Great Barrington was a predominantly white town with a small but long-established African American community. His mother Mary worked as a maid for local white families, despite being partially paralyzed in her hands and legs from a stroke (Miller, 2005). Du Bois’s father Alfred left home, ostensibly to look for work, but never returned home. Though life was difficult and money hard to come by, Du Bois was bright and articulate and he excelled in school. Most of his friends were sons of middle class white families in town.
Washington delivered one of the most famous civil right speeches, the Atlanta Compromise Address, which is about urging African-Americans to get economic security before social or political equality. This speech caused arguments between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois but, many people agreed with him and fought for economic security first. Another subject he spoke about was the National Negro Business League, which was formed 1915. The organization was formed to promote financial and commercial welfare of blacks.
The Constitution, until recently, did not apply to blacks; blacks feel they deserve payments from 310 years of slavery, destruction to their minds and culture. Dr. Martin Luther King's dilemma in the United States was of a different kind. He was torn between his identity as a Black man of African descent and his identity as an American. He urged Americans to judge based on the content of the character not by skin color and also believed in non-violent protests. Martin Luther King Jr’s main perspective during the fight on racism was equality.
sMalcom X versus Martin Luther King Emily Voutes Malcolm X (1925-1965): Even his own name is a stab to the opinions of prejudice white folks during his era. This is true because his own, self declared last name "X" represents "the rejection of slave-names” and the absence of an inherited African name to take its place." Meaning that he was prepared to create a personal identity that represented himself and his race, and not a name that a white man forced upon him. Though they had similar characteristics and morals; his approach to the civil rights movement compared to the strategies of other civil rights leaders of his time, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. differed greatly. Rather than trying to integrate the black community into the white, Malcom X focused on the complete separation of the two races.
At this time there was a struggle between northern states(anti-slave states) and southern states(slave states). Both wanter to maintain power of government without the other trying to as well. This was shown when Tallmadge and Thomas both came up with amendments for congress’ conundrum. Tallmadge was a northerner who didn’t want slavery to exsist in the newly found state. Not because of the morality of it all but because he didn’t want the south to maintain more power.
They were like children and would not survive by themselves. When President Lincoln was elected into power in 1860 as promised South Carolina seceded from the United States of America, they felt that Lincoln would try and abolish slavery completely and felt that although he did not preach to abolish slavery trying to stop it spreading was just another way of expressing his views. However this was far from correct as although yes Lincoln did want to stop spreading slavery across the USA he realised that abolishing completely in the short term was just unrealistic and lead to further divide of the USA, nevertheless it was possible that no one was surprised when the radical state of South Carolina seceded from the USA. Carolina had always been a trouble state and this was not the first rift that they had with the Federal Government, however perhaps the more surprising issue was when fellow southern states followed suit and not long after 6 other southern states seceded. This consequently led to the battle of Fort Sumner and what was described by many as the start of the Civil War.
Washington preferred a gradual incline of black involvement and acceptance, whereas DuBois preferred immediate direct action. DuBois tried to get African Americans to be involved in politics for this would be the only way their freedoms would be maintained and that could gain influence in society. Carter Woodson states that without political involvement, they would “lose ground in the basic things of life,” (Doc I). DuBois says that the original democratic system does not exist anymore; a caste system replaced it with the white men on top, who try to diminish the civil liberties of those below them, the blacks (Doc F). Dubois’s solution is that African Americans must constantly fight and argue for what they desire in order to ever gain their rights (Doc E).
Initially formed to protect local communities from police brutality and racism, The Black Panthers believed that the non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King had failed and any promised changes to their lifestyle via the 'traditional' civil rights movement, would take too long to be implemented or simply not introduced. The Black Panther Party believed they could offer the black community a political organization that would serve their needs and interests at a time when “black people were moving away from the philosophy and strategy of non violent action toward sterner actions” Newton and Seale formalized the party with a uniform of blue shirts, black pants, black leather jackets, black berets and openly carried loaded shotguns. They developed the Ten Point Platform (appendix 1) detailing the objectives of the party. Newton and Seale believed the Black Panther Party for self-defense, aimed to end oppression of blacks and voiced the idea that black people in America were waging a war against the US government. The Black Panther Party was seen as a militant group responsible for
The black power movement hindered from the blacks to achieve their aim more then it helped them. Although some campaigns such as the NAACP welcomed black and white members arguing that co-operation would make the movement stronger, there were other groups that prevented the blacks from achieving their aim and gaining rights because black movement groups such as the Nation Of Islam and SNCC introduced the use of self-defence, heritage not to work with whites and criticism which hindered the black civil rights. One reason why the black power movement hindered black civil rights was because of the use of self-defence and violence. Malcolm X believed that self-defence was a more powerful weapon than love and forgiveness. He advocated gun ownership for black Americans.
However in order for social transformation to exist we must all develop a mentality/lifestyle that rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. Instead we as a nation should express love to one another. MLK wants to us to acknowledge the individuals (black) that has shaped our country in a positive way. The Negro made a huge difference to society, but instead are encountered with social disapproval and faced with man’s inhumane acts. He believes we should show appreciation for these people who have suffered for righteousness’ sake.