The Progressive Era was meant to improve the economic, social and political issues affecting America. However, one of the most critical areas that needed reform was the plight of the African Americans, which was overlooked by most of the white progressives. The issue of racism affected many aspects of the American’s society. For example, the blacks were denied the opportunity to participate in the voting process. The progressive movement did little in terms of improving the lives of African Americans. The white progressives supported segregation as they believed that African Americans were inferior and in some instances they were seen as part of the problems in the country. The fight against racism made African-American leaders form movements aimed at getting their basic rights. Some of the leaders had similar objectives, but others had different goals altogether. However, most of them were fighting to ensure that African Americans obtained their basic rights. Some like Marcus Garvey stated that it is hard for the African Americans to obtain their basic rights. For that reason, he suggested that there should be a free state for the African Americans only.
Marcus Garvey’s idea was similar to that of Henry McNeal Turner. Turner had suggested that African Americans should emigrate from the southern part and move to other regions where there was no racism. Garvey, on the other hand, suggested that all the African Americans should separate and move to a free state where they would be alone, and that way, no cases of discrimination would be witnessed. The idea was highly opposed by some of the black people, as they said that the distance from America to another state in Africa was too big (Finkenbine, 119).
In Marcus Garvey’s declaration, he suggested that educational opportunities should be availed to both the blacks and the white people. Booker T. Washington, who was also a revolutionist, argued that Black Americans should not make their situation more volatile but instead they ought to focus on the opportunities that were ahead them (Finkenbine, 12).
Ida B. Wells was another African American demanding equality in America in that she facilitated the establishment of National Association of Colored Women. Her idea was also similar to the Marcus Garvey. Garvey had formed a movement, which was to demand better treatment of African Americans (Finkenbine, 12). In Garvey’s declaration, it is evident that the Negros were not given the right to vote, and that is why he suggested that where there is a community of Negros, then the law should allow them to elect their representatives.
However, there was a difference between the way Garvey and the Booker T. Washington perceived the idea of racism. Washington believed that the issue of equality could only be achieved through proper negotiations and not by force while Garvey believed that African Americans must be treated without discrimination, and if the use of force would lead to the achievement of that goal, so be it (Finkenbine, 114). In his declaration, he indicated that everything was created and made available for every mankind and thus everyone was entitled to an equal portion of everything.
Garvey was a revolutionary leader against the issue of racism in America, and from his declaration, it is evident that God created all men equal, and every person was entitled to liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness (Finkenbine, iv). The issue of quoting God was not common to those other revolutionaries, although some believed in equality and the moral ideology.
Some of the leaders of the African American movement used their resources to facilitate reforms in the society. T. Washington started the Tuskegee Institute, and the aim was to give African Americans skills that would help them to earn a living; that was one of the strategies used to fight against the issue of discrimination (Finkenbine, 12). Those skills would make the African-Americans self-sufficient in the hostile community of white people. Some of the leaders like Ida B. Wells used their career to fight against discrimination. She was a journalist, and she always wrote on the hardships the African American underwent. That created awareness and thus promoted the idea of reforms. Marcus Garvey also used his professionalism in journalism to assist in writing articles about inequality in the community.
The biased judicial and law enforcement system was one of the factors that made Garvey call for reforms. In that era, African Americans were regarded as more criminal compared their white counterparts. The result was strict measures taken against African Americans. Garvey’s call was similar to the other revolutionary leaders that called for reforms in the justice system. They wanted a system that would treat all the people in America in an equal and just way.
In conclusion, it is evident that the issue of racism in America in the Progressive Era affected many sectors. The white progressives did not put much concern in the plight of the African Americans. African Americans were regarded as inferior and thus they were denied their basic rights. In the southern part where the African Americans were the majority, they were not allowed to vote even though the constitution stated that they could (Finkenbine, iv). Different African American leaders emerged at that time to demand for the rights of the black people. Some of the leaders similarities in the way they led their movements, but some had some unique traits that facilitated their movement to freedom.
Work Cited
Finkenbine, Roy E. Sources of the African American Past: Primary Sources in American
History. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2004. Print.
