During the 19th and 20th century, the American foreign policies such as the Platt Amendment and The Teller Amendment gave it the power to interfere with any nation they deemed unfit. According to history, the notion of America settlers being of a more superior race, gave them an advantage to conquer and use other races that they considered Inferior to their own advantages. Foreign policies at this period were written with the notion of protecting the settlers from any other race in the world (Schaller, 2012). According to historians, the foreign policies in this era were supposed to conform the Native Americans, the African Americans, and other races deemed inferior into ethnic groups more desirable to the settlers.
There were mixed emotions amongst the African American society when America became an imperial power. However, one thing that was agreed on amongst the society was that they felt racially inferior to the settlers. After America becoming an imperial power, the African Americans knew that they were never going to be considered as equals. The feeling of hopelessness and desperation was so much that they segregated themselves to living in black only societies.
During 1895 to 1901, Booker, T Washington and W.E.D Du Bois agreed on the same fact that blacks needed to focus more on economic survival than fighting for equal rights. However, after 1901 Du Bois seemed to disagree completely with Washington’s way of reasoning. According to Du Bois, African Americans needed to fight for their right and equality through radical protest movements (Schaller, 2012). He viewed the economic survival, which was promoted by Washington as being redundant since it silenced any real chance African Americans had on improving themselves. Du Bois viewed the programme, which was ran by Washington as accommodating for the benefits of the whites and not the black. He argued that Washington’s programme kept the black community under control of the whites.
Reference:
Schaller, Michael. 2013. American horizons: U.S. history in a global context. New York: Oxford University Press.
