Wednesday Assignment #2

Most social movements of past and present have had one or more iconic figureheads that are associated with the movement. The Civil Rights Movement had people such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. The Iraq Anti-War Movement had Cindy Sheehan, the right to bear arms movement had Charlton Heston, and the environmental movement has Al Gore. These people became symbols of their respected movements, oftentimes sparking certain events to take place within a movement, or act as a media figurehead for the movement. These icons are oftentimes selected not because of what they do, but because of who they are, what they do, when they do it, and how they go about it.

There are several advantages of having an icon in a particular movement. Take for example Cindy Sheehan, the icon of the recent Anti-War Movement. She is an average mother who lost her son in the Iraq War. Normal people can relate to that. “Unlike Jane Fonda, who spoke out against the Vietnam War from her privileged perch in Hollywood, Sheehan emerged as a middle-aged, middle-class Everymom…” (Houppert) and Rosa Parks, according to Paul Hendrikson, was a normal civic activist and youth leader, someone whom people could identify with. The most important factor when selecting a movement icon is how well they can relate to their target audience. Look at the Mormon movement against the ERA in the 1970s. Although not a specific person, women of the congregations were the only ones allowed to canvas neighborhoods so women would get the idea that other women were against the ERA. These icons also bring an incredible amount of media coverage and publicity to the movements. National media coverage can very quickly change people’s minds about a specific topic, educate them to a cause they may not have known about, or even get them involved in a specific movement. In the case of Cindy Sheehan, she started her own antiwar group, Gold Star Families for Peace. The attention from Rosa Parks ignited the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Along with the positives of social movement icons, there are some pitfalls also. This was avoided largely in the case of picking Rosa Parks instead of one of the other numerous bus protesters of the civil rights movement. It is also seen in the case of Cindy Sheehan. Enemies of a particular movement will use a person’s background against them in order to try to defeat a movement. In the article “The Ladies Before Rosa: Let Us Now Praise Unfamous Women,” this is seen when looking at other women who did not get off the bus. Claudette Colvin was arrested about nine months before Rosa Parks, but has no mention in any history book. This was because she was a 15 year-old who came from a house with no indoor toilet, and according to her, “They didn’t want me because I didn’t represent the middle class….They didn’t want me involved because of where I lived and what my parents’ background was.” (Hendrickson) They will also spin the circumstances of the icon getting involved with a movement so followers might second-guess who they are supporting. Many counter-protesters of Cindy Sheehan feel she is manipulated by radical lefties and speaking beyond her expertise. Another pitfall of having an icon for a movement is that people get tired of the particular person, or the icon then tries to change the original message like in the case with Sheehan. Jennifer Hunter of the Chicago Sun-Times is one who can no longer stand Sheehan, even though originally supporting her, stating that she has lost her “good sense.” An icon may not even know much about the movement they got themselves involved with. Sheehan’s son did die, which got her involved, but does she understand the complexities of the entire situation? This could be used against her and the movement.

If creating a Frankenstein icon for the Civil Rights movement, there would be several factors that would make the icon successful. First of all, the race of the icon would have to be African-American. No respectful African-American would put any trust into a white Civil Rights Movement activist. They could be either male or female because each has their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to different aspects of the movement. The icon would also have to be left-wing, most likely a democrat, because according to polling, African-Americans most often vote democrat. Also African-Americans tend to be religious, veering towards different denominations of Christianity, so the icon would have to be publicly affiliated with some church or church organization. The icon would have to be educated but still know how to get across to the uneducated, and even if he may not be poor, the icon would have to be able to reach out to the poor along with the rich.

Things could have been very different for the Civil Rights Movement if Claudette Colvin had become the icon instead of Rosa Parks. I feel that the movement might not have been as successful if it had gone that route. Claudette was only 15 at the time, and according to Hendrickson, she was mocked at school and called crazy. It appears she did not have the maturity to handle such a big situation if she would have become the icon. People wanted to see someone like Rosa Parks, older and wiser in their minds, not some 15 year-old girl from a poor upbringing. If Claudette Colvin had become the icon, who knows if the bus boycott would have even happened.