From Booker T. Washington to Marcus Garvey, from W.E.B. Dubois to Stokely Carmichael, the “Negro problem” has been an ongoing argument in this country, which is one of many threads that weave together our American political thought. According to Dubois, this debate was brought to the forefront by three types of black leaders, those who sought revolt and revenge, individuals who epitomized patience and courtesy with inaction, and the select few who would only compromise while adhering to the firm ideals of insisting on unalienable rights for all men while rejecting the inferiority of any man. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 959-962) This list of men, combined with contentious issues, such as the deprivation of one’s vote, opportunity, and education, were fought over before and after Dubois, and helps to show how long a debate can go unchanged. As with these issues, the same executive and legislative landmarks, whether amendments to the constitution, supreme court decisions, civil rights acts, or monumental proclamations by sitting presidents, the late 19th century and the 1960’s are eerily parallel. These parallels are truly significant when analyzing the unchanged “Negro Problem” debate, but the two substantial differences between the eras that progressed a problem into a movement are what changed American history. Differing economic conditions and cultural climates sunk African Americans of the late 19th century into a diseased and dying state, and those of the 1960’s into a slow, constant climb out of the abyss.
Although black leaders could not have had the hindsight to realize how the economy was working for or against their cause, these two key periods in African American history differ due to that very distinction. Dubois speaks of a turning point, a visible line that was drawn by white men that could be felt in despair by black Americans. He demonstrates the hope felt during the Reconstruction years where the U.S. government intervened in the South, “A million black men started with renewed zeal to vote themselves in to the kingdom. So the decade flew away, the revolution of 1876 came, and left the half-free serf weary, wondering, but still inspired.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 954) That inspiration quickly morphed to regression, “Lo! We are diseased and dying, cried the dark hosts; we cannot write, our voting is vain; what need of education, since we must always cook and serve? And the Nation echoed and enforced this self-criticism, saying: Be content to be servants, and nothing more; what need of higher culture for half-men?” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 956) This profound change in the hopefulness of an entire people and the traumatic end to Reconstruction had clear causes, the great depression that began in 1873 and the vehement prejudice that could not be tamed by a civil war.
The depression had nearly one and a half times the economic destructive force of the one our generation is so familiar, (NBER, Cycles. 2010) and by its end in 1879, all progressive work on the “Negro Problem” had ended and the South returned to the oppressive ways of the antebellum era. This six-year economic cycle plunged African American’s back
into the oppressive abyss, Northerners tired of the financial burden of policing the South and freed slaves competing with unskilled whites for hard to find jobs, reignited generational hatreds between the two races. Abraham Lincoln, hero to the African American cause, in a speech in 1856 spoke of his own feelings about their equality. “Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not. Whether this feeling accords with justice and sound judgment, is not the sole question, if indeed, it is any part of it. A universal feeling, whether well or ill founded, cannot be safely disregarded. (Lincoln, 1832-1858. pg. 316) White America’s universal feeling of being an unapologetic superior race mixed with a deep economic crisis spelled disaster for African Americans in the late 19th century.
An eight-year economic cycle nearly a century later combined with a white population that had never been touched directly by slavery, brought African Americans to the proverbial gates of the Promised Land. The 1960’s was by far the longest period of economic growth since statistics were first documented in 1875, and was only followed by short-lived, insignificant recessions. (NBER, Cycles. 2010) Without a great economic calamity to follow the ambitious strivings of black leaders and with an American culture far enough removed from their slave holding ancestors, incremental reforms were allowed to take hold. Martin Luther King Jr.’s challenge,
“…we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note… this note was the promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in so far as her citizens of color are concerned. … We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 956)
This challenge was thrown out to a relatively prosperous nation whose incremental reforms had rotted away what was commonplace. Time had diluted their prejudices enough to force them to interpret, ‘all men are created equal’, not in the manner in which Jefferson intended, de-jure equality, but of Dr. King’s de-facto dream. White America had a daily dose in the media of Dr. King’s rhetorical effects, “…injustice must be exposed, with all of the tension its exposing creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1314) As Northerners tired of policing the South in the 1870’s, White America tired of the injustices shown to Black America on their television sets in the 1960’s.
