This paper describes the social movements that Blacks participated in during the period from 1900 to date. It tackles the ways in which the movements can be described as one long civil rights movement, and also how were they distinct movements. The paper further assesses their goals and the manner in which they have effected change in the United States. The paper also points out prominent civil rights activists that played an important role in spearheading the civil rights movements.
Most of the black social movements from 1900 to date have basically been fighting against racism. The 20th Century witnessed the growth and spread of social movements in quest to access the American Dream. Up to date, there is no national organization established for purposes of addressing the growth of militancy of young blacks in the urban ghetto.
In 1905, W.E.B. DuBois founded the Niagara movement, which ran the NAACP. This movement aimed partly at protesting against Booker T. Washington’s policy of accommodation to white society. Washington’s policy advocated for self-reliance. It implored blacks to focus on improving their economic status, instead of making demands for social equality without having any grounds to show that they ‘deserve’ it. In the same year, Du Bois and other black activists met at Niagara Falls. The activists issued a manifesto that called for universal manhood suffrage, extension of education, and elimination of all forms of segregation. Due to active opposition of the Niagara movement by Washington and internal conflicts, the organization had already collapsed by 1908.
The movement took up a more radical approach than previous movements. It called for equality in all spheres of American life. W.E.B. Dubois was very instrumental in spearheading for the rights of black people. In 1909, he participated in the establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people. He headed the group, which served as the most influential civil rights organization in the country for the next half century. The main goal of the organization was to achieve social justice and political equality. The following year, NAACP launched its journal, The Crisis. Among the well-known leaders of the organization were: Kwesi Mfume, Julian Bond, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Benjamin Hooks, Roy Wilkins, Walter White, Moorfield Story, Ellar Baker, and James Weldon Johnson.
Between the 1910s and 1930s, the Harlem Renaissance flourished across the country. The new intellectual, artistic and literary movement aimed at fostering the cultural identity of blacks. Marcus Garvey was the leader of the movement, and Leroy Bundy was elected “First Assistant”. Dr. Bundy came to the limelight in 1917 following a white ethnic mob riot in East St, Louis, Illinois, over competition for employment. The race riot resulted to the destruction of property and ejection of 6,000 Negro laborers. A few blacks were also murdered. During the riot, Dr. Bundy called out to blacks to arm themselves in self-defense. This resulted to his arrest, which was viewed by N.A.A.C.P. as an act of heroism. The movement made efforts to provide Dr. Bundy with legal defense, although it had a limited fund. Dr. Bundy, however, bowed to political influence and disowned the N.A.A.C.P. and its defense counsel. It is clear that the government was relentlessly making efforts to destroy the goal of N.A.A.C.P. in ensuring that blacks obtained fair trial and access to justice.
Blacks also worked relentlessly to promote economic empowerment in their communities. In 1922, the Southern Aid Society established the first colored bank at Petersburg. The bank focused on the protection of business and professional interests of black people. It provided employment to hundreds of young men and women. The bank offered ready cash to policyholders to cater for death, accident and sickness expenses. In addition, the bank building provided office facilities to blacks with business and professional interests. With regards to insurance, whites were becoming more reluctant in offering insurance to colored people. In response to this, by early 1920s, more than twenty-five insurance companies had been established by blacks for blacks in the United States. The companies basically sold insurance covering accidents, health and life.
Chester Himes published a novel in 1945, which highlighted issues of class divisions among blacks and whites, job discrimination, color differentiation among African-Americans and black and white racism. The novel is a story about a black shipyard worker in Los Angeles during the Second World War. The man, by the name Robert “Bob” Jones, with little college education and working as a crew leader in a shipyard, has just arrived to Los Angeles from Ohio. During World War II, many black workers such as Jones were being promoted to supervisory roles. Black workers also garnered decent wages due to union efforts. Nevertheless, the issue of racism was still prevalent in all spheres of life. In fact, Jones was promoted simply as a leeway for facilitation of cooperation of black workers during the war.
