African-American Civil Rights in the period 1863-1965 - Essay Example

Account for the changing attitude of Federral Government to the issue of African-American Civil Rights in the period 1863-1965 Between 1863 and 1965 in America, there was a major ideological shift in how the Federal Government perceived African-American issues. 1863 holds value because it is the year that President Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in America. Likewise, 1965 holds value because it is the year after the Civil Rights act was passed and the year the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. The Emancipation Proclamation and the Voters Rights Act are separated by virtually 100 years, during which time the Civil Rights Movement and the United States Federal government shared a very tumultuous relationship. 1850 - 1900 The Movement In the 1850's and 60's Sojourner Truth played a pivotal part in bringing together diverging groups within the Civil Rights movement, but it would be her historical sit down with President Abraham Lincoln that would signify the start of a collaborative relationship between the movement and the United States Federal government. At a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio after women had chanted in opposition of Truth speaking, despite their disapproval she stood up and said, "I could work as much and eat as much as a man ... and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman I have borne thirteen children, and seen 'em most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman (Joseph, 1990)" Here Truth's words came to define the role of the black woman in the feminist movement and exemplify the extreme direction of the cause. She identified the place of the woman in American society as equal to a man's. Later on in an Equal Rights Convention in New York, she would go on to say, "There is a great stir about colored men getting their rights, but not a word about the colored women; and if colored men get their rights, and not colored women theirs, you see the colored men will be masters over the women, and it will be just as bad as it was before. So I am for keeping the thing going while things are stirring; because if we wait till it is still, it will take a great while to get it going again (Lewis, 1999)." This attitude she had was a response to the political climate surrounding the Civil Rights activism during her era. It was divided between two groups, black men and white women, leaving no space for the plight of the black woman to protest for her rights. She was essentially a radical feminist because she was a key activist in both the Feminist and the Abolitionist movements, but she denounced the need for male contribution in the drive towards equal rights with statements like, "Where did your Christ come from From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him (Lewis, 1999)" "If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them (Lewis, 1999)." Likewise, her book The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, published in 1850 chronicled her life and became used as a powerful doctrine to persuade readers to support abolishing slavery for both male and female blacks, making a prominent figure in both movements. The money she received from the book also provided Truth with the money needed to buy a house in Florence Massachusetts, which was unheard of for a former slave. The success of the novel also established her as a respected public speaker known for her insight and wit. This insight she became known for also led her to be the first activist to connect the rights of slaves and blacks with the woman's movement. This was a connection that was met with much resistance by traditional moderate Feminists. Politics It was the Inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln on March 4th, 1961 that would mark the beginning of the United States Federal government's involvement with the Civil Rights movement. Two weeks prior to his Inauguration, the Confederacy Inaugurated Jefferson Davis as their President. This put Lincoln under a lot of pressure to make strategic moves to prepare for a rebel uprising. Within the first year of his Presidency Abraham Lincoln began drafting the Emancipation Proclamation. On July 12, 1862, he noted on an unsuccessful meeting with representatives of Border States that, "It was on this occasion and on this ride that he first mentioned to Mr. Seward and myself the subject of emancipating the slaves by proclamation in case the Rebels did not cease to persist in their war on the Government and the Union, of which he saw no evidence. He dwelt earnestly on the gravity, importance, and delicacy of the movement, said he had given it much thought and had about come to the conclusion that it was a military necessity absolutely essential for the salvation of the Union, that we must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued, etc., etc." (Welles, p70-71) While his attempt to sway them to his side failed, it marked the change in governmental policy towards slavery in America. Abraham Lincoln revealed his plans to pass the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet on July 22 (Lincoln Institute 1999, p1). American slavery and the slave trade is an occurrence that happened in America between 1619 and 1865 according to (Randall Robinson, 2001 p6). The South did not react well to the abolishment of slavery. It was more so done by Abraham Lincoln in the wake of civil War, in the hopes of getting many slaves to move up North and fight with the Union for their freedom. Robinson puts it best when describing how this concept formulated into the contemporary black male we see