Seminar on Afro-American struggle for civil rights held

Harvard University Professor Clarence Lusane has said that United States Constitution framed in 1780's was a revolutionary document as it gave equal rights to all the citizens. However it was problematic in relation to black Americans as due to the agreement between north and south states, it sanctioned slavery.
However the religious and church leaders tried to integrate the whites and the blacks and were in the forefront during the civil rights movement. During the civil war, 1861 to 1865 nearly five thousand people died but it decided the issue of slavery. During 1860's and 1970's, there was a rapid transformation and some of the erstwhile slaves became members of the Congress.
He was speaking at a seminar on Afro-American struggle for civil rights in America organised by Punjab University History Department in collaboration with Pakistan Study Centre on Friday. He surveyed the civil rights movement in details from its inception to the election of the President Obama. He also highlighted the role of various leaders, political parties, church, judiciary and media for the abolition of segregation in the American society.
However, there was a backlash and blacks began to be segregated and even Supreme Court of US in 1896 legitimised this segregation. The resistance to these segregating measures continued in the early decades of the 20th century. It was Martin Luther King, who spear headed the civil right movement in the 1960's and other leaders like Reverend Jessie Jackson and church leaders played a vital role. These leaders adopted the strategy of non-violence and it resulted in the voting rights act of 1965.
The speaker concluded that now the leadership of civil rights movements has shifted to elected leadership and religious leaders have been relegated to the background. He favoured that there should be a close interaction between the two types of leaders.
There was an interactive question answer session at the end. Professor Dr S Qalb-i-Abid, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities thanked the worthy speaker and pointed out that the US civil society has proved that they are not racist by electing president Obama to the highest position in the United States. It is hoped that now American civil society will also be ready to elect their first women president in near future.
Later delivering a lecture at The Centre for Public Policy and Governance (CPPG) Forman Christian College University Dr Clarence Lusane in which he said that President Obama won the elections because he gave the message of change and the people gave him votes against the policies of former president Bush. He said both black and white people vote him and he became the black president with high expectations.