1. Civil Rights & Civil Disobedience
political action for change
Essential Question:
How has the practice of civil disobedience and non-violent protest led to effective changes in the Modern World?

2. Civil Disobedience
Refusal to obey a law on the grounds that it is immoral or unjust in itself, or furthers injustice.
Goal: make the issue public and call attention to an unjust law.

3. Roots of the Idea Henry David Thoreau
Jailed for refusing to pay a poll tax
coined the term “civil disobedience”

4. Roots of the Idea Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi
Led India’s struggle for independence against the British
Advocated non-violent direct action

5. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Minister in Montgomery, Alabama, helped organize the bus boycott of , which sparked the modern civil rights movement
Led numerous civil rights marches and activities involving nonviolent direct action

6. Other examples of civil disobedience
Anti-Apartheid movements in South Africa led by Nelson Mandela

7. Civil disobedience Public in two ways:
Not done in secret but in the open
Intended to serve broad public interest, not individual self interest.