today. They had been declared free-four million of them Abandoned, penniless and unskilled, to the mercies of a humiliated and hostile South, millions of men, women, and children trudged into the false freedom of the Jim Crow South with virtually nothing in the way of recompense, preparation, or even national apology. (Robinson 2001, 12) Here Robinson puts a visual image in the reader's mind of the initial spark that would eventually become a major ideological difference between blacks in the south and those in the North. This Antebellum south, that was left behind after the war to impose its will on blacks, is the same mentality that can be deemed as the cause of the black underclass in America, which was so prevalently overlooked until Hurricane Katrina revealed it to middle America, forcing it to be televised daily. Reparations are the forty acres and a mule that were promised to blacks upon the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation (Robinson 2001, 13). It was deemed a necessary entitlement to slaves for the heinous injustice the United States government had allowed to be carried out for so many years. Of course the true adherence to this concept never came to pass, and blacks have suffered sociologically and economically ever since, specifically in the South. Reparations are the restitutions considered to be able to make up for this burden. Though it is a burden that can never truly be accounted for, the hope is reparations will equal out the economic playing field between whites and blacks in America. It is unfathomable how anyone could put a price on the effects past slavery has had on African Americans today, but in his book Robinson mentions that a black reverend activist was once publicized as saying whites owed black $500 million in reparations (Robinson 2001, p7). Despite the success of the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1876 Jim Crow laws were passed, which were basically state and local laws that mandated segregation in public schools, transportation, restrooms, and other social areas. These laws lasted from 1876 until 1965, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed. Media & Popular Culture Rudyard Kipling's controversial poem "Whiteman's Burden", originally published in 1899 was released to the public with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands. Deeply embedded in Kipling's prose can be found the racist politics very common of the era and popular among people who believed in the expansion of white imperialism throughout the world. Kipling's main argument proposes that it is the responsibility of whites in the west to colonize and rule over the darker nations. Inherent in this view is an ideology that was much of the driving force behind American expansionism as well as Eurocentric idealism. The ideology promoted in Kipling's work did not originate with him; he just gave it a popular label. The infamy of his poem is more a testament to the power of publishing in the west during the 19th century than anything else. In contrast to Kipling's work, Frederick Douglas' memoir Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas was in wide circulation during this time in the 19th century as well. The abolitionist text chronicled the slave experience and the life of the man who was considered to be one of the most enigmatic figures in American history. His publication also became known as the most influential pieces of literature to drive the abolitionist movement. A key part of the text is when Douglas points out the intricate nature between a slave master and his mixed children, recognizing that the children of mixed origin will have a harder time than the pure black slaves. He talks about the way slave masters prone to being more lenient with their mixed slave children run the risk of having their wives discover the truth of the child's origin. That is of course if the child's father is not immediately recognizable by the color of its skin or texture of its hair. The circumstances depicted in these two narrative biographies have cultural significance specifically in the United States. Douglas would go on to be cited as an iconic figure in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and he would be the first African American to run for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. 1900's - 1960's Politics 1901-1909, Theodore Roosevelt Administration In 1901 when George H. White, the representative of North Carolina, and only black member of congress loses his reelection, congress would become re-segregated until 1929. Alabama legislature passed a law declaring that "any marriage between any white person and a Negro, or descendant of a Negro (occidnetaldissent.com)." Florida also passes a similar law at this time. Between 1901 and 1947, the California state government passed laws constructing and regulating separate schools for Asian Americans. 1909-1913, William Howard Taft Administration In 1909, Florida and Texas pass a Railroad statute stating that separate but equal accommodations must be followed or they will be fined $500. This same year, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is founded I New York City, to which many white progressives claim membership. Between 1910 and 1930 there is a dramatic migration of over 500,000 blacks to the North. Woodrow Wilson Administration, 1913-1921 The Wilson Administration passes twenty laws promoting Jim Crow and segregation among federal employees. President Wilson issued an executive order upon entering office to segregate all federal government operations, and he replaces all blacks who hold appointed offices in the federal government and in the U.S. Navy with whites. WWI occurs between 1914 and 1918 and the United States gets involved in 1917 and the United States tries to force French army officials to segregate their troops according to race. In 1920, Marcus Garvey's Back to Africa movement through his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) grows in popularity and it gains thousands of followers until its breaks up in the mid 1920's. 1923-1929, Calvin Coolidge Administration In 1923, the Rosewood Massacre happens in Florida, and then legislation to ban lynching is defeated by southern opposition in congress. This same year in the Moore v. Dempsy case the Supreme Court manages to overturn criminal court cases where blacks were excluded from the juries. 