The United States has a long history when it comes to African American civil rights. Until African Americans gained the same rights as White Americans, the United States was not fully democratised society. African Americans leaders gained the same rights via time, patience, struggle and fighting. The purpose of this paper is to analyze, compare and contrast different ideas and approaches that African American leaders used in order to fight for the same rights for African Americans. This paper is going to be focused about the ways four African American leaders fought for the same civil rights for African Americans from the late 1860s to 1900s. Those four outstanding African American leaders were Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, James Langston Hughes and Malcolm Little.
James Langston Hughes used to fight for the same rights for African Americans deeply inside his soul. If it was not for his soul and heart that were aching for non-equal rights that African Americans were faced at that period of time, he would not be able to write such a screaming poem that is called “I, Too” (Langson Hughes, I, Too (1926)) . “I, Too” was written in 1926 and James Langston Hughes described his inner thoughts, feelings and imaginations towards the non-equal civil rights. Hughes states in this poem that he is beautiful too in the sentence “They’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed”(Langson Hughes, I, Too (1926)). In my opinion Hughes desperately needed to say that he is beautiful too, no matter what color of skin he has, he is beautiful too both inside and outside, he is beautiful enough too not to eat in the kitchen while “the company comes” (Langson Hughes, I, Too (1926)). .Hughes believes that despite all the hurdles he and African Americans were facing at that time, he will grow strong no matter what. No matter if they have a careless attitude towards him, send him separately to eat in the kitchen when the company comes or in many other situations. By “they”, the author means White Americans. This approach to fight for the same rights was not effective enough in terms of movements and actions, but it was effective enough in terms of touching people’s hearts. Only after the heart is touched, the further movements and actions could be made.
Jackie Robinson who was the professional baseball player and the prominent person among African Americans at that time, used a very brave way in order to start fighting for the same civil rights for African Americans. Jackie Robinson sent a direct letter to the United States president Eisenhower in 1958 where he bravely expressed his thoughts and suggestions towards the non-equal civil rights. Jackie Robinson was tired of being patient because his race was being patient for many years and decades in a row, however being patient did not work. In his letter, Robinson stated that “we have been the most patient of all people and how we could have self-respect and remain patient considering the treatment accorded us through the years” (Robinson). Jackie Robinson said to the president in a written format the words that the whole race was thinking about deeply inside themselves, but never dared to spell it even among themselves. Robinson felt African Americans should have started fighting for their rights, because patience and obedience did not work at all. By writing the letter to the president, he wanted the president to stand against the racial segregation, while there were many pro-segregation politicians at that time (Robinson).
Martin Luther King used a very powerful speech in order to fight for the same civil rights. His speech is famous nowadays and is something that makes America that America that we see it nowadays. That America where the person is judged by his character, but not by his skin color, just as Martin Luther King dreamed. In my opinion, Martin Luther King had the most powerful approach and idea in order to fight with the African Americans’ civil rights. His “I have a dream” speech (Martin Luther King, I Have A Dream Speech) is filled with pain and despair, but at the same time is filled with the best hope for the future. The future that we are living now. Unlike the next African American leader Malcolm X, Martin Luther King was against violence and aggression, as he believed in justice and in the God.
The last African American leader that is going to be analyzed in this paper is Malcolm X. Malcolm X had a strong position that “black nationalists are not going to wait” (Malcolm X). Black people were tired of empty promises and empty words, tired of being non-Americans because of the color of the skin despite that they all were born in the United States, tired of injustice and non-equality that was going on for decades and tired of being a black person himself who was just “a victim of democracy” (Malcolm X). The idea of Malcolm X to fight with non-equality was that if nothing else changes, if the promises are empty, if Black people keep receiving nothing in terms of civil rights, then, “they are not going to wait and they would bring a filibuster” (Malcolm X).
In the conclusion, four African American leaders used different positions and ideas of how to fight for the same civil rights, however the one thing that they had in common is that all of them had a dream for African Americans to have same civil rights as White Americans. They dreamt about the equality between people of different races. However, the differences were in the way four leaders presented their ideas. For example, some of them were for peaceful approaches, while some of them were for aggressive approaches.
Works Cited
Langson Hughes, I, Too (1926). 1926. Poem.
Robinson, Jackie. Letter From Jackie Robinson To President Eizenhower. 1958.
Martin Luther King, I Have A Dream Speech. 1963.
Malcolm X.
