The final exam will discuss the struggles African Americans encounter for civil rights during the 1950s thru 1980s. The attitude Malcolm X had in the civil rights and the issues that others had with Malcolm X philosophy in achieve equal rights for African Americans. Also, there will be great details in Martin Luther King Jr. and others philosophy in achieving equal rights for African Americans. The overall outcome of the civil rights movement in the 1970’s and 1980’s after the death of the most important Black leaders of this country. To pin point the beginning of the civil rights movement depends on who and what is being discussed.
In 1841 he lobbied successfully for the abolition of the sojourner law, which permitted slave owners to visit the state briefly with their slaves. He also lectured on behalf of the Fugitive Aid Society. An active reporter on education to the black national convention movement of the 1850s, he was secretary of the 1853 (July 6-8) convention in Rochester, New York. He spoke out against the American Colonization Society and Garnet's African Civilization Society. In 1849 Reason, along with J. W. C. Pennington and Frederick Douglass, sponsored a mass demonstration against colonization at Shiloh Presbyterian Church in New York City.
African Americans wanted their voting rights, desegregation of schools and employment, and adequate housing. In the beginning, the movement was well organized as most African Americans rallied together in their struggle for those rights that were denied to them simply because of the color of their skin. Consequently, the movement began to falter due to differences of opinions and styles on how to best obtain those rights. In the late 1950’s and early1960’s racial tensions where at an all-time high. African American men were fighting in Vietnam alongside of white Americans, yet returning to a nation that was still treating them as second class citizens.
One such person was Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King was a renowned Black civil rights campaigner who played a part in several major campaigns such as The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the events that took place in Birmingham in 1963. He helped to get Black Americans equal civil and voting rights. However he was not the only person to help the advancement of black Americans. There were many other civil right groups such as SNCC, who helped organise The Sit-ins of 1960; NAACP, who also aided The Montgomery Bus Boycott; and The Black Panthers, a more Militant group whose main cause was to empower Black people.
The government had no right to take away the right of the American citizen that he or she had reserved by the Constitution. The right to transport a slave was the same to transport any other object for merchandise. The decision clearly states that the right of a property in a slave is clearly and definitely confirmed in the constitution. “The right to traffic in it, like an ordinary article of merchandise an property, was guarantied to citizen of the united states and every state that might desire it, for 20 years” (272). This meant that even if a slave was brought to a “slave free” state he will remain with his owner since the slave is no more than a bottle of whiskey to sell.
When the war was over slavery was abolished but in the Presidential Election of 1864, Douglass did not support Lincoln because he felt that Lincoln was not enforcing that the blacks still could not vote, instead he supported John C. Fremont. When Lincoln died Douglass was one of the speakers, saying that Lincoln was a “white man’s president”, he also mentioned the positive and negatives about Lincoln’s presidency and how Lincoln want the expansion of slavery to stop but not completely eliminated. When Douglass gave his monthly speech in September 1861 “The Mission for War” (Douglass 176), he wanted to criticize the way that the army was being segregated and how black were not being given the same opportunities as white soldiers. He begins by mentioning how many blacks fought during the Revolutionary War, who received their freedom, but would still be willing to fight for their country if need be. But the Union does not want blacks with weapons since they themselves believed that black soldiers would not make for adequate troops.
1. “One of the difficulties about being a Negro writer (and this in not special pleading, since I don’t mean to suggest that he has it worse than anybody else) is that the Negro problem is written about so widely” (446) James Baldwin is referring to the fact that African American writers have written about all of the problems already suffered by African Americans; He feels that every body considers themselves informed about the African History. He also is stating that there is either a pro or against side in the writings there is pain on both sides there for it is difficult to find things to write about because both sides cause him pain. 2. “But it is a part of the buisness of the writer-as I see it- to examine attitudes, to go beneath the surface, to tap the source.
The slave owners were afraid of slave rebellions occurring if slaves had access to texts based on enlightenment thinking, like Thomas Paine's "the Rights of Man". Even if African American inventors were free, like Jennings, they had severe prejudices to overcome. Most African Americans, slaves or free men, were condemned to domestic service, manual trades, and agriculture by the institutional racism of American society in the 19th century (and beyond.) Nevertheless, during this period,
He was a Baptist minister as well as civil rights activist who fought for the rights and representation of the black Americans. He was against racial discrimination that was being perpetuated by the white counterparts. On the other hand, Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa in 1918, and he is still alive. He was one of the African leaders who have gone in the books of history for fighting tirelessly for the representation of Africans and Indians in the government. He was instrumental in bringing to an end the apartheid regime, which mistreated Africans by denying them land and other fundamental rights.
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.