AA activists

Question 1

Blanche K. Bruce (1841-1898)

Answer 1

First AA senator to serve a whole term in office 1881-85.

Question 2

Ida B. Wells (1862 - 1935)

Answer 2

Co-founded the NAACP and campaigned against lynchings and Jim Crow laws.Despite aiding the creation of NAACP she gave it limited support
Preferred to work alone which limited her effectiveness
She often fell out with her contemporaries, leading her to focus on local issues instead of larger ones.

Question 3

Booker T. Washingon (1865-1915)

Answer 3

Stressed the importance of AA’s relying on their own efforts to make progress.
Famous for gaining confidence of white Americans and moral authority amongst AA’s.
1881- Tuskegee Institute to train teachers- still active
1901- National Business League to encourage AA enterprise.
Did not campaign openly against discrimination in the South but received support from wealthy businessmen and advised presidents on racial issues.

Question 4

W.E.B Du Bois (1868-1913)

Answer 4

Held the view that an AA elite would lead a movement for political change.
1909- NAACP, he co-operated with white reformers.
Led marches and campaigns for political rights.Du Bois was called a “leader without followers”, and was criticised for being unrealistic and uncompromising by his contemporaries.

Question 5

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)

Answer 5

Saw a separate AA community, aware of its African roots and part of the Pan African movement as the goal *Opposite to Du Bois.
Universal Negro Improvement Association- 1st large civil rights organisation in the USA, said to have had 4 million members by 1920.
Accepted the need for economic enterprise and improvement backed by education.

Question 6

A. Philip Randolph (1890-1979)

Answer 6

Rallied black organised labour to the cause of civil rights *Similae to Du Bois
Created the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters.
Believed in mass non-violent protest and was influenced by the civil disobedience campaigns in India- Gandhi.
Pressured the government to end discrimination in war production industries in 1941 by threatening a mass march.
First time an AA leader had influenced policy substantially.

Question 7

Martin Luther King (1929-68)

Answer 7

Took up marches and mass protests *similar to Du Bois and Randolph
*Similar dynamic leadership qualities to the charismatic Garvey
Co-operated with white liberals and used non-violent tactics.
Used publicity and public image effectively.
1957- Formed SCLC
1963- March in Birmingham, his arrest and ‘I have a dream speech
1963- March on Washington
1964- Role in the Civil Rights Act

Question 8

Malcolm X (1925-65) and the Black Panthers (1966)

Answer 8

X was of the separatist tradition. Worked with the NOI to promote AA heritage *similar to Garvey, and was a powerful leader.
Black Panther movement developed from this- Huey Newton and Bobby Seal founded the party for self defense in 1966 with a radical social programme.
Called for equality and armed resistance to authority and white hostility.
X softened his approach in later years.

Question 9

Jesse Jackson

Answer 9

Ran as presidential candidate in the 1980’s.