Montgomery Bus Boycott & Liberation Theology

The Montgomery buss protest came at a time and place when and where America practiced racial segregation in every day life between Blacks and Whites. Such laws were specially a source of conflicts in the Deep South where Black population is important and society lies on remains dating back from the colonial era. 

At the time The American society was following the "separate but equal" precept, meaning that Blacks and Whites were to lead confined lives in public, and interracial contact was not only illegal but socially and morally disapproved.Bus sits were segregated and Whites were given the priority when seats were unavailable. The arrest of a woman refusing to follow the law triggered the onset of a very significant political protest. Rather than doing demonstrations or engaging in violence the movement leader opted for a peaceful way to make themselves heard launching a bus boycott.

However the vast majority of Black people living in Montgomery at the time being poorly educated and politicized the organization had to organized accordingly rather than through a political party or a union. This is where the Latin root "Religare" meaning to "link together" took all its meaning. Blacks in the South being predominantly fervent Baptist Christians made of that church the natural leader of the protest since it was the place where neighborhoods and communities would get together. Such church leaders' charisma and ethos compelled the followers to join a unified, organized cause. This example shows how religion is not only about devotion to the sacred but has also a social role and consequently is very powerful vector for political ideas, for the good or the bad.   

Sociology project #1

Project 1 has been the most challenging assignment so far. Aside from being the most difficult it has been the most valuable. Retaining material through memorization in order to be able to answer correctly multiple answer question is only one way to learn.
However as Jean Piaget said “We only retain form our masters whatever we are able to rebuild on our own”. This means that in order to assimilate and master material one must be able to restate it through their own mental process. Being able to restate new material is an evidence of knowledge ownership. This is why it always advise to “explain” to others as a learning technique. It forces us to handle and organize the concepts in an operational way, which makes sense for our mind. Whatever makes sense to our mind is more easily memorized. I have found that writing as a learning technique is a very powerful method in many different aspects. Learning by just sitting in front of a book or a computer screen is a method that can be deemed as active-passive requires a lot of energy and may not give the best results, at least as far as I am concerned. I need to be proactive in searching, comparing and contrasting concepts in order to stay engaged and focused throughout the whole study time.
This form of learning carries the vantage to benefit those who perform better using visual cues. Since the confrontation of concepts is a very abstract task, mentally handling abstract ideas only helps. Using writing extensively as a form of studying rather than “dry” memorizing by reading has proved to be a much more effective form of learning. I have been periodically using this method but I am now aware of its power and will keep using it not only for this sociology class but also in my future nursing courses where pace is hectic.