1929-1933, Herbert Hoover Administration The same year the stock market crashes, the Nation of Islam is established. 1933-1945, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Administration The NAACP starts the campaign process to desegregate schools. Elijah Muhamed takes up Leadership of the Nation of Islam. The Anti-Lynching bill is defeated once again in congress. Between 1941-1945, the United States gets involved with World War II. In 1941, the 332nd Fighter Group, otherwise known as the Tuskegee Airmen is formed as a part of the Army Air Corps. When A. Philip Randolph threatens to have a March on Washington, President Roosevelt issues an executive order banning racial discrimination in hiring of government defense jobs. 1945-1953, Harry Truman Administration & 1953-1961, Dwight Eisenhower Administration In 1954, Brown v. Board of Education ruled that segregated education was unconstitutional. In 1963, it was found in the case of Jackson v. the Pasadena City School District that Pasadena manipulated school boundaries in order to maintain racial segregation at Washington Junior High. Washington Junior High was located in a neutral zone, many white parents started moving their children out of the school in the early 1940's. The result of this was a shift from a 10 percent black population in 1946, to 52 percent in 1958, and then 84 percent in 1964. Jackson v. the Pasadena City School District marked the courts awareness of this overlooked segregation in the school system. In 1955 Emmett Louis "Bobo" Till, and African American 14 year old boy was murdered in Money, Mississippi. The incident was very brutal and, when the suspects who were acquitted later admitted to committing the crime, it sparked uproar in the black community and became recognized as one of the key events that sparked The Civil Rights Movement. Likewise later that same year on Decemeber 1 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to make room for a white passenger in accordance with Jim Crow law at the time. Media & Popular Culture In 1903, W.E.B. Dubois publishes The Souls of Black Folk. In 1930, Amos 'n' Andy radio shows debuts, giving blacks a significant presence in American popular culture. Betwee 1935-1950 it becomes a part of popular American culture to exercise tolerance in the attempt to defeat fascism and this notion is popular recognized as "the American Way." In 1945 Nat King Cole would eventually follow suite and produce the very first negro radio variety show on NBC, nationally putting blacks in a respectable light. This same year Ebony magazine is founded by John Johnson. In 1946, the National Football League would integrate the league by drafting its first colored players. Amiri Baraka, originally known as Leroi Jones is an iconic and enigmatic figure in American history. His prose in both his plays and poetry have garnered both the acclaim and scrutiny of Western culture making him a national treasure and internationally relevant in literary circles throughout the globe. His works have sparked both accolades and controversy. Originally born Everett LeRoi Jones, he would eventually be given the name Amiri Baraka by the nation of Islam upon initiating the transition from the bohemian lifestyle to his now world renowned Black Nationalist position. The Movement In his work, Judgment Days, Nick Kotz remarks on the significant impact figures like Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy had on America in the 1960's when he says, These two were the indispensible leaders, in the right place at the right time to effect the end of legal apartheid in America. Without the synergy they created together, the outcome of the civil rights revolution would have been very different. That brief moment in the 1960s, a time jolting social and political turbulence, created significant consequences for all citizens. (Kotz, 2005) Undoubtedly these two men were indispensible for the social change that occurred during the 1960s, in how King's march on Washington combined with John F. Kennedy's presidency would eventually lead to the passing of the Civil Rights Act; but, in truth they are just the most acclaimed of many heroic figures who stood up against the corruption and injustice of their era. During this time Muhammad Ali established himself as a figure of black pride; he was the heavy weight champion of the world and when he refused to be drafted into the army for his opposition to the Vietnam war, he signified a direct correlation between the hippie activists and the Civil Rights movement. Likewise, figures like Malcom X and Hewey Newton, leader of the Black Panther party, uncovered the conspiracies within the American Democratic process that plagued the black community, and they offered a message of self defense for those who found King's message of nonviolence too passive to swallow. On the American prison system Malcom X argued that, "There is no agenda that can lead 12 % of a population