A Man Dedicated to the Struggle for Racial Equality Research Paper

A Man Dedicated to the Struggle for Racial Equality - Research Paper Example Though Dr. Chavis is well-known as a civil right movement leader who worked closely with the Prominent African-American leader, Martin Luther King, he has actively took part in a number of other movements including â€Å"National African American Leadership Summit† (NAALS), â€Å"National Association for the Advancement of Colored People† (NAACP), Million March, etc. From the very beginning of his youth, he has started an activist’s life. While he had been a freshman at St. Augustine College in 1965, he became Martin Luther King’s youth coordinator for the State of North Carolina. In the same year, he also joined the â€Å"Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee† (SNCC), the â€Å"American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees† (AFSCME), and the â€Å"Congress of Racial Equality† (CORE). Religious Activism of Benjamin Chavis Mohammed One of the most significant aspects of Benjamin Chavis’ activism is the religiou s dimension. ... In 1968, starting his career as a field officer in the â€Å"United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice† Chavis Mohammad significantly contributed to the coordination of racial justice strategies with American Black community. Starting with the membership in the â€Å"Southern Christian Leadership Conference† (SCLC) Benjamin had been involved with a significant number of Christianity related organizations throughout his whole life until he joined the Nation of Islam. Though his strategy to join the Nation of Islam was to set an example of peaceful religious cohabitation and to increase the religious tolerance, he was suspended by the authority of the â€Å"United Church of Christ† (UCC). Often some critics allege that Benjamin Chavis’ religiosity was more of a strategy to survive amid the hostility of the whites than of a wholehearted Christian emotion. In this regard, Encyclopedia of World Biography writes that in the mid 20th century, even as the walls of racial segregation was crumbling down under the crushing pressures of various civil society movements, leaders like Chavis Muhammad and Martin Luther King’s were being â€Å"shaped against this back drop of hatred and bigotry. Chavis became involved in his church, finding shelter from such hostile attitudes†. (Encyclopedia of World Biography 1) Racial Awareness and Family-inspiration to Fight for Rights Since Benjamin Chavis was blissfully born in a self-aware African-American family, he was familiar with the black people’s struggle for right in the white dominated US society.