Bob Jones was compelled to cope with anti-communist paranoia, the spiteful enticements of blacks by white females, and resentments from fellow white workers who still referred to black workers as “negro boys”. For instance, a white female refused to take instructions from Jones because he was a “nigger”. Jones was victimized by America’s double standards. His encounters manifest themselves in his dreams, his passions and his aspirations. His dreams are shattered through his emotional reaction to the brutality he experienced from the white people. Consequently, he decides to fight back through violent means. Bob has insecurities hovering over him as a black man lining in a land dominated by whites, and violent thoughts keep recurring in his mind, although he resorts not to act upon them. When Madge makes a racial slur towards Jones, he calls her a ‘slut,’ which results to his demotion. Jones decides to rape Madge as a way of revenge. However, when Madge gets sexually aroused and asks Jones to rape her, Jones refuses her proposal and stops raping her. The thoughts, actions and dreams of Jones and every other black person living in America in 1942 reflected their sentiments against victimization by white Americans. The author implies that all blacks were victims of the fears and tensions on both sides of the “Black Problem”.
In the middle of the 20th century, civil rights movements had reached their peak. African men and women led the movement at both local and national levels. They pursued their interests through various means. The Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in 1960 to provide young blacks with a platform to advocate for civil rights. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Johnson was viewed by civil rights activists as the greatest milestone towards equality in the United States. The Act prohibited all forms of discrimination.
According to Stokely Carmichael, the two main problems that affected black Americans were poverty and their color. All other problems arose from this two-sided reality. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was established to promote economic prosperity of black Americans. Carmichael believed that their goals could only be achieved through a program with the object of winning political power for impoverished southern blacks. He viewed the United States as a country that valued power rather than nonviolence, morality, and love. Thus, power would give blacks an opportunity to take part in decision-making, and thus create tremendous change in their way of life.
Despite the fact that political power was the basis for self-determination, it was clear that blacks had been deprived of the power. Up to 1960, racist terror had maintained disenfranchisement, which barred talks about organizing for political power. Between 1961 and 1965, SNCC workers dedicated themselves to ensuring that black people won the right to vote. They established voter registration drives in the Deep South. The organization held mock elections in Mississippi in 1963 and facilitated the establishment of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964. The passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 eased SNCC’s struggle to grant blacks voting rights. In Arkansas, SNCC assisted 30 blacks to run for school board elections; only one won the elections. Fraud and intimidation had been used to cause the defeat of the others. Black farmers in several states ran for elective positions in agricultural committees, which played an important decision-making role in issues concerning loans and land use among others. Although some of them won in the elections, they did not gain majority positions needed to control the committees. In Atlanta, Julian Bond was elected twice for the State Legislature.
SNCC worked relentlessly in both South and North America to promote voter registration as well as independent political organizing. In some places such as New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles and Alabama, there was independent political organizing in line with the Black Panther symbol. The aim of the movement was to address itself to the problem of self-determination by assisting black communities in defining their needs, realizing their potential, and going into action through various methods they deem fit. The organization advocated for relocation of land and resources so that blacks could also have an equal share as whites.
Originally, SNCC welcomed the input of whites in their struggles to liberate black Americans. However, when Carmichael took over as chairman of SNCC in 1966, he shifted the movement into a sharply radical direction, clearly demonstrating that whites were no longer welcome. According to Carmichael, it was not possible for oppressors to join the oppressed and tell them how to liberate themselves from oppression. He condemned white members who showed no interest in going to their white communities and working toward ending racism. He only allowed poor whites to join hands with them since he believed that they shared the common goal of ending poverty. Consequently, the shift to black power proved controversial. It evoked fear in many whites, even those who originally sympathized with the movement. The new shift to separatism by younger members also brought internal conflicts with older proponents of nonviolence.
