Read the excerpt from the original, uncensored draft of John Lewis’s speech prepared for the 1963 March on Washington:
'We will not wait for the President, the Justice Department, nor Congress, but we will take things into our own hands and create a source of power, outside of any national structure, that could and would assure us a victory... We will march through the South, through the heart of Dixie, the way Sherman did. We shall pursue our own "scorched earth" policy and burn Jim Crow to the ground—nonviolently.'
Lewis’s description of a 'scorched earth' policy to be carried out 'nonviolently' best illustrates which of the following concepts?
- AA commitment to passive submission that sought to avoid tension and political conflict
- BA strategy focused on securing voting rights solely through constitutional litigation in federal courts
- The use of nonviolent direct action as an aggressive, confrontational weapon to force social and political changeAnswer
- DAn appeal to emigrate from the United States to build cooperative Black-led communities abroad
Answer
The use of nonviolent direct action as an aggressive, confrontational weapon to force social and political change
The correct answer is that nonviolent direct action was utilized as an aggressive, confrontational weapon. John Lewis's uncensored draft uses militant imagery (such as General Sherman's march and a 'scorched earth' policy) to describe nonviolent resistance. This demonstrates that for organizations like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), nonviolence was not a passive plea for moral sympathy, but a disruptive political strategy designed to force immediate structural change.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Nonviolent direct action as active resistance