Mayor Richard Hatcher of Gary, Indiana proclaimed “[the] ‘70’s will be the decade of an independent black political thrust” during the Black Political Convention of 1972 (Carson, et al. 1991, 492). This thrust would inevitably come forms of social, political, and economic changes that invariably relied less on Black Power rhetoric and more on inclusionary opportunities for blacks in majority White American spheres. Undoubtedly, many factors led to the demobilization of the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power, however, three reasons relating to black leadership and three relating to the national climate prove most influential. Black leadership changes involved older leaders capitulating to racism, the persecution of Black Freedom leaders, and the emergence of Black Elected Officials as a sign of increased political incorporation. As for the national climate, this country witnessed a resurgence of white supremacy groups, the emergence of a Black middle class, and the election of Richard Nixon, who brought his Law and Order rhetoric to the Oval Office.
Prior to the transformative decade of 1970, African Americans involved in certain industries continued to find their chances of upward mobility and corporate inclusivity challenged by the unrelenting racism of labor unions. In one instance, no black leaders operated in an officer’s position in the steelworkers’ union, leading many to understand that white power structures were not an effective way of moving through the channels of union representation (Marable 2007, 113). The racism trade unions surprisingly led to members of the Old Guard of the Civil Rights movement placing the blame on blacks for their lack of involvement, especially as Bayard Rustin declared, “blacks themselves ...
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...nges throughout the national climate demonstrated the many problems facing the newest generation of Black Freedom fighters, especially as numerous forces worked against their efforts to establish cohesive national presence.
Works Cited
Carson, Clayborne, David J. Garrow, Gerald Gill, Vincent Harding, and Darlene Clark Hines. 1991. The Eyes on the Prize: Civil Rights Reader : Documents, Speeches, and Firsthand Accounts from the Black Freedom Struggle 1954-1990. New York City, New York: Penguin Books.
Marable, Manning. 2007. Race, Reform, and Rebellion: the second Reconstruction and beyond in Black America. Third. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.
Eyes on the Prize. 1990. Power to the People. Episode Number 14. Directed by Louis Massiah and Terry Kay Rockefeller. Written by Louis Massiah and Terry Kay Rockefeller. Narrated by Julian Bond. PBS
Hahn discusses both the well-known struggle against white supremacy and the less examined conflicts within the black community. He tells of the remarkable rise of Southern blacks to local and state power and the white campaign to restore their version of racial order, disenfranchise blacks, and exclude them from politics. Blacks built many political and social structures to pursue their political goals, including organizations such as Union Leagues, the Colored Farmers’ Alliance, chapters of the Republican Party, and emigration organizations. Hahn used this part of the book to successfully recover the importance of black political action shaping their own history.
As an unabridged version of his other book, Eric Foner sets out to accomplish four main goals in A Short History of Reconstruction. These points enable the author to provide a smaller, but not neglectful, account of the United States during Reconstruction. By exploring the essence of the black experience, examining the ways in which Southern society evolved, the development of racial attitudes and race relations, and the complexities of race and class in the postwar South, as well as the emergence during the Civil War and Reconstruction of a national state possessing vastly expanded authority and a new set of purposes, Foner creates a narrative that encompasses some of the major issues during Reconstruction. Additionally, the author provides
However, with two subsequent editions of the book, one in August 1965 and another in October 1973—each adding new chapters as the Civil Rights movement progressed—one wonders if Dr. King’s assessment still holds up, if indeed The Strange Career of Jim Crow is still the historical bible of the civil rights movement. In addition, one questions the objectivity of the book considering that it gained endorsements from figures who were promoting a cause and because Woodward had also promoted that same cause. The original edition of The Strange Career of Jim Crow had as its thesis that segregation and Jim Crow Laws were a relative late comer in race relations in the South only dating to the late 1880s and early 1890s. Also part of that thesis is that race relations in the South were not static, that a great deal of change has occurred in the dynamics of race relations. Woodward presents a clear argument that segregation in the South did not really start forming until the 1890s.
Wilson created the atmosphere of not only binding black race with economical and social issues when there are other contributing factors as well. The plight of low-skilled inner city black males explains the other variables. He argues “Americans may not fully understand the dreadful social and economic circumstances that have moved these bla...