Among the most prominent African-American leaders that spearheaded civil rights movements were Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X. These two leaders were feared and respected in equal measure, even though they represented completely different philosophies. While King had a dream of seeing all whites and blacks sitting together at the table of brotherhood, Malcom X aimed at seeing blacks gain control over their own lives. Whereas Martin King advocated for nonviolent means, Malcom X advocated for the use of violence. King was a staunch Christian whose liberation movement was based on Christian values. Malcom X defected from Christianity to become a Black Muslim.
Martin Luther King Jr. got national attention due to his outstanding oratory skills and demeanor. As a young man, King learned the values of hard work and belief in God. But for a few notable exceptions, Martin Luther did not experience the pains of racial discrimination. In the theology class, he was one among six black students, but he was elected as class president. He was admired by his white classmates because of his outstanding oratory skills, sound judgments and exemplary scholarship.
Martin Luther King Jr. drew inspiration for his non-violent ideologies from both his Christian faith and Mahatma Gandhi’s peaceful teachings. King’s first ministry was in 1954 in Montgomery at the Ebenezer Church. This was the same year when the Supreme Court banned racial segregation in public schools in the classical case of Brown v Board of Education. In 1955, when the police arrested a black woman for refusing to give up her seat in a bus to a white man, Martin Luther staged the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He adopted such non-violent means to end injustices as peaceful marches and demonstrations, bus boycotts, and lunch-counter sit-ins. He led similar campaigns against international conflict and poverty, always keeping up with his philosophy of equality of all men and women, regardless of their color or creed. His leadership inspired the nationwide Civil Rights Movement in 1963. The movement attracted the attention of the whole world through his famous speech “I have a Dream”. The speeches and personal contacts of Martin Luther played an important role in the success of nationwide sit-in campaigns and the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the subsequent Voting Rights Act of 1965. Martin Luther won the Nobel Peace Prize for his use non-violent leadership to achieve justice for blacks and for his strong opposition to the Vietnam War. Martin Luther condemned all forms of injustices in the United States. He asserted that any form of injustice perpetrated against blacks amounted to a nationwide injustice.
In 1966, Martin Luther delivered a speech titled “Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom”. He condemned the use of violence because he believed that it would give the opposition a ground to continue suppressing the civil rights movement. At the time he delivered this speech, already some people in the civil rights movement had promoted the use of violence as a means for achieving racial equality.
Malcom X was born Malcom Little, but he changed his name later in life when he came to know that the name “Little” had been imposed on his family by their slave master. During his young age, Malcom saw his family experience untold suffering at the hands of the white supremacists. The whites burned down his family’s home. They murdered his father as punishment for his aggressive conduct of speaking up for the rights of African Americans, even though the police claimed that both incidents were accidental. Malcom X defected from Christianity and joined a group called the Nation of Islam, which was devoted to securing rights for blacks. Due to his outstanding oratory skills, he was elected as the national spokesperson for the group. He later left the group as a result of disillusionment with its leadership. Malcom decided to create his own organization to give him a better ground to advocate for “complete freedom, justice and equality by any means necessary.” His sentiments were reflected in the famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech.
In conclusion, it is evident that all the rights movements in the 20th century can be seen as one movement with the main goal of achieving equality in the United States. While different methods were applied at different times, the goal still remained, which was to achieve equality. Different leaders used different strategies to achieve this goal. While some people such as Martin Luther King Jr. adopted non-violent means to advocate for equality of the human race, other rights civil activists such as Malcom X used violent means. Other people used literary materials such as journals and novels to express the grievances of African Americans and to seek social, economic and political justice. This civil rights movement has gone up through the 20th century into the 21st century where results can be seen such as the United States embracing a black president.
Bibliography
Himes, Chester B. If he hollers let him go: a novel. Da Capo Press, 2002.
Howard-Pitney, David. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and the Civil Right Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004.
Carmichael, Stokely “What We Want” (TV NY Review, 1966), np.
The Crisis, 25(1922), 23.