into making up more than 60% of the prison population accept a racial agenda. It is no secret that convicted felons are deprived the right to vote, and work most respected jobs in the United States. We are talking about a system that isn't keen to being opposed (X, 1998)." Lines were drawn and conflicts were arising everywhere throughout the country. It was this position of black nationalism, as it was clearly defined early on in the 50's by poets like Amiri Baraka, that became significant in the 60's with the Civil Rights movement. Ultimately, the driving force that swayed governmental policy in the direction of the Civil Rights ideals was the movements collaboration with the counter culture and the sexual revolution. The 1960's counter culture mostly originated out of college campuses, specifically with the 1964 Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, which in turn originated out of the Civil Rights Movement of the American South. The 'New Left' is a term often used to describe the political stance of the individuals who contributed to these left-wing movements between 1960 and 1970. The major reason why these movements were considered 'new-left,' had to do with the fact that they focused more towards cultural change than labor oriented activism. Identified as the movement of college campuses, mass protests and opposition to the Vietnam War, no other characteristic more signified the 1960's counter culture than the use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs. If Jack Kerouac is the father author of the beatnik generation which eventually gave birth to the hippie movement and its counter culture, than Hunter S. Thompson gained his acclaim by chronicling its end. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a revelation on the American dream, in that it reveals the dark truth of the counter cultural movement, specifically the drug culture. "There was a fantastic universal sense that what we were doing was right, that we were winningAnd that, I think, was the handle-that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail (Thompson, 2000)." A very observant point made by Robinson in his book, in support of reparations, is to point out that the Germans gave reparations to the Jews after the Holocaust, for twelve years (Robinson, 8). Blacks would obviously benefit from reparations, and the fear entailed in this for many whites has to do with the fear of the unknown. Undoubtedly many whites question what this increase in the quality of life for blacks would mean for them as well. Obviously this black race, who Horowitz claims has a long running flirtation with separatists and liberals, would be expected to pose an even greater threat to a western society characterized for having a predominantly white conservative elitist culture (Horowitz, 3), once they have established more economic clout. Robinson makes a reference to this notion in his book. Ibrahim had said to me. "We law professors talk about every imaginable subject, but when the issue of reparations is raised among white professors, many of whom are otherwise liberal, it is met with silence. Clearly, there is a case to be made for this as an unpaid debt. Our claim may not be enforceable in the courts because the federal government has to agree to allow itself to be sued. (Robinson 2001, p7) The irony recognized when analyzing those who are in favor of reparations and those who are opposed is that the same liberals who Horowitz claims the blacks side with, bite their tongue when addressing the conflict of reparations. One can only wonder if this is a case of the liberal white lawyers being rational in opposing the government, or if it is an implication to the true limit to the depth of white guilt. Conclusion In sum, the transition from the Emancipation Proclamation to the Voters Rights Act of 1965 was gradual and tenuous. The road was long and hard, and drastic strides in civil rights in America can be seen as a direct result of critical times such as World Wars, The Great Depression, and finally coming to a head as a timely response to the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960's. Work Cited Baraka, Imamu Amiri, 1934-, The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka. (Freundlich Books, New York, NY, 1984). Cox, James. "Activists Challenge Corporations that They Say are Tied to Slavery," USA Today, February 21, 2002, 1-2. Horowitz, David. "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist Too," Front Page Magazine, January 3, 2001, 1-4. Joseph, Gloria I. (1990)"Sojourner Truth: Archetypal Black Feminist" in Wild Women in the Whirlwind. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, pp. 35-47. Kelley, R., 1996. Race Rebels. New York: Free Press. Klingaman, William K. 2001, Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation, 1861-1865. New York Penguin. Kotz, Nick 2005, Judgment Days : Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr. , and the Laws That Changed America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company Trade & Reference Division. Lewis, Jone J. (1999). Sojourner Truth Quotes. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from About.com Web site: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/sojourner_truth.htm Robinson, Randall. "Chapter Nine: Thoughts on Restitution," The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks. (New York: Plume Books, 2001), 199-234. Diary of Gideon Welles, Volume I, p. 70-71 Mr Lincoln's White House Thompson, Hunter S., and Ralph Steadman. 2000, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas : A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. New York: Vintage. Read More