The injustice exposed here is the heart of the “Negro Problem.” What do white people do with a perfectly good and equal people when they have been taught that colored skin is inferior? In 1903, Dubois describes a boyhood moment when he became a problem due to the color of his skin, “I remember well when the shadow swept across me… shut out from their world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 951) He goes on to describe twoness, “One ever feels his twoness, – an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings… The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife… to merge his double self into a better and truer self… He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 952)
Dubois was born just after the Civil War, a college educated elite who saw freedom and education, which was readily available to him, so unavailable to most of his race. “Men of America, the problem is plain before you. Here is a race transplanted through the criminal foolishness of your fathers. Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will remain. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down. Education and work are the levers to uplift a people.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 969) Placing the responsibility of the Negro condition firmly on the shoulders of white people now and in the past was Dubois’ belief and he furthered these notions by speaking about the Talented Tenth of the Negro race that must be made leaders and missionaries of culture among their people. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 969)
Booker T. Washington had a very different interpretation of the “Negro Problem.” His was one of cooperation and reconciliation with white people, “…we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach, ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in defense of yours, interlacing our industrial, commercial, civil and religious life with yours in a way that shall make the interest of both races one.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 948) He has the proud distinction as being the black leader who encouraged “separate but equal” in his speeches. “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 948) He resolved the “negro problem” by encouraging all free blacks to define themselves metaphorically as house slaves, taking no action against their master, and holding themselves solely responsible for their social condition.
Booker T. Washington was the perfect example of the type of black leader Dubois described when he alluded to individuals who epitomized patience and courtesy with inaction, inaction not in general activity, but inaction as to the progress of the Negro. Creating the Tuskegee Institute to develop teaching and skilled labor for Negros could only occur with the approval of the white South and that was obtained through the Atlanta Compromise. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 958) This compromise elevated the ‘separate but equal ‘doctrine, “The South interpreted it in different ways: the radicals received it as a complete surrender of the demand for civil and political equality; the conservatives, as a generously conceived working basis for mutual understanding. So both approved it, and today its author is certainly the most distinguished Southerner since Jefferson Davis, and the one with the largest personal following.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 948)This example truly shows how you can be arguing for freedom and equality, on the same exact topic, and the exact opposite argument can be made. A black leader of the late 1800’s being placed side-by-side with Jefferson Davis, American political thought in its full glory!
Marcus Garvey’s leadership on the ‘Negro problem’ was shaped into one swift blow. “We are determined to solve our own problem, by redeeming our Motherland Africa from the hands of alien exploiters and found there a government, a nation of our own, strong enough to lend protection to the members of our race scattered all over the world, and to compel the respect of the nations and races of the earth.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 974) Malcolm X continued Garvey’s revolt against the American social contract but focusing his attention on specific communities, not overseas. “So the economic philosophy of black nationalism means in every church, in every civic organization, in every fraternal order, it’s time now for our people to become conscious of the importance of controlling the economy of our community.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1325) Stokely Carmichael continued this line of thought by solving the “Negro problem” not by integration of his community or assimilation of individuals but by abolishing the dependent colonial status that has been afflicted upon black people. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1343)
These great men have very different ambitions and these differences are just points on an American timeline of political thought that reveal our constant desire to debate and contest until the environment is ripe for permanent change. Dubois would have labeled these leaders more in the category of ‘revolt and revenge’ for these men epitomized extreme action that eliminated a need for the black community to integrate, assimilate, or negotiate.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a culmination of the political thought of all leaders that came before him, for his ambitions ranged from non-violent, but activist, patience to the extremist notions of our forefathers. “Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist – ‘This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.’ Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist – ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice – or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1316) King was as famous for his great speeches and well-formed catch phrases as any leader or politician that came before him, but his organized nonviolent protests are what progressed this thread of American political thought. “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: (1) collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, (2) negotiation, (3) self-purification, and (4) direct action.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1310)
These basic steps may sound like they have no resemblance to Malcolm or Marcus but when one reads further into his ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ you can see the amount of trouble Mr. King is willing to cause. “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue… I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1310) Like Dubois, King spoke of the opposing forces within the Negro community. “One is a force of complacency… completely drained of self-respect and a sense of ‘somebodiness’ …insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and comes perilously close to advocating violence.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1315) King had an all-encompassing understanding of this moment placed before him and used each chance at communication to further his fight.
