African-American Activism- An Overview (Part One)
Booker T. Washington
(1856-1915)
historical context:
Gilded Age
laissez-faire
Jim Crow South------------->
1866: 14th Amendment
"equal protection"
1877: end of Rad. Reconstr.
rise of “Redeemers”
Jim Crow laws:
1880s-90s, railroads
1890s-1910s, disfranch.
1900s-20s, public accom.
1896: Plessy v. Ferguson;
"separate but equal"
1915: BTW dies.
ideology:
self-help
patience and hard work
start at bottom
opportunity
unresentful + obedient
industrial/ agric. education
gradualism
W. E. B. Du Bois
Marcus Garvey
(1868-1963)
(1887-1940)
historical context:
historical context:
Progressive Era
New Era/ “Tribal Twenties”
limits of marketplace
“American Plan”/ welf. cap
racist/Progressive North
Harlem Renaissance
1900-20s: “Dunningites”------>
1916: Great Migration
rise of social science
Garvey arrives fr. W. Ind.
1906-8: riots and lynchings in
first “Red Scare”
Atlanta and Springfield
1915: Birth of a Nation
1907: Gandhi’s non-violent
rise of new KKK
protests in S.Afr. + India
immigration restriction
1920: 19th Amendment1927: Garvey deported
women’s suffrage
1929: Great Depression
1940: March on Wash. Mov’t
1930: Nation of Islam, Elijah
1942: CORE
Mohammed/ W.D. Fard
1963: Du Bois dies
1940: Garvey dies
ideology:
ideology:
pressure + protest to ∆ circ.
black nationalism
suffrage and political rights
race pride
overturn Jim Crow/
self-help (BTW)
integration
racial separatism (incr. later)
litigation and legislation
Africanism
higher education
“If Europe is for Europeans,
“talented tenth”
then Africa will be for the
government action
black peoples of the
∆ environment and circumst.
world”
written work/ speeches:
written work/ speeches:
written work/ speeches:
1895: “Atlanta Compromise”
1898: Philadelphia Negro
1916: Negro World
“cast down you bucket where
environmentalism and
“Up you mighty race, you can
you are”
sociology w/a political
accomplish what you will”
“the agitation of questions of
agenda
social equality is the
1903: Souls of Black Folk
extremest folly
criticizes BTW for
accepting black pol/econ
inferiority
1911: The Crisis (NAACP)
institutional response:
institutional response:
institutional response:
1881: Tuskegee Institute
1905: Niagara Convention
1914: United Negro Impr.
behind the scenes agitation
vote, econ opp.,
Assoc. (UNIA) in London
against Jim Crow
integration
"negro race pride"
“until we get these rights
1916: UNIA to Harlem
we will never cease to
1919: Black Star Line
protest”
1920: UNIA conf.
1909: NAACP founded in
Liberian Rehab. Project
NYC
1923: trial for mail fraud
white/ black
(later convicted, commuted,
intellectuals.
deported
racial equality through
legal action and higher
education
Civil Rights- Selective Timeline:
1866
1870s
1881
1895
1896
1903
1905
1907
1909
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution; "equal protection"
"Jim Crow" through 1960s
Tuskegee Institute
Booker T. Washington and the “Atlanta Compromise” Speech at Atlanta Exposition
Plessy v. Ferguson; "separate but equal"
WEB Dubois’Souls of Black Folk
WEB Dubois and the Niagra Convention
Gandhi begins non-violent protests in South Africa and, later, India
NAACP founded in NYC by white and black intellectuals pursuing racial equality through
legal action and public education projects
1914
Marcus Garvey founds United Negro Improvement Assoc. to improving "negro race pride"
1915
B. T. Washington dies. Last nationally influential Southern black leader until the 1950s
1916
WWI begins “Great Migration” of rural blacks to Southern and Northern cities
1930
Nation of Islam founded by W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammed
1941
A. Philip Randolph of Black Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organizes March on
Washington Mov’t
1942
Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), James Farmer, Bayard Rustin, E.D. Nixon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1950
Linda Brown, an 8-year old Afro-American, prevented from attending all-white public school
1952
Malcolm Little released from prison, joins Nation of Islam and becomes Malcolm X
1953
Baton Rouge Ordinance 222 and Bus Boycotts: Rev. T.J. Jemison forms United Defense League.
Accepts compromise expanding seating section for blacks
1954
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas; NAACP provides representation (Thurgood
Marshall). Public school segregation declared unconstitutional (Knocks down “separate
but equal” doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson)
Eisenhower administration never endorses or enforces Brown
White groups opposing Brown organize against NAACP with legislation and anti-black
violence
1955
Brown II calls for de-segregation with" all deliberate speed"
Rosa Parks arrest begins Montgomery Bus Boycott: Montgomery Improvement Assoc. formed by
Rev. Ralph Abernathy, with Rev. Martin Luther King as leader. Includes E.D. Nixon,
Rufus Lewis, Jo Ann Robinson.
SCLC formed with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in leadership
Southern states pass laws prohibiting NAACP activities. Struck down in 1958
1956
Tallahassee Inter Civic Council formed by Rev. C.K. Steel and Rev. Daniel Speed.
Birmingham Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights formed by Rev. Fred
Shuttlesworth. Use non violent action and lawsuits to push for bus, school and civil
service desegregation. Beatings and bombs and “Bull” Connor. (see 1963)
1957
9 Afro-American students attempt to attend Little Rock Central High School; Gov. of Arkansas
Orval Farbus uses State Guard to keep them out. President Eisenhower compelled to send
National Guard to enforce Brown
1959
Greensboro Sit-In Movement
1960
SNCC created
1961
Freedom Rides
1963
Birmingham Movement
1964
Freedom Summer
Malcolm X breaks with Nation of Islam
Passage of 1964 Civil Rights Act under President Johnson; integrates public accommodations
1965
Malcolm X assassinated
Voting Rights Act passed
1966
Black Panther Party formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
1968
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated
1968 Civil Rights Act passed; forbids housing discrimination