The Effectiveness of the Suffragette Movement and the Civil Rights Movement

There’re many movements striving for rights and then making a difference in history. In the early 20th century, the Suffragette movement led by Emmeline Pankhurst strived in a violent way for the women’s enfranchisement in Britain. Whereas, in the mid-20th century in America, the Civil Rights movement noted for the “I Have a Dream” speech strived for desegregation of Black people in many aspects. Both movements marked a milestone in their own course and weighed a lot in history. However, compared with the Suffragette movement, the Civil Rights movement is more effective in the struggling methods, achieving aspects and the positive impact.

In the struggling methods, the non-violent way the Civil Rights movement mainly used is more popular and easier to lead successful campaigns than the Suffragette movement. According to Joyce, there were always dozens of non-militant suffragists for every suffragette and it was the moderates of the NUWSS, led by Millicent Fawcette, who actually won the vote (Marlow, 2000). Therefore, the suffragettes actually become the foil to the contemporary non-violent suffragists not only in the number of participants but also in the effect, which vividly proves that the non-violent way is easier to gain more support. In the Civil Rights movement, lots of black people from all walks of life participated in the non-violent movement such as sit-ins in school, boycotts in bus and the passionate speeches among the crowd. According to Abdel Samad, non-violent rhetoric and non-violent dramatization were the two most successful strategies to win over American public opinion during the civil rights movement. Non-violent protesters developed coercive mechanisms that enabled them to exert pressure on their opponents and the portrayal of their “suffering” images was crucial to achieve public indignation towards segregationists (Sherif, 2009). Therefore, the method of non-violence which causes the coercive mechanism is both intelligent and effective to lead successful campaigns. From above, the Suffragette movement is less effective than the Civil Rights movement in the way they used.

Secondly, the Civil Rights movement influences in a larger scale and more efficient than the Suffragette movement, for it achieves not only in voting rights but also in such aspects as the education, employment and housing. The following events which can be found online show the various aspects the Civil Rights movement achieved. In education, the United States Supreme Court made segregation illegal in public schools in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped with the equal employment and the voting rights. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prevented housing discrimination (Civil Rights Movement, 2009). However, in the Suffragette Movement, the main fruit of the suffragettes only exists in one aspect, the voting rights, which were initially accomplished in the enactment of The Representation of the People Act 1918, allowing women over the age of 30 to vote (Parliamentary Archives, 1918). And how much did the process of the Suffragette movement help with the ''fruit''? According to the UK parliament website, Emmeline Pankhurst suspended the activities of the Women's Social and Political Union and concentrated her efforts on helping the government recruit women into war work. The involvement of women in the war effort did much to change perceptions of the role of women in British society because during the war years women undertook jobs normally carried out by men and proved they could do the work just as well (Suffrage in Wartime, 1989). Therefore, the former violent campaigns of the suffragettes didn't help much with the ''fruit''. From this perspective, because of the fewer fruits and less efficient process, the suffragette movement is less effective than Civil Rights movement.

Thirdly, the Civil Rights movement and the Suffragette movement both gained great publicity, but the former had more positive impact on the society. In the Civil Rights movement, in addition to the eloquent and passionate speeches by some leaders, music also united and identified with lots of African Americans as an important positive role. Singers and musicians collaborated with ethnomusicologists and song collectors to disseminate songs to activists, both at large meetings and through publications (Music in the Civil Rights Movement, 2009). According to Martin Luther, they are more than just incantations of clever phrases designed to invigorate a campaign; they are as old as the history of the Negro in America. They are adaptations of the songs the slaves sang--the sorrow songs, the shouts for joy, the battle hymns and the anthems of our movement. I have heard people talk of their beat and rhythm, but we in the movements are as inspired by their words (King, 1964). However, the Suffragette movement attracted much public attention mainly in a destructive way, thus gradually deviating from the initial goal behind this. According to Rowena, the attacks of art works by the suffragettes received widespread publicity at first but were almost universally condemned (Fowler, 1991). What’s the relationship between art works and voting rights? We can only to say that they gained publicity at the expense of both the properties and the reputation. In the NUWSS pamphlet, the suffragists of NUWSS were eager to alienate themselves to the suffragettes and call it “a great mistake” to equate them (NUWSS pamphlets, 1913). Therefore, the Civil Rights movement yields better social effect than the Suffragette movement.

In a nutshell, the Civil Rights movement is more effective than the Suffragette movement because of its non-violent method, comprehensive aspects and the positive impact. What’s more, the non-violent method is the most predominant advantage of the Civil Rights movement. Initially, non-violence helps a movement gather more participants than the militant movement for its easier feasibility. When more and more participants joined in a movement, the more aspects it can achieve since the participants with different backgrounds can contribute to different aspects. Finally, people get united and form a positive social atmosphere which overwhelms the opponents. In retrospect, the Suffragette movement adopted the militant method at first until the WWI after the leader suspended the campaign and helped with the war. It’s the “peaceful” contribution which is actually the non-violence that helped suffragettes gain the voting rights. Therefore, the method is either the throttle or the brake to success. All in all, the Civil Rights movement is more effective than the Suffragette movement.

References:

1. Abdel Samad, S. (2009) Non-Violence in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America. Refubium-Repositorium der Freien Universität Berlin. Doi：10.17169/refubium-11135
2. Civil Rights Movements (2009) Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/black- history/civil-rights-movement (Accessed: 1 December 2019).
3. Fara, P. Women in Science: A Temporary Liberation. Nature 511, 25–27 (2014) doi:10.1038/511025a
4. Fowler, R. (1991) Why Did Suffragettes Attack Works of Art. Journal of Women's History, 2(3), 109-125.
5. King, Martin Luther (1964) Why We Can’t Wait. Signet, 61-62.
6. Lang, S. (1999) Parliamentary Reform, 1785-1928. London and New York: Routledge.
7. Marlow, J. (2001) Votes for Women: the Virago Book of Suffragettes. London: Yirago Press.
8. Music in the Civil Rights Movement (2009) Available at: https://www.loc.gov/collections/civil-rights-history-project/articles-and-essays/music-in-the-civil-rights-movement/ (Accessed: 2 December 2019).
9. NWUSS pamphlets (1913) What Does Women’s Suffrage Mean? https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/suffragettes-violence-and-militancy (Accessed: 2 December 2019)
10. Representation of the People Act 1918 (1918) Available at: https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/parliamentary-collections/collections-the-vote-and-after/representation-of-the-people-act-1918/ (Accessed: 1 December 2019).
11. Suffrage in Wartime https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/suffragetteswartime/ (no date) (Accessed: 2 December 2019)