As you can see in Dr. King’s time, there are two opposing forces of Black America, not the three of Dubois. The one that seems to be missing in Dr. King’s era is one that would resemble Booker T. Washington’s argument. Mr. Washington encouraged Negroes to keep their heads down, work hard and earn the respect from the white man that he deserved. To him the South was justified for its treatment of Negroes and each individual Negro was responsible for their own rise in society. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 962) I will argue that every day-white America of the 60’s and beyond are the Booker T. Washingtons of this era, trying to keep the status-quo of their generation, or of their community, or of their political system. Malcolm X threatened the “ballot or the bullet” when he described the filibustering of white senators. He demanded the filibuster to come to a halt and for a moral stand to be taken right now. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1328) Black leaders were calling for a fight while white leaders were bobbin’ and weavin’.
What can instigate a people to fight for which they fight? In America, it is a constant battle over freedom and equality, no matter your color of skin, method of protest, or era in which you live. In these times as well as those before and after, this fight focuses on the principles of unalienable rights. The first political movement to make headway with unalienable rights since the constitution was founded was the 13th amendment. This made slavery illegal, (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 926) in response to the Dred Scott case, which reversed the Missouri Compromise and turned slaves back into property. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 646) Although combined with the 14th amendment guaranteeing citizenship and the 15th amendment guaranteeing citizen suffrage, (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 927-8) the fight for unalienable rights had to continue due to the legalization of segregation in 1896 with the court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 942) What a travesty of justice it was for three amendments to be ignored and left unenforced and a Supreme Court Decision to be accepted like it was the word of God.
The “separate but equal” guideline would dominate American social order until it was overturned in 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 942) Now the fight had the chance to begin anew with a fresh set of black leaders, enough distance from slavery to diminish white prejudice, a vigorous economy, and laws that would finally be enforced. When the laws of Reconstruction were being enforced, African Americans had a fighting chance to compete and succeed in America, although white racists constantly undermined their progress. When enforcement was abandoned, even the simplest of goals were out of the reach of that population and their oppression was actually intensified. In the 1960’s a second similar round of laws were put in place by the Johnson administration. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbidding discrimination, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protecting suffrage, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 forbidding discrimination in housing. (Schmidt/Shelley/Bardes, 2011 Pg. 98) The combination of these three acts with the overturning of “separate but equal,” successfully touched the major concerns of black leaders throughout American history.
Malcolm X states, “The same government that you go abroad to fight for and die for is the government that is in a conspiracy to deprive you of your voting rights, deprive you of your economic opportunities, deprive you of decent housing, deprive you of decent education.” (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 1323) This quotation alone can make it hard to believe that even before Malcolm X’s assassination in 1965 the government had stepped up to the plate, listened to the black leaders and their community, and was ready to secure the rights that the government was bound to uphold in our Declaration of Independence. (Kramnick/Lowi, 2009 Pg. 152) This particular thread of American political thought delves into those rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as most others do and yet as each argument is unique, so is this civil argument, for it helps us define what equality truly is. Life and liberty certainly do not insinuate a right to equality; therefore, equality must be a pursuit of happiness, consequently so utterly hard to debate and there you have the nature of American political thought.
Work Cited
- Kramnick, Isaac. Lowi, Theodore J. (2009) American Political Thought. (First Edition) United States: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
- The National Bureau of Economic Research. (2010) US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions ¹. Retrieved from (http://www.nber.org/cycles.html
- Schmidt, Steffen W. Shelley, Mack C. Bardes, Barbara A. (2011) American Government and Politics Today. (2010-2011 Edition) United States: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
- Lincoln, Abraham. Editor – Fehrenbacher, Don E. (1989) Abraham Lincoln – Speeches and Writings 1832-1858. New York, N.Y. Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.
A Thread of American Political Thought
Booker to Malcolm
By
Betty J. Craipo
Government 317
Dr. Kevin Pirch
Spring Quarter 2012
Paper II
Betty J. Craipo 