Roles and Responsibilities of Citizens

In order to affect change, the citizens had to step up and do something so their voices would be heard. Instead of actually using their voices or fists to make a change, they would stay silent and would not use violence. If the African Americans fought back, the white people would say that they're "animals" and don't deserve to be equal. 

The African Americans had many different ways to protest silently. One of the ways were sit-ins. They would sit in segregated restaurants and not order anything. As they would get yelled at and spit on, they still had to remain calm and friendly. They had to sit straight and face the counter at all times. They could not talk to anyone in the restaurants, not even to each other. The African Americans felt that if they went against any of these rules, the white people would not take the protest seriously. 

Another one of the ways the African Americans protested was freedom rides. These people were known as freedom riders. They would get on segregated interstate buses and ride them into segregated parts of the U.S., especially the South. The freedom riders would get beat up and their buses would get set on fire but they continued to ride the buses. 

Both of these tactics were extremely successful in affecting change. The fact that they continued to keep protesting after getting called terrible names shows how strong they were and how much they wanted the change.