Compare and contrast goals and strategies of African American leaders in the 1890’s-1920’s with the goals and strategies of African American leaders in the 1950’s-1960’s
1890’s to 1920’s Lots of back to Africa Movements goal of returning blacks to their “homeland”
1950’s -60’s Goal of equality with whites and getting blacks integrated into white society.
For most of America’s time, racism was the norm in society. It seems weird to us that the Black community was treated unfairly and didn’t have all the rights we did. But the truth is that throughout history, African Americans have been oppressed because of their race. To combat these issues, the african American society gave multiple attempts to overturn them. Using a variety of strategies centred around nonviolence to achieve their goals. The main progress periods were 1890-1929 and 1950-1969. In those time periods, they had many similar strategies and goals but also some widely different ones. Overall, the 1890-1920’s Civil Rights movement was very similar in goals and strategies to the 1950-1960’s Civil Rights movement but had a few small differences
Goals of the 1890-1920’s Civil Rights Movement:
After the Civil War, the Black people of America were freed from slavery by the thirteenth amendment but they were since denied the freedoms that should have come with their abolition so most of the movement of the time was focused around gaining those freedoms (Aaseng). The avid leader of the movement, W.E.B. Dubois saw the Black people as though they were stuck in a caste system. DuBois demanded full citizenship, full rights, and better education in order to raise the standard of living for black people and make them equal to the whites.
Without some of the brilliant strategies and innovation in the 1890-1920’s civil rights movement, the goals they had established would be pointless. One of the major leaders of the movement, Booker T. Washington, had three possible strategies to gain their rights and equality. The first was to give up the hope of integration and instead push for equal public systems and treatment first (Aaseng).
Basically meaning he thought that if they worked hard in everyday life, they would be treated respectfully and get their rights in time. The final method was that “Washington urged Blacks to create their own institutions, businesses, services, and goods that cater to Blacks, while using racial segregation to separate both the economies.” or to become separatists of the culture and create a well to do White culture and a well-off Black culture, everyone benefits.
Goals of the 1950-1960’s Civil Rights Movement in Comparison With the Goals of the 1890-1920’s Civil Rights Movement:
Even after the 1st Civil Rights movement, the Black population of America was segregated and prejudiced against. Some of the goals this time were much different while many followed the same path. One of the most well-known protests was the Montgomery Bus Boycott to protest the segregation on the bus system. There were designated white and black seats if a white person asked for a black person’s seat they had to give it up, bus drivers were racist, and the fares were more for blacks. This is quite similar to the protests against the Separate Car Law for trains as both were against a popular form of transportation that was being racist. Martin Luther King Junior, who was a primary leader of the 1950-60’s movement, were demands from the bus boycott were bus drivers’ courtesy, the hiring of black drivers on the 4 most predominantly black bus routes, and seating that wasn’t dependent on race in any form (Thorton)
Similar to the 1st civil rights movement, the Black community tried to get the government to act for civil rights. Yet, they did it by forcing the government to uphold the laws already made for civil rights, support the rights given to them by the Constitution,
and have federal troops protect them while they were protesting non-violently (George). Another similarity between the strategies of both the
movements was to create large organizations to support the cause, such as the S.N.C.C. (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and
C.O.R.E. (Congress Of Racial Equality). Perhaps the most famous group organized was the M.I.A. (Montgomery Improvement Association); a civil rights group led by Martin Luther King Jr. and put him in power of most of the actions of the movement. With him in charge, he had the M.I.A. already planning and organizing behind the scenes while he made speeches and protests, much like they did in the 1890-1920’s movement (Thorton). His speeches were done so well that he could create a fire in the hearts of thousands, which was an invaluable factor in the movement (George). Also similar to the 1st movement, the Black community deliberately broke laws as acts of protest, but, they didn’t do it order to get the matter into court. Lastly, the major difference was that boycotts became the most popular method of protest because it was entirely non-violent and couldn’t have fair or legal retaliation (Thorton).
So, the 1890-1920’s Civil Rights movement was very similar in goals and strategies to the 1950-1960’s Civil Rights movement but had a few small differences. The biggest differences were how the leaders decided to lead and preach. In the 1890-1920’s movement, there were a lot of very extreme views while the 1950-1960’s movement mostly had one calm view. Mostly the movements had the same goals, like the ability to vote and public desegregation. Even the goals that weren’t the same were very closely tied and were basically the same in principles, such as the push for the rights within the train cars and the push for rights on the busing system. The amazing yet sad thing is that it took America three times to get the Black community the rights they deserved. Once again, history had to repeat itself until problems were solved. Thus, the rights were granted to the Black social lifes.
https://compareandcontrast1890s-1920sand1950s-60scivilrights.wikispaces.com/
LINCOLN
As early as the 1850s, Lincoln had been politically attacked as an abolitionist, but he did not consider himself one.
In 1863, Lincoln ordered the freedom of all slaves in the areas “in rebellion” (the Confederacy) and insisted on enforcement freeing millions of slaves, but he did not call for the immediate end of slavery everywhere in the U.S. until the proposed 13th Amendment became part of his party platform for the 1864 election.3
In 1842, Abraham Lincoln had married Mary Todd, who was a daughter of a slave-owning family from Kentucky.4Lincoln returned to the political stage as a result of the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act and soon became a leading opponent of the “Slaveocracy”—the political power of the Southern slave owners. The Kansas–Nebraska Act, written to form the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, included language, designed by Stephen A. Douglas,5 which allowed the settlers to decide whether they would or would not accept slavery in their region. Lincoln saw this as a repeal of the 1820 Missouri Compromise, which had outlawed slavery above the 36-30′ parallel.
During the Civil War, Lincoln used the war powers of the presidency to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, in January 1863. (He had warned in September 1862 he would do so if the Confederate states did not return.) It declared “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” but exempted border states and those areas of slave states already under Union control. It immediately changed the legal status of all slaves in the affected areas, and as soon as the Union Army arrived, it actually did liberate the slaves in that area. On the first day it affected tens of thousands of slaves. Month by month it freed thousands more until June 1865, when it had freed the great majority of slaves in the former Confederacy, just 2 months after Lincoln’s assassination on April 15, 1865.
Lincoln had pursued various plans to voluntarily colonize free blacks outside the United States, but none of these had a major effect. Historians disagree over whether or not his plans to colonize blacks were sincere or political posturing. Regardless, by the end of his life, Lincoln had come to support black suffrage, a position that would lead him to be assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.6
Related essay samples:
- DDAD
- Abraham Lincoln Letter to Horace Greeley Analysis Essay
- Famous Thinkers Paper
- Black freedom
- Civil Rights Movement (1076 words)
- The Fugitive Slave Law In 1850 History Essay
- SLAVERY
- Southern Strategy
- Slavery Without Submission Essay
- lincoln
- the longest memory
- 1775-1830 Apush Paper
- Aborotion and Slavery
- The Color Purple The Struggle To Express Themselves A Struggle To Expr
- Booker T. Washington (542 words)