, it was black women in particular who suffered the most economically. Companies cared very little for black women in the workforce, paying them very little for their work. They were paid significantly less than white women for the same work, and also significantly less than black men for the same work. Frances Beal argued that “those industries which employ mainly black women are the most exploitive in the country” (Beal, 115). Unions did not help either, as they frequently showed racist and chauvinistic behavior. The economic system did not offer any support for black women, and unfortunately, not even black men always showed support. Black men suffered lots of oppression in both society and in the workforce, and so were instilled with a sense of inferiority or even demasculinized. So to reinstill a sense of power or superiority, they had to find a group to oppress themselves- black women. Beal described black women in America as a “slave of a slave.” She also described that society has