Both Fannie Lou Hamer and Malcolm X rejected the idea that the main goal of the civil rights movement should be based on an aspiration to gain rights “equal” to those of white men and to assimilate into white culture. They instead emphasized a need to empower Black Americans.1 Their ideas were considered radical at a time when Martin Luther King Jr. preached the potential of white and black americans to overcome “the race issue” together and in a gradual manner. Malcolm X’s attempt to achieve his goals through revolutionary top-down methods and Fannie Lou Hamer’s focus on the need for grassroots movements contributed to the Civil Rights movement significantly by encouraging and assisting Black Americans.
Frazier begins a more detailed explanation of his theories by discussing the place of the black bourgeoisie in the political and power structures of America. He contends that the black middle class has no real power in America at this time. He attributes the appearance of power to the fact that the members of the black bourgeoisie hold strategic positions in the segregated community. However, he maintains that all of these “power” positions still feed into the white power structure.
The thesis “The New View of Reconstruction”, Eric Foner reviews the constantly changing view on the subject of the Reconstruction. The postwar Reconstruction period has been viewed in many different lights throughout history but one fact remains true, that it was one of the most “violent, dramatic and controversial” times in US’s history (224). In the beginning of his thesis, Eric Foner talks about the way the Reconstruction was though as before the 1960 as a period of intense, corruption and manipulation of the freedman. After mentioning the old way of thinking before the 1960’s, Eric Foner reveals the reason for this train of thought, the ignored testimonials of the black freedman.
Mayor Loeb, the racist mayor of Memphis, refused to acknowledge the union that would help black workers (Honey, p. 6). Memphis black workers were forced to live and work squalor conditions. Underpaid black workers were systematically forced into bad jobs with the lowest of wages because the sanitation job was below the white man (At the River I Stand). The sanitation job was reserved for blacks and only hired black people. Black sanitation workers were discriminately forced to work in the field of sanitation because it was one of the few jobs that were open to black workers (At the River I Stand). The city of Memphis management did not want a union to form because it would better the pay and conditions for black workers. Leaving one of society’s worst jobs to black workers is a racial issue and must be tackled as such. But, racial equality and economic equality go hand-in-hand, which is why the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike was both an economic issue and a racial
The quote above is from the British governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore who proclaimed freedom for African American slaves who fought for the British, after George Washington announced there would be no additional recruitment of Blacks in the Continental army in 1776. For numerous free blacks and enslaved blacks, the Revolutionary War was considered to be an essential period in black manifestation. Many public officials (like Dunmore), who initially had not expressed their views on slavery, saw the importance of African Americans and considered them an imperative tool in winning the war. Looking back, it almost seems like an inherent paradox in white America’s desire of emancipation from England while there still enslaving blacks. This concept has different grounds in white’s idea of liberation in comparison to that of the African-Americans. To white Americans, this war was for liberation in a political/economical tone rather than in the sense of the privatized oppression that blacks suffered from. But what started this war and what would this mean for blacks? How did these African Americans contribute to the war effort? What were there some of their duties? How did the white communities perceive them? How did it all end for these blacks? The main topic of this paper is to show how the use African Americans helped the control the outcome of the war while monitoring their contributions.
Vaught, S. (2003 ). The White Citizen’s Council of Montgomery, 1955-1958: The Politics of Countermovement, Moral Culture and Civic Bigotry. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University.
Nabrit, James M. Jr. “The Relative Progress and the Negro in the United States: Critical Summary and Evaluation.” Journal of Negro History 32.4 (1963): 507-516. JSTOR. U of Illinois Lib., Urbana. 11 Apr. 2004
Chafe, William, Raymond Gavins, and Robert Korstad. Remembering Jim Crow. New York: The New Press, 2001.
Inequality in the United States was present for a very long time. It wasn’t until essentially the 1960’s when blacks finally had all of their humane rights. It took many courageous and very charismatic leaders to achieve all the things colored people grasped during this time. In my essay today I will be talking about some of these extremely memorable and honorable events and people that transpired and why they are so significant.
During the late 19th and early 20th century, racial injustice was very prominent and even wildly accepted in the South. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two of the most renowned “pioneers in the [search] for African-American equality in America” (Washington, DuBois, and the Black Future). Washington was “born a slave” who highly believed in the concept of “separate but equal,” meaning that “we can be as [distant] as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress” (Washington 1042). DuBois was a victim of many “racial problems before his years as a student” and disagreed with Washington’s point of view, which led
Gould, W. (1977). Black workers in white unions: Job discrimination in the United States. London: Cornell University Press.