Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education

The Civil Rights Movement and the African Ameri­can Statement of Equality

As the concept of the melting pot in the United States

refers to ethnic minorities, the African Americans fall outside

its scope. The African-American people have a distinctive place in US multiculturalism policy, and their racial characteristics are highlighted.

The concept of ‘us’ in the United States has a special status in the social-cultural environment created by the Anglo-Saxon group. The concept of ‘the other’, i.e. African American, should fit into this socio-cultural environment. This racial discrimination emerged as a social problem in the United States in the late 1940s. As unemployment rose in Europe after World War II, the adaptation of the African Americans to the society created by white people in the US, as well as their social and economic status in that society was another problem. US society was created by the conjunction of the cultural, social and political characteristics of the Whites who had previously migrated to the country, and also of other Whites, who had later migrated to this area and adapted to the socio-economic environment. However, from the late 1940s attempts

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public and political unions, rather than simply being in the private sector, posed the question of whether this society was acceptable to African-Americans.

The civil rights movement is more effective in the political arena of intergroup differences than cultural, religious and linguistic differences. Thus, since 1950, the social movement organized and led by African Americans, has put the protection of rights at the forefront of the US political agenda. The elimination of racial discrimination, particularly against African Americans, and the principle of social equality were put before society at the outset of the civil rights movement. The movement sought to end as soon as possible the racial discrimination that caused social segregation in the United States and ensure the principle of equality in the social sphere. At the same time, the civil rights movement worked for the elimination of discrimination against the Blacks, positivity in their social and political views, and towards ensuring equality of rights and status of all people in society regardless of their race, ethnic origin and religion. This movement, which sought to obtain all the civil rights enjoyed by the Whites in the United States, required that the citizen, i.e. not only one person, but everyone who has an identity card and national status, has rights protected by law. However, the civil rights movement subsequently headed in two different directions because Black Muslims put forward their own religious demands, which went beyond the scope of the struggle for civil rights. That is to say, the participants in the movement were no longer satisfied with the demand for national citizenship in the struggle for equality, claiming that the struggle for equality should be based on the identity of a particular group, and the identity should be based on one of two grounds: ethnicity or religion.

The Civil Rights Movement was not only welcomed by the US community, but played a major role in eliminating racial discrimination against African Americans. In the 1980s, as a

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result of the positive efforts made by this movement, good work was carried out in the field of education; African Americans were ensured equal rights to higher education, and new textbooks were published. The positive aspect of the movement was that the participants in the process aimed at achieving civil rights equal to those of the Whites. The most important aspect of this activity was to achieve the elimination of existing problems in society in the interests of all ethnic groups. Thus, the positive solution to racial discrimination instilled in society the idea of a positive response to the beliefs of ethnic and religious groups in determining identity, rather than internationalist confidence in civil rights.

This positive aspect of the movement resulted in negative consequences for both Whites and Blacks. For the Whites, this movement placed obstacles to smoother promotion prospects in education and social spheres in comparison with Blacks, whereas for the Blacks the civil rights movement caused difficulties in the recognition and acceptance of their rights in society. However, the liberals supported both the civil rights movement and the continuation of positive action. They believed that both these social processes could solve the problems of the African Americans from the political point of view. Because the Blacks were considered to belong to a lower social category from a socio-economic point of view, they thought that the environment resulted from ‘othering’, and where the ‘othering’ activities occupied an important place, could only be resolved within the framework of equality. Overall, this movement and action gave an impetus to the development of multiculturalism in the United States and contributed to the creation of the US model of multiculturalism.

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Asian Americans and Hispanics

The term Asian Americans refers to groups who immigrated from Asia to the United States in order to work or for other purposes from the earliest days of the US to the present time. However, the phrase does not encompass the highest social category in society. It shows itself in ethnic and linguistic differences, for the Chinese and Japanese constitute the majority of immigrants from Asia. At the same time, there are quite a lot of migrants from Eastern Asia and Indo-China.

The most important feature of the Asian Americans coming to the United States is their lack of a colonial mentality In other words, unlike the Africans, the Asian Americans were not brought to America by force and exploited as a result of events that occurred in colonies. As Jopken says, the Asian people with no such history have succeeded in education and business. At the same time, since the Asians have not been subjected to the racial discrimination experienced by African Americans, the civil rights movement and positive action have not come to the fore either.

The Hispanics are numerically the largest ethnic group in the United States. They also differ from other ethnic minorities in terms of growth. As waves of migration of people of Spanish origin continue, their natural progression also steadily increases. If this process continues, in the next few decades one in four people living in the United States will be of Spanish origin. According to a survey conducted in 2000, one in seven US citizens was of Spanish descent. They live mainly in Texas, California, Chicago, New York and Miami. This ethnic group, called Latino, has been formed as a result of waves of migration from Mexico, Cuba and South America to the United States since the beginning of the 19th century. People belonging to this ethnic group are called Latinos because they speak a Latin language. The main characteristic of immigrants of

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Latin American and Mexican origin is their ability to preserve their culture and language and at the same time to keep strong ties